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Sharon Church
Born	1948 Richland, Washington
Died	2022
Alma mater	Skidmore College, Rochester Institute of Technology
Employer	University of the Arts
Website	www.sharonchurchjewelry.net

External videos
“2012 American Craft Council Fellow: Sharon Church”

Sharon Church (born 1948; died 2022) was an American studio jeweler, metalsmith, and educator. She is a professor emerita of the University of the Arts (Philadelphia) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2012, Church was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council (ACC). In 2018, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

Early years

Sharon Church was born in 1948 in Richland, Washington to Gilbert Patterson Church and Winona Skinner. Church grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, graduating from the Tower Hill School, Class of 1966. Her father was a construction engineer for DuPont Co, and she recalls growing up watching her mother doing craft work and wearing jewelry.

Education

In 1970, Church earned a B.S. from Skidmore College, where she was a student of Earl Pardon. She began working with wood while at Skidmore College. She was encouraged to be a carver and work substractively as a student of Albert Paley during her first year at graduate school. Church earned an M.F.A. from The School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1973.

Teaching

In 1979 Church moved from Wilmington, Delaware, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to begin teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art (later Craft + Material Studies program at University of the Arts (Philadelphia)). After 35 years, she retired in 2014, becoming professor emerita.

“I really believe craft has within it the key to valuing a human life,” she says. “To make something with your hands, to know that you exist, to see that that existence has value – even for someone who just likes doing it, it has enormous value.” Sharon Church

Making

Sharon Church is known for carving materials like wood, horn, and bone and sometimes incorporating them into works with precious metals and stones. She often uses Castello boxwood or ebony. Church often begins with a drawing, but does not plan out the entire piece. She slowly develops her pieces through trial and error, experimenting with processes, techniques and materials until she feels a piece is complete. If she cannot resolve a piece, she may put it away, discard it or reclaim the materials.

She draws heavily on nature both as a model and for materials. Following the death of her first husband in 1993, Church began to make carved wood a key element of her jewelry and sculptures. Her first piece in this style, It was the Most Beautiful Day of the Summer (1995), resembles both a fox's head and a cloven heart, in gold and ebony.

Professional Activities

Church has served on the board of directors of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (1983-1987). She has been the production coordinator for Metalsmith magazine (1986-1987) and served on its editorial advisory committee. She has written for Metalsmith and other magazines. She is a member of the American Craft Council and of Art Jewelry Forum.

Public Collections

Church's work is included in the permanent collections of the Yale University Art Gallery; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Arts and Design, New York City; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany; National Gallery of Australia; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg, Russia; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Delaware Art Museum. Her work, Oh No!, was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.

Awards and honors

• 2018, Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG)
• 2018, Distinguished Artist, James Renwick Alliance
• 2015, “Master of American Craft”, American Craft Council.
• 2012. Elected Fellow, American Craft Council College of Fellows
• 2010, Medal of Distinction, Philadelphia Art Alliance
• 2008, Distinguished Educator Award, James Renwick Alliance
• 2004, Richard C. von Hess Faculty Prize, University of the Arts
• 1999, Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, University of the Arts
• 1977, Craftsmen's Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts

References

1. ^ "Sharon Church". American Craft Council. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
2. "Sharon Church". University of the Arts. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
3. ^ Mimlitsch-Gray, Myra (19 February 2018). "2018 SNAG Lifetime Achievement Award, Sharon Church". Society of North American Goldsmiths. Myra Mimlitsch-Gray. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
4. "Find a Grave Index, 1600s - Current". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
5. "Skinner-Church Wedding Announced". Newspapers.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
6. "Tower Hill High School Yearbook". U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900-1999. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
7. "Skinner-Church Wedding Announced". newspapers.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
8. Mimlitsch-Gray, Myra. "2018 SNAG Lifetime Achievement Award". Society of North American Goldsmiths. Metalsmith. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
9. Blauer, Ettagale (29 June 2013). Contemporary American Jewelry Design. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-1-4757-4854-3. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
10. "Earl Pardon". The Enamel Arts Foundation. 13 April 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
11. ^ Dalton, Adriane (8 September 2016). "Sharon Church: Queen Bee". Art Jewelry Forum. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
12. ^ Radulescu, Adriana G (2018). "Sharon Church: Maker's Stories" (PDF). JRA Quarterly. No. Summer. James Renwick Alliance. pp. 17–18. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
13. "Sharon Church". Senior Artists Initiative. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
14. ^ Kern, Josh (Nov 10, 2015). "Sharon Church". CraftNOW Philadelphia. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
15. ^ "Masters: Sharon Church". American Craft Magazine. American Craft Council. September 17, 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
16. Koplos, Janet; Metcalf, Bruce (31 July 2010). Makers: A History of American Studio Craft. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 458–459. ISBN 978-0-8078-9583-2. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
17. "It Was the Most Beautiful Day of the Summer". The Center for Art in Wood. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
18. Shaykett, Jessica (July 31, 2014). "Sharon Church's Summer Soliloquy". American Craft Council. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
19. "It Was the Most Beautiful Day of the Summer". American Craft Council Digital Archive.
20. "Empress". Yale University Art Gallery. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
21. Storb, Christopher (30 September 2016). "Yale University Art Gallery". In Proportion to the Trouble. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
22. "Brooch: Persephone's Bouquet". The Met. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
23. "Beaded Collar". Museum of Arts and Design. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
24. "Beaded Collar". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
25. "Hearts and Flowers". Art Jewelry Forum. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
26. "Sharon Church work acquired by Pinakothek der Moderne's Danner Foundation". Sienna Patti - Contemporary Studio Artists. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
27. Bell, Robert (2005). Transformations : the language of craft. Canberra, A.C.T.: National Gallery of Australia. ISBN 0642541388. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
28. "Sharon Church "Envy" Neckpiece". The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
29. Fulk, Marion (9 February 2015). "Helen Drutt: The State Hermitage Museum Exhibition". Art Jewelry Forum. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
30. "'Scatter Pins'". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
31. Church, Sharon. "Collections". Philamuseum.org. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
32. Church, Sharon. "Hand Whip, 1976". emuseum.delart.org. Delaware Art Museum. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
33. Savig, Mary; Atkinson, Nora; Montiel, Anya (2022). This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. pp. 228–238. ISBN 9781913875268.
34. "Kestenbaum, Church, and Rice Honored as Distinguished Educators". James Renwick Alliance Quarterly. No. WINTER. 2008. p. 9. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
35. 126th Commencement. Philadelphia, PA: The University of the Arts. May 20, 2004.
36. The University of the Arts Commencement May 20, 1999. Philadelphia, PA: The University of the Arts. May 20, 1999.
37. Biddle, Livingston L. Jr., ed. (1978). Annual Report 1977 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts. p. 129. Retrieved 30 December 2021.

External links

• Oral history interview with Sharon Church McNabb 1990 from Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University

• 1948 births
• Living people
• Skidmore College alumni
• Rochester Institute of Technology alumni
• University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
• American jewelry designers
• 21st-century American women
• American women jewellers