Sharon Huget
“This art has a purpose. To bring contemplative beauty to your home.”
— Sandra Botnen, curator
“As an artist I am visually greedy, I love, and want everything.”
Day 13 brings us Sharon Huget as part of an exploration of contemporary abstraction in art. “As an artist I am visually greedy,” she says. “I love, and want everything.” I know exactly what she means. Art makes me greedy too, it gives me bold, embracing, I want it all, feelings for life.
“I love the ambiguity of abstraction and think of my own work as being “ish”. I am not motivated by certainty,” she says. When we discuss the feminist movements behind the textile artists explored in days 6-10, she says she does not feel separate from the ideas, but adds, “I don’t approach the canvass that way, with something clear I want to say. I pay attention to what is emerging inside, where my voice speaks in terms of “ish”.
For decades, Sharon Huget has passionately pursued her love of painting. In spite of a long career, she says, “I go back to the same ways of doing things. The same lines appear, and I have to believe it’s just my way of doing things.” She talks to me from her Abbotsford studio where she meets with 5 other women painters who pursue similar practices in similar ways but yield totally different results. “There is this woman in my group… her lines are so straight! I don’t know how she does it. Mine are always blurry and impulsive,” she adds. But those blurry impulsive lines are the heart of her work and thematic continuity.
“I think about homes when I paint, and what people want to live with,” she says. It may sound like a simple pursuit for an artist, but she stands by it, believing the importance of beauty and décor are underestimated. Acceptance, nurturing and sometimes the remnants of classical architectural forms find their way onto her canvasses. While she thinks about warm inviting living space, her paintings have also ended up in numerous psychologist’s offices. Apropos considering Huget sees her work as a conversation. The markings, the color, and texture- they all belong to a particular contemplation. From that perspective there is more to her work than its decorative elements.
When Sharon Huget’s first child was born, she said she suddenly she had less and less time but her painting became more and more urgent. She made time, stuck with her practice, and today speaks of the many cycles of life she has been through and how they have all found their place on the canvass.
As a result, her work is timelessly, beautiful and meant to be lived with. “It all about understanding the purpose of your art,” she says. Sharon often shows her work in the biannual Fraser Valley Biennale exhibition at The Reach Gallery Museum. She talks about her endless interest in the different co-exhibitors at the event. “I enjoy it all, I always look at the public art, but different kinds of art have different purposes. The purpose of my art is clear. I paint for the home and office,” she says. She shows her work at design shows too, collaborates with interior designers and pays attention to decor trends. “That is where I find the most joy,” she says.
Available Works
Coming Soon….