Breaking Through Painting

Sharon Ruttonsha began her career in commercial design and later graduated from OCAD University with a Bachelor in Fine Arts. Notable among her exhibitions, was a three-part project called "Reinventing Eve" which dealt with topics related to women's lives. The resulting exhibitions, seminars and outreach programs were funded, in part, by the Ontario Arts Council. In 2006, a collaboration with the performance group The Healing Divas resulted in a dual media art show/performance titled "In Search of the Common Place". Her work has appeared in Artfolio Fine Art Catalogue, Synchronocity Magazine, Magazin'Art, Biennial Guide to Canadian Artist in Galleries, and Les idees de Ma Maison. “Ruttonsha’s paintings define a spectrum of relatedness: sometimes large and imposing, other times close and intimate; some flooded with light, others bathed in the light and dark tensions of chiaroscuro; almost monochromatic or with rich layers of colour optically blended into consistent values; positioned against a ground or viewed without reference to time or place. All of these explorations speak of the capacity that painting has to say what is felt, to act as a medium between art and life”. Michele White, Curator