Pickle Street School Studio

A working art studio located in scenic Monterey Township, Michigan

Pickle Street School Studio is a one-room school building renovated and transformed into an art studio offering a variety of arts and enrichment classes and workshops.

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Painting Beauty with Intent, Focus on Brushwork and Edges with Sharon Griffes Tarr


  • Pickle Street School Studio 2980 134th Avenue Hopkins, MI, 49328 United States (map)
  • 3 day workshop - June 10-11-12
  • $280.00
  • 9 - 4 daily

Individually, how we paint separates the amateur from the masterful in creating excellent art. Brushwork and edge treatment both rank very high in creating sensitive, moving works that engage the viewer. Paint layering, mixing on the palette or directly on the canvas, as well as, brush and knife work all have the unique ability to express individualized beauty in one’s work. In this workshop we will explore these attributes and how they can be used to create meaningful marks and edges during each stage of the painting process. Each student will work at their current skill level with instructor assistance, but end the workshop with new confidence and skill in handling the tools of our trade.

Skill level: Beginners w/some experience in their medium to advanced.
Mediums: Oil, acrylic, pastel, watercolorDemonstrations: Daily, will be done in oil. However, Sharon works in all mediums and is versed in and fully able to teach in each medium.

Contact Pickle Street School Studio to register.


Artist Bio

My personal journey in art began early in childhood and was heavily influenced by my mother and a family friend who gave me some paints, two small canvases and a couple of brushes when I was eleven. That simple gift of kindness made possible a life-long passion to create. Later, studies at Chicago's American Academy of Art had a profound effect on my future as an artist. I enthusiastically explored the city's landscapes and studied the Masters at the Art Institute of Chicago. Having studied ballet for a number of years in Detroit, I became a member of Chicago’s Allegro Ballet Company during this period and divided my time between art classes and dancing. My sensitivity to line and transitional movement in painting is a direct result of my ballet training.

While light and shadow predominate in my contemporary impressionistic paintings my interest is centered on expressing atmospheric space.  This concept has provided me with exciting creative challenges to my process and self-expression of subject matter.

I believe fully in the importance of painting outdoors directly from nature as well as in the studio. This dual focus enables me to fully embrace the elements of design and creative concepts with first hand experiential knowledge of natural light effects and atmospheric drama.

Largely self-taught in fine art following my art training at the American Academy in the early 1960's I've periodically studied with other artists such as Matt Smith, Albert Handel, Cheng Kee Chee, Carolyn Anderson and was mentored by Joyce Pike. Most recently, my work has been richly influenced by the great contemporary English and Russian  masters including: Bato Dugarzhapov, Denis Sarazhin and Fred Cuming.  Other influences include past masters, John Singer Sargent, Joquin Sorolla, and Anders Zorn.

Visit her artist website at: http://sgtarr.com/