Sharon Bancroft will exhibit her paintings at the Grace Centre Gallery from March 17 through April 22.
Sampling of Work
In creating her still-life paintings in oil, Bancroft strives for honesty and sympathy in representing her subjects, whether mundane or exotic. Her pieces meditate on acorns as well as Chinese ginger jars, half-eaten cherries and hand tools. She is equally inspired by the focus of the Dutch masters and the panache of the French Impressionists. A perpetual student, she recently started a blog to chronicle the results of her experiments. Her blog and other work can be viewed at www.sharonbancroft.com
Bancroft lives, works and paints in Richmond, Virginia. Born and raised outside of Philadelphia, she studied painting while attending the University of Richmond. Exhibitions over the past year include a solo show at Vintage Modern Home in Charlottesville, Virginia, a two-man show and subsequent group show at Curated Culture's Cornerstone Gallery in Richmond, and a juried group show at ArtWorks in Richmond. She has volunteered with First Fridays, the monthly art walk in downtown Richmond, as a member of the Advisory Committee.
If you would like to purchase one of Sharon's pieces, please contact Dusty McNabb at Grace (dmcnabb@graceinfo.org or 891-2006, ext. 116).
Artist Statement
Painting is not just a means of expression; it is also a way of seeing. When I am painting, the details in life stand out more. I am more aware of the symmetry of my friends’ faces, the way light falls onto surfaces, how objects fill space. These details make my life richer, more anchored in the present. Painting is an opportunity for me to explore these little things more fully, and share my impressions with others. Through an intimacy with both the oils and my subjects, I hope to communicate non-physical attributes as well: peace, horror, anticipation, familiarity.
The room where I keep my easel looks like the lounge of a scientific laboratory – a late-night refuge decorated with odd glass flasks, curious specimens and discarded equipment. My impulse to surround myself with these trappings comes from a lifelong fascination with the natural sciences, especially botany. I enjoy mucking around in streams or gardens, and also returning to work in the lab or the library. The science of food and cooking appeals to me in the same way: the measuring and mixing of ingredients, observation and experimentation. After all, what is painting but taking elements of the earth and using them to make something else?
Author and painter James Elkins wrote that paint(ing) is most sublime when it achieves the state between being paint and being the subject. I want to respect the paint as a physical substance, something that has a personality and agenda of its own, but also push it to that wonderful and mysterious moment when it takes on the properties of metal, skin, light, volume, time.
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