BIO
Tara Sharpe was born in West Palm Beach, Florida and spent her formative years between the ocean and the mountains of Appalachia in North Carolina. Sharpe’s art education started at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, later receiving a full scholarship for a Fine Art Residency at The School of Visual Arts in NYC. After living in New York for over a decade, she was drawn to the austere beauty of the Sonoran Desert, relocating to Phoenix, Arizona. In Fall 2013, Sharpe founded the award winning project Artelphx (now Artelshow.) In 2023, she opened Tara Sharpe Studio & Gallery combining her working studio with a show space for fine art and furnishings. Exhibited and collected throughout the world, her work seeks to give space to the viewer to explore their emotions.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Tara Sharpe’s work complicates perceptions of emotion and myth using color in layered opacities. Combining aspects of classical technique with modern expression, her work captures phantasmagoric images of figures reconfigured for an era verged on the precipice of madness. Influenced significantly by Post-Impressionism and Expressionism, Sharpe’s work depicts concepts independent of time and events, presenting its own origin and mythology stories. Imbued with emotional depth, her art resonates with themes of transformation and transcendence in contemporary conceptions of identity.
EDUCATION
Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Visual Arts Graduate, West Palm Beach, Florida
School of Visual Arts, Full Scholarship for Residency Program, New York, New York
PUBLIC ART
2023 - Present Luminous: The Art of Light, i.d.e.a. Museum, Mesa, Arizona
2021 - Present Mural on the canal for Phoenix Mural Project near 15th Ave + Campbell Ave, Phoenix, Arizona
2018 - Present Scottsdale Dia De Los Muertos presented by LORE Media, Old Adobe Mission, Scottsdale, Arizona
2018 - Present Floral + Fauna collaborative mural with Eric Cox for Phoenix Mural Project at 15th Ave + Polk, Phoenix, Arizona
2017 - Present She Tempe: A Self Guided Art Walk on Mill Ave, Tempe, Arizona
SELECT EXHIBITS
2023 - Present Luminous: The Art of Light, i.d.e.a. Museum, Mesa, Arizona
2023 WORK! COLOR! LIGHT! , Found:RE, Phoenix, Arizona
2022 Maybe 2023 Will be Better, The Compound, Tempe, Arizona
2022 Artist of the Month Show, The Lost Leaf, Phoenix, Arizona
2022 Duo Show with Allison Moyers, Grinders, Phoenix, Arizona
2022 Tara Sharpe Solo Exhibition, Sisao Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2021 Enjoy All The Little Things, Sisao Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2021 New Expressions ArTHENA Group Show, WHAM, Surprise, Arizona
2021 Salon des Refusés curated by Lucretia Torva, Icehouse, Phoenix, Arizona
2021 Heat Stroke, Sisao Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2021 Indexhibit, Mood Room, Phoenix, Arizona
2021 Serene, Grinders, Phoenix, Arizona
2020 Gallery Portfolio Group Show, Keep Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2020 See What We Say, Shaneland, Phoenix, Arizona
2019 Maybe 2020 Will Be Better, The Compound, Tempe, Arizona
2019 Control, Alt, Create, New School for The Arts & Academics, Tempe, Arizona
2019 Mystical Jubilee, The Millet House, Mesa, Arizona
2019 Snood City Neon Grand Avenue Festival, Unexpected Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2019 Grand Avenue Festival Silent Auction, Weird Garden, Phoenix, Arizona
2019 Breaking The Bell Jar, Revival Art Collective, Phoenix, Arizona
2019 Alptraum : The Wandering Show, Fine Art Complex 1101, Tempe, Arizona
2019 My Favorite Things, Sisao Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2019 Women’s History Month, Fair Trade, Phoenix, Arizona
2018 Maybe 2019 Will Be Better, The Compound, Phoenix, Arizona
2018 Flora, Fauna & The Feminine Form: Solo Show of Tara Sharpe, The Hive, Phoenix, Arizona
2018 Control, Alt, Create, New School for The Arts & Academics, Tempe, Arizona
2018 The Devil's House, The Open Source, Tempe, Arizona
2018 Friendzone, The Open Source, Tempe, Arizona
2018 Female Artist Show, Fair Trade, Phoenix, Arizona
2018 Art Detour 30, The Lodge, Phoenix, Arizona
2017 Little Works, Little Wonders, The Artery, Phoenix, Arizona
2017 Sacred and Profane, 11th Monkey, Phoenix, Arizona
2017 Jolie Laide Paintings on Paper by Tara Sharpe, The Artery, Phoenix, Arizona
2017 LOVE Small Works Show, The Artery, Phoenix, Arizona
2017 Nasty Women Phoenix, Grand Art Haus, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 Show Me What You Got, The Liquor Gallery, Tempe, Arizona
2016 SNOW, The Coe House, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 Gods & Monsters, {9} The Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 NSFW, {9} The Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 Ladies of the House, Icehouse, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 Focused, {9} The Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 Square 16, The Liquor Gallery, Tempe, Arizona
2015 Tiny Works | Tiny Dances, {9} The Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2015 Icelandia, Lotus Contemporary Art, Phoenix, Arizona
2015 AZ45 Exhibit, Tieken Gallery, Paradise Valley, Arizona
2015 McMuses, Instant Inspiration, Phoenix, Arizona
2015 Sirens and Serpents: The Art of Tara Sharpe, Solo Show, {9} The Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2010 Regional Juried Art Exhibit, South Haven Center for the Arts, South Haven, Michigan
2005 EG2 Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida
2003 Cooper Union, New York, New York
2001 Southern Exposure Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida
2000 Dreyfoos Senior Exhibit, Habitat Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida
1998 Armory Juried Sculpture Show, Armory Arts Center, West Palm Beach, Florida
AWARDS
2016 Top 100 Creatives, Phoenix New Times
2014 Best Arts Festival, Phoenix New Times