About the artist...
Sharon Clarke Haugli
Sharon is a Canadian artist with roots in Vancouver, BC and the Okanagan’s lake and wine country region. The inspiration for her work is a compilation of influences from the various places she has lived as well as her outdoor interests and view of the world. She has 4 main bodies of work: her Beach Treasure Inspired collection - see slideshow 1, Florals (which she is best known for), Stylized florals (slideshow 3), and her Birds, Woodlands, Landscapes and Seascapes (slideshow 4).
Sharon spent most of her life seaside in Vancouver and Vancouver Island growing up and spent many summers holidaying on the lakes and beaches of the Okanagan. It seems only natural that she continues to be inspired by her time on the beach. Over the past few years she has developed a unique body of work inspired by the beach treasure she collects with her family and friends. Sharon is above all, a lover of flowers and is most well known for her large scale floral work which over the years has morphed back and forth from stylized and almost graphic to loose and flowing contemporary representation of this beloved subject matter. A hiker, nature enthusiast and amateur bird watcher, she includes these themes in a collection she refers to as "Birds, Woodlands, landscape and Seascapes".
In terms of process, Sharon utilizes a combination of memory, intuition, real inspiration and objects as well as her photos to create the image she wants. Her latest series of paintings is titled "Yearnings" and each piece is meant to evoke a certain feeling or state that seems elusive or fleeting. Her intention is to create an image that brings up the desired feelings or states we long for and to guide us back to how we want to be when other states and feelings take over.
Sharon graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University in 1998 and has shown at galleries in Vancouver, Kelowna, Penticton and Calgary. Details of gallery representation are available on the Artist CV page.
The slideshows below include the following series:
1. "Beach Treasure"
2. "Florals"
3. "Stylized Florals"
4. "Birds, Woodlands, Landscape and Seascapes"
Feel free to contact me with feedback or inquiries at the bottom of this page or contact me directly at 250-863-4164. Let me know if you have an idea for a special commission that you would like me to consider. Thank you for your interest in my work!
Sharon
About the "Beach Treasure" series...
This series represents special time spent in nature connecting over the beauty of found objects from ocean and lakeshore beaches. Having lived most of my life near the ocean in Vancouver and lakes in the Okanagan, beachcombing has become a favorite past time for the opportunity it provides to connect with nature, beauty, loved ones and especially children. There is a collaborative aspect to this work as some of the treasure I find with my five year old son Mattias, some with my nieces and nephews, some with friends and some with my Mother, who despite experiencing Alzheimer’s, has never lost her appreciation for beauty or her love of nature. Friends have also generously lent me their bounty from the beaches of Costa Rica to Salt Spring and the San Juan Islands. Each item of beach treasure has it’s own beauty, history and origin that the finder has sensed, sparking curiosity, story and awe.
Beyond finding the inspiration for the paintings, the process includes intuitively choosing which pieces to include and arranging the treasure on a plain white surface. Items such as sea glass, stones, shells, beads, wood and marbles become abstracted by their magnified size. The variety of textures and finishes play off one another and reflect and refract light in a variety of ways. The minimal ground ads to the abstraction of the subject matter with subtle organic water stains and markings.
These abstract still life paintings conjure deep memories of the past and speak to the complex relationship between humans and the environment. For every small handful of treasure I collect and eventually return, I collect at least a bag of garbage that has washed ashore or been left behind by visitors. This series has an opportunity to heighten awareness of the impact humans have on our lakes, rivers and oceans.
About prior Collections including "Epic Blooms", "Rose Mahlings" and "Woodlands"...
The inspiration for my prior collections comes from many places and forms. I am most attracted to colour, light and beauty and aim to reflect these in my work whatever the subject.
One important influence has been Vincent Van Gogh for his still life paintings as well as his landscapes and bold use of colour. His influence is especially evident in my 2016 collection which is also highly influenced by Scandianvian "Rose Mahling" (Rose painting) which has been done for centuries to decorate furniture and personal items and is now seen on decorative iPhone cases and stationary the world over!
Many of the paintings in the "Epic Blooms" Collection have been inspired by Dutch and Flemish artists. In particular, the still life paintings of the Dutch Masters such as Jan Vermeer, Jan Davidz de Heem, and Cornelius de Heem. They have been important influences to my sense of colour, light and themes.
The "Epic Blooms" collection about embracing not only what is seen and illuminated, but what is unseen in the shadows. Illumination is a metaphor for the light within each of us that is always there but is only available to us as we allow it. As Arthur Erickson said in reference to his Shadow Integration Theory: "It is not by peering into the light that we become luminous, but by plunging into the darkness."
The work plays with metaphors and themes of the life cycle and the natural order of things. Beauty is represented in all stages from flower buds that have not yet opened to petals that have just fallen; caterpillars that have yet to become butterflies and bees dropping in to pollinate the glorious blooms of peonies, poppies, and lillies.
Themes of romantic relationship dynamics and communication play out in the "Woodlands" collection of birds and bucks. This collection is unique in that there is a constant interplay between realism and fantasy, and classical and modern. My "Woodlands" collection is quite a departure from previous influences and came quite purely from experiences of being in nature with my son, Mattias and observing the beauty of our very rural settings including Okanagan Falls and the village of Fort Langely. In Okanagan Falls our house bordered the forest and deer and bucks found sanctuary on our grass which made it especially easy to observe them and fall in love with them! In Fort Langely we lived across from a bird sanctuary and my 2 year old and I became regular "birders" watching the birds every chance we got and slowly getting to know them. So there I was suddenly painting birds and bucks! ...so fun and playful.
This series represents special time spent in nature connecting over the beauty of found objects from ocean and lakeshore beaches. Having lived most of my life near the ocean in Vancouver and lakes in the Okanagan, beachcombing has become a favorite past time for the opportunity it provides to connect with nature, beauty, loved ones and especially children. There is a collaborative aspect to this work as some of the treasure I find with my five year old son Mattias, some with my nieces and nephews, some with friends and some with my Mother, who despite experiencing Alzheimer’s, has never lost her appreciation for beauty or her love of nature. Friends have also generously lent me their bounty from the beaches of Costa Rica to Salt Spring and the San Juan Islands. Each item of beach treasure has it’s own beauty, history and origin that the finder has sensed, sparking curiosity, story and awe.
Beyond finding the inspiration for the paintings, the process includes intuitively choosing which pieces to include and arranging the treasure on a plain white surface. Items such as sea glass, stones, shells, beads, wood and marbles become abstracted by their magnified size. The variety of textures and finishes play off one another and reflect and refract light in a variety of ways. The minimal ground ads to the abstraction of the subject matter with subtle organic water stains and markings.
These abstract still life paintings conjure deep memories of the past and speak to the complex relationship between humans and the environment. For every small handful of treasure I collect and eventually return, I collect at least a bag of garbage that has washed ashore or been left behind by visitors. This series has an opportunity to heighten awareness of the impact humans have on our lakes, rivers and oceans.
About prior Collections including "Epic Blooms", "Rose Mahlings" and "Woodlands"...
The inspiration for my prior collections comes from many places and forms. I am most attracted to colour, light and beauty and aim to reflect these in my work whatever the subject.
One important influence has been Vincent Van Gogh for his still life paintings as well as his landscapes and bold use of colour. His influence is especially evident in my 2016 collection which is also highly influenced by Scandianvian "Rose Mahling" (Rose painting) which has been done for centuries to decorate furniture and personal items and is now seen on decorative iPhone cases and stationary the world over!
Many of the paintings in the "Epic Blooms" Collection have been inspired by Dutch and Flemish artists. In particular, the still life paintings of the Dutch Masters such as Jan Vermeer, Jan Davidz de Heem, and Cornelius de Heem. They have been important influences to my sense of colour, light and themes.
The "Epic Blooms" collection about embracing not only what is seen and illuminated, but what is unseen in the shadows. Illumination is a metaphor for the light within each of us that is always there but is only available to us as we allow it. As Arthur Erickson said in reference to his Shadow Integration Theory: "It is not by peering into the light that we become luminous, but by plunging into the darkness."
The work plays with metaphors and themes of the life cycle and the natural order of things. Beauty is represented in all stages from flower buds that have not yet opened to petals that have just fallen; caterpillars that have yet to become butterflies and bees dropping in to pollinate the glorious blooms of peonies, poppies, and lillies.
Themes of romantic relationship dynamics and communication play out in the "Woodlands" collection of birds and bucks. This collection is unique in that there is a constant interplay between realism and fantasy, and classical and modern. My "Woodlands" collection is quite a departure from previous influences and came quite purely from experiences of being in nature with my son, Mattias and observing the beauty of our very rural settings including Okanagan Falls and the village of Fort Langely. In Okanagan Falls our house bordered the forest and deer and bucks found sanctuary on our grass which made it especially easy to observe them and fall in love with them! In Fort Langely we lived across from a bird sanctuary and my 2 year old and I became regular "birders" watching the birds every chance we got and slowly getting to know them. So there I was suddenly painting birds and bucks! ...so fun and playful.