ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Sharon Stolzenberger invited me into her spacious Front Street studio this week. It’s on the second floor of the Annex Building at Front Street.
“I’ve been here for years” she told me. “I love the light and the space. I use this area for watercolors, and another area across the room for acrylics. The only problem with having all of this space is that there’s never a reason to get rid of anything. A visitor can poke around and see how my work has changed over the years.”
“The piece I’m working on here features a crow. I’ve been using crows in quite a few of my work for a few years now, and recently I’ve been doing a series related to prairies.”
Like a number of successful local artists (e.g. Jon Barlow Hudson and John Emery) Sharon is a graduate of the School of the Dayton Art Institute. After school she was an illustrator and then Art Director for Gibson Greeting Cards before opening her own studio.
Sharon works primarily in watercolors but uses stenciling, patterning and collage to create densely textured works. As I photographed she added layers to a small piece. After each one of her steps I found myself thinking about whether there was a way for me to do something similar in my own digital wok. I think I need to hang around the studio some more and let Sharon teach me some new things.
Sharon’s studio will be open this week during First Friday. If you want, use her special entrance – the green staircase (fire escape) on the back of the Annex building.
