Sharon Church (artist)

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).^[1][2] In 2018, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of North American Goldsmiths.^[3]

Sharon Church was born in 1948 in Richland, Washington^[1] to Gilbert Patterson Church ^[4] and Winona Skinner.^[5] Church grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, graduating from the Tower Hill School, Class of 1966.^[6] Her father was a construction engineer for DuPont Co,^[7] and she recalls growing up watching her mother doing craft work and wearing jewelry.^[8]

In 1970, Church earned a B.S. from Skidmore College, where she was a student of Earl Pardon.^[9][10] She began working with wood while at Skidmore College.^[11] She was encouraged to be a carver and work substractively as a student of Albert Paley during her first year at graduate school.^[11][12] Church earned an M.F.A. from The School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1973.^[13]

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)).^[14][15] After 35 years, she retired in 2014, becoming professor emerita.^[14][3]

“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^[15]

Sharon Church is known for carving materials like wood, horn, and bone and sometimes incorporating them into works with precious metals and stones.^[1][16] She often uses Castello boxwood or ebony.^[11] 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.^[11][12]

She draws heavily on nature both as a model and for materials.^[11] 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.^{[14][17][18][19]}

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.^[3]

Church's work is included in the permanent collections of the Yale University Art Gallery;^[20][21] Metropolitan Museum of Art;^[22] Museum of Arts and Design, New York City;^[23] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;^[24][25] Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany;^[26] National Gallery of Australia;^[27] Museum of Fine Arts Houston;^[28] State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg, Russia;^[29] Los Angeles County Museum of Art;^[30] Philadelphia Museum of Art; ^[31] and the Delaware Art Museum.^[32] Her work, Oh No!, was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.^[33]

• 2018, Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG)^[3]
• 2018, Distinguished Artist, James Renwick Alliance^[12]
• 2015, “Master of American Craft”, American Craft Council.^[11]
• 2012. Elected Fellow, American Craft Council College of Fellows^[14]
• 2010, Medal of Distinction, Philadelphia Art Alliance^[1]
• 2008, Distinguished Educator Award, James Renwick Alliance^[15][34]
• 2004, Richard C. von Hess Faculty Prize, University of the Arts^[35]
• 1999, Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, University of the Arts^[36]
• 1977, Craftsmen's Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts^[37]

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