Sharon Wolpoff

"Among the gifts that art gives us is a mute amazement at the world itself. Through Sharon Wolpoff's eyes, we look at slanting shadows or the vivid color of a building as if for the very first time. She paints a reality which implies that a kind of expansive awareness is at work. Light floods her world, glowing from within, illuminating from above. That light is like consciousness itself, making us aware that we are living in the midst of something miraculous, right here, right now."
- John Mendelsohn

Wolpoff states that traveling helps her to maintain her ability to see day to day life through the fresh eyes of a tourist. "I enjoy being influenced by the presiding spirit of a place, " she explains. "For example, while traveling in Italy I noticed countless objects of devotion lurking everywhere. I soon came to realize that the light of a holy icon has nothing to do with natural light, its light appears to come from within. It's this mysterious quality of light that I aspire to bring to my work."

Born in Washington, DC in 1952, Wolpoff is a graduate of American University where she received a BA in Fine Arts and an MFA in Painting, as well as a JD from AU's Washington College of Law. Counted amongst her honors are three Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, an Arts & Humanities of Montgomery County Fellowship and a David Lloyd Kreeger Purchase Prize. Recently she's been traveling in California, evidence of which can be seen in her new paintings.

Click to visit Sharon Wolpoff website