“I have drawn things since I was six. All that I made before the age of sixty-five is not worth counting. At seventy-three I began to understand the true construction of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes, and insects. At ninety I will enter into the secret of things. At a hundred and ten, everything--every dot, every dash--will live”
― Hokusai Katsushika

BIOGRAPHY

Sharon Thieman has known herself as an artist since the age of four. This natural instinct to create, as evidenced in childhood, was nurtured by her parents and further developed in Art School. A pivotal point in her career came when she was introduced to the ancient Japanese craft of Temari.

After a twenty-year professional career in the arts, she pursued and received an MA in Asian studies with a concentration on Japanese Language and Culture from Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Her subsequent studies in Japan solidified her interest in Japanese aesthetics and sparked her longing to make art again. She received her MFA (2018) in Visual Arts at Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, Florida, Her graduate thesis, Power of Wrapping, is a social art project which culminated into large installation artwork embodied by Japanese aesthetic and the process of wrapping for emotional healing.  

Sharon is currently an adjunct Professor at FAU. Here she is working with Project Design to develop her favorite course to teach, Art Appreciation for eLearning.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a fiber installation artist whose art practice revolves around using fiber to wrap objects. Wrapping is a very natural movement for me, like reaching for a flower.  To me it is meditative and healing. While I am drawn to all things Japanese, I create art that translates a traditional craft, Temari, imbued with Japanese aesthetics into contemporary form. I am expanding this visual vocabulary to modern day relevance, through an investigation of Somaesthetics, a philosophy which embraces experiencing life with the body for self-cultivation. My aim is to present ways in which viewers can participate with the art as they interact with their bodies to experience various human realities, such as playful wonder, frustration and spirituality.