Working in the Realist/Impressionist tradition Sharon is an artist based in Annapolis Maryland. Growing up in the suburbs of Washington DC, she was constantly exposed to the visual arts. Her parents were avid collectors of 18th and 19th century British maritime paintings and loved to visit the DC museums. They encouraged their youngest daughter's interest in painting. After graduating from the Maryland Institute, College of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree, and Master of Arts in Teaching in 1992, Sharon moved to Annapolis, Maryland where she began her long teaching career and met her husband, artist John Ebersberger. John introduced Sharon to the Cape School of Art tradition of painting he had learned while studying with master impressionist Henry Hensche in the 1980’s. This tradition, dating back to William Merrit Chase, is based on deciphering the quality of the color of light from direct outdoor observation, and had a profound effect on Sharon’s work. She embraced this method of painting en plein air. Sharon found her muse in her new home town of Annapolis, Maryland. She gained a reputation for painting the streets and boats of this 300 year old historic colonial maritime town. In 2002 Sharon was one of 7 founding members of the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association (MAPAPA) and served as the first president of the organization, leading the group for 3 years. This group began the annual Paint Annapolis event that has spawned a number of regional plein air events in the Mid-Atlantic area. Sharon chaired the event for the first 5 years and participated for 10, receiving numerous awards including an Award of Excellence in 2007. In 2002 Maryland Public Television produced the Capital Area, Emmy Award winning magazine short "Shades of Winter." A segment on MPT’s Outdoors Maryland that followed Sharon, her husband John and several of John’s students on a winter painting trip to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland to paint the snow. The episode continues to enjoy rebroadcasts (series number 2612). In the winter of 2004 Sharon was a part of "Sunlight and Shadow," an exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. The exhibit was ancillary to "Earth, River and Light", an exhibition comprised of historic Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings from the James Michener Art Museum. Sharon continues to teach Painting and Drawing and is the Art Department Chairman at South River High School in Edgewater, Maryland. She is represented by the Annapolis Marine Art Gallery, 110 Dock Street in Annapolis. She lives and maintains a Studio in the Eastport neighborhood of Annapolis where since 2005 she has held her annual Open Studio every Mother’s Day weekend.
|