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Continuing with studio visits of Contemporary Sculptors of Chicago..

August 17, 2010: Visited studio of artist Sharon Bladholm. This was my second visit to her studio. When I first visited her on September 24, 2007, it was the VERY FIRST time I had ever visited any artist studio.

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Sharon Bladholm is my oldest artist friend in Chicago. We met way back in 2007, when I had just bought a new camera, and was photographing a strange “Pelican Flower”.. click here.. at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Sharon was there, with her easel, painting the flower. We talked a bit, and I came to know that she was an artist. A very versatile artist: painter, sculptor, ceramist, printer and also also makes stained glass windows! Wow!  She invited me to her studio: Opal Glass Studio. I took the invitation, and  it was the very first time I had ever visited the studio of an artist. It was  September 24, 2007.  After that visit, we kind of lost touch.  Then I met her again at Garfield Park Conservatory  in 2010, and visited her studio again on August 17, 2010. It was then, that I wrote an article on the studio visit.

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Sharon’s work is mostly inspired by nature. The recurring theme is the interface of people with natural world. She integrates sciences of anthropology with biology and botany from the plant world. Sharon expresses her artistic vision through her command over a variety of mediums: cast glass, bronze and ceramics, stained glass, print making and paper sketching and drawing. She usually works in her studio Opal Glass Studio, which she is running from 1983.

Check out her website: Sharon Bladholm ..click here..

My sculpture is a response to a long term investigation into the transient nature of the human figure and the natural world, especially botanical forms. My starting point in the creative process begins with simple materials such as wax, plaster and clay and after a process of maturation is finally formed into glass, bronze and ceramic.

I believe that the figure and organic form become an appropriate vehicle allowing me to address the larger concerns of the human condition. It is very important that my work reaches across social, economic, and cultural barriers reaching back to that time when art was not a separate function of life and spoke a more universal language.
– Sharon Bladholm.

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After my 2007 studio visit, we lost in touch, till we met again in 2010. It was at Garfield Park Conservatory, where she was installing her ceramic sculpture “Biophilia Biofeedback” at the exhibition “Form in Flora – I”,  by artists of Chicago Sculpture International [CSI].  We connected again, and  I visited her Opel Glass Studio for the second time in August 2010.

This time, I found her working on bas-relief sculptures “Alive with Life” for Openlands Lakeshore preserve in Highwood, Illinois. The installation can be seen here.. click here.. Her work includes ten bronze bas-relief sculptures that depict soil microorganisms essential to the life giving properties of the soil, with their role in breaking down of organic matter. These include Algae, Bacteria, Protozoa, and Mites among others; and are made in remarkable details revealing complex subtlety that are often not seen. The process of site visits, proposals, research, drawing, sculpting and final installation took about three years. The sculptures are attached to a low retaining wall with plants growing above them.

 Here are some images from the Studio Visit..

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Some of her public art installations that I’ve seen..

 

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Thank You Sharon for all you do!
And Thank You for your time!

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Sharon Bladholm Studio

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RELATED LINKS:
Studio Visits: click here..
Know the Artists series.. click here..

 

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