2022 Ohio Watercolor Society Jim Brower Lifetime Achievement Award

Sharon Stolzenberger

Dayton, Ohio

Sharon Stolzenberger has been a lifelong resident of Dayton, Ohio with the exception of the years she lived in Cincinnati during her employment with Gibson Greeting Card Company. After graduation from the School of the Dayton Art Institute, Sharon went to work at Gibson as an illustrator of greeting cards, later becoming the art director of seasonal lines which included boxed Christmas cards, calendars and private label cards for the Sears Corporation. Of the greeting card industry, Sharon says it was a good way to be in the commercial art business because an artist could start off doing full color illustration work without having to do the basic work of layout and keyline drawings so often associated with art studios and agencies.

As art director Sharon gained experience in the marketing, reproduction and printing end of the business which would come in handy later when she produced her own line of note cards. While at Gibson, she developed her signature wet-into-wet style of painting animals. During her employment with Gibson, Sharon started to do a few art fairs and found she had a marketable product with her watercolor wash drawings as she called her wildlife paintings at the time. In 1980, Sharon left Gibson to go out on her own, as she says, "to make a living in the street" doing art fairs. This was a time when the juried outdoor art festivals were gaining in popularity with both artists and the public who came to buy art. The appeal, for an artist, was the huge potential customer base plus the opportunity to meet and talk with the people who became customers and friends. Another attraction was the travel that was part of the business. Sharon exhibited in shows throughout the Midwest, Florida and Texas.

In addition to the outdoor shows, Sharon's work has been accepted in prestigious national wildlife exhibitions such as the Easton Waterfowl Festival in Maryland; the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, South Carolina; the Pacific Rim Wildlife Show, Seattle, Washington; and several Society of Animal Artists Annual Exhibitions of which she was a member.

Meeting and taking a class taught by Marilyn Phillis in Springfield, Ohio encouraged Sharon's involvement with the Ohio Watercolor Society in 1985. She has served on the Board of Trustees since the early 1990's, has been the Exhibition Chairperson for four OWS Annual Exhibitions and Workshop Chairperson for four annual workshops. In 1997, Sharon organized a Juried theme show on behalf of OWS titled, Painting the Old Pike, which was held at the Zanesville Museum of Art with Homer Hacker as Juror of Awards.

Although she has taken many workshops from noted artists, Sharon credits Marilyn Phillis and Virginia Cobb with inspiring her towards experimentation in concept, materials and techniques and to take chances and trust in the process.

Sharon's work has been formed by her interest in wildlife and environmental issues. She became a volunteer educator at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in the 1980s. Volunteering allowed opportunities for getting up close and personal to the subjects she painted. This also involved teaching specific topics through educational tours the zoo scheduled with schools focusing on the importance of nature and wildlife. Her passion for wildlife and nature continues through her crow and prairie themed paintings.

Sharon currently teaches watercolor classes through Sinclair Community College's Lifelong Learning program and Rosewood Arts Centre. She is past president of the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors, served on the Kettering Arts Council and was on the board of the Western Ohio Watercolor Society.

Sharon's paintings have been included in several books; The Creative Artist, by Nita Leland; Drawing and Painting from Nature, by Cathy Johnson; The Best of Wildlife II, North Light Books; Confident Color, by Nita Leland to name a few, and the Artists' Network's Best of Acrylic Painting magazine, 2021 issue in which her painting was awarded an honorable mention. That painting. Prairie Frenzy, was awarded the Silver Medal Award in Watercolor Ohio, 2019.

Through the years, Sharon's paintings have received awards in outdoor art shows, local and regional exhibitions and the Ohio Watercolor Society's annual exhibitions.