Sharon Sharp
Sharon A. Sharp, the proprietor of Curious Pursuits Press, creates one-of-a-kind and limited-edition artists’ books in her Boone, NC, studio. Sharon plunged into book arts with a 2002 Penland School of Crafts letterpress-printing class, followed in 2003 by an eight-week Penland book-arts and papermaking concentration. Since then she has increasingly focused on nontraditional book forms meshing widely varied structural features with original text and artwork. The recipient of two northwestern North Carolina artists’ grants, Sharon has taught book arts at the Florence Thomas Memorial Art School, Appalachian State University’s Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, and other venues. Vamp & Tramp Booksellers represent Sharon’s works, which are held in corporate and private collections, as well as in the special-collections libraries of Denison University, the University of Vermont, the Savannah College of Art & Design’s Savannah campus, the University of Denver, and George Mason University. Images of her books appear in 500 Handmade Books and 1,000 Artists’ Books, and her works have appeared in many regional and national exhibitions. In 2009 Sharon served as Mammoth Cave National Park’s Artist-in-Residence, and in 2006 she and Washington State visual artist Lucia Harrison collaborated as Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore’s Artists-in-Residence. Sharon has special interests in exploring science topics and in linking book arts with adult literacy programs. Her works are described at www.sharphandmadebooks.com.
