Sharon Barr
Sharon Barr is a Toronto based painter who attended York University, the University of Toronto and the Toronto School of Art. Her studies have focused on Visual Arts, Art History and English Literature. She also received her Bachelor of Education at the University of Toronto in 1986.

Since then, Sharon has worked as an artist and art instructor most of her career. She has focused on teaching intermediate students and has been instrumental in writing curriculum, creating videos and guidebooks, as well as designing and implementing visual arts installation projects. Sharon has served as a specialist in the Visual Arts area, providing support for other colleagues.

Paintings and completed work are in collections across the country. Sharon's paintings have been featured on Design Inc. and Sarah Richardson owns Sharon's work in her private collection. Paintings have also been featured in Canadian Film Centre productions, such as the film, In Shadow which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in California. Sharon has also directed and installed a wide variety of educational art installations for the York Region District School Board. The City of Toronto, Mount Sinai Hospital and the Ministry of Ontario have many of Sharon's paintings in their facilities and collections.

Sharon's community involvement in the arts has spanned many years. She has served on many committees promoting the arts in local neighborhoods and was one of the founding committee members of the Riverdale Art Walk. She is the co-founder of Artists Toronto, a website designed to bring Toronto's most talented artists together on one site.

Regarding her inspiration and art career, Sharon states,

"Always fascinated by human forms, I have concentrated on figures throughout most of my painting career...that is, until a recent spring, when while walking, I found myself totally surrounded and captured by a blooming magnolia tree. That was my "paradigm shift", a type of burning bush experience. It was as if the living structure spoke to me....and so, I find myself mesmerized by another living form, that of the creature inside the plant. I don't find them...they find me...through brush and paint."

Sharon's artistic style captures energy and vitality. The passions, power and peace found in the human spirit and depicted in many of Sharon's images. Large, immediate brush strokes and bold use of colour, capture energy, mood and movement. The viewer is not only sees their own connection to life through her work, but is encouraged to absorb the beauty of simple moments that otherwise might be passed by. Her large-scale oil and acrylic on canvas paintings have been in many solo and group shows in and around Toronto and are found in collections across the country.

WEBSITE: NEW www.sharonbarr.ca
www.sharonbarrpainting.com

EMAIL: sharonbarr@rogers.com

Spring Melt



Morning At Kew II



Secret Forest



Solar Explosion



Secret Reflection



Red Pool Blur Pool



Spring Pool



September



City Garden



Oak By The Lake



Spring Melt


To Page Top