I was born and grew up in Toronto; went to Ryerson University and studied Social Work. I have lived my whole adult life in Waterloo and it was while working with children in therapy that I fell in love with the arts. This lead to studies of art and specifically painting while my own children were young. I spent several years working in social work, before focusing my time mainly on art making.

In the past, I have had many solo and group shows at local  galleries in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Most of my earlier work consisted of acrylic paintings of local landscapes of Waterloo Region followed by landscapes inspired by trips to Newfoundland, Scotland and most recently Malawi, Africa.

After Africa my painting style has exploded into fragments or brush strokes in proximity to one another, drawn together by colour and space to make a whole. Colour has always been a strong denominator in my painting and this remains so, but now I am playing with the juxtaposition of colours and experimenting with how the fragments fit together in a pleasing way.

During Covid, I have been painting a series of mostly red paintings. I paint the canvas with various brush strokes and then cover the whole thing with red and then rub off small sections of the red to reveal blue and yellow spots underneath. These paintings seem to be healing for me during this time of isolation and fear.

Sharon Sargeant Woodley

March, 2021