Donna Rawlins Sharpe

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”  This statement, by an unknown author, best describes what Donna attempts to do with every stroke of her brush.

Donna continues to explore the fragility of beauty through its more delicate life forms – orchids, irises, hummingbirds, seashells, pears, a tree branch or tiny chickadee, for example.  She is constantly in awe of the hidden strength/perseverance of these seemingly fragile natural forms.  For her, it is a reminder of the duality of life – the frailty of mortality that we must all face, mirrored by the strength of spirit to celebrate and cherish this momentary vitality.

She graduated from York University in Toronto as a high school art teacher.  She also studied printmaking at Otis/Parsons Art Institute in Los Angeles and Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver.  

She lived and worked in the greater Tokyo area in Japan for twelve years.  She has lived in Sackville, New Brunswick for over twenty years and calls it “home”.  At present, she is recently retired from her position of teaching English to Japanese students at Mount Allison University.

She combines elements of both Japanese and Western art through assemblages by drawing, and painting on a variety of papers collaged onto wooden boxes.  Her work has been exhibited throughout New Brunswick and she has been a member of the Art Across the Marsh Studio Tour for more than fifteen years.   She has been privileged to exhibit her work at Fog Forest Gallery in Sackville for more than twenty years.