Biodiversity is a Slippery Subject, 61cm x 61cm, acrylic paint on canvas, From Beauty of Patterns Lost series, exhibition Logan City Art Gallery 2011
ARTIST STATEMENT
Beauty of Patterns Lost is an exhibition of works inspired by the observation and documentation, of the loss of native Flora and Fauna along a stretch of road she have travelled, over the past ten years. Sharon is interested in the way people shape their habitat and the consequences their behaviour has on the native wild life.
Biodiversity is the foundation of life on Earth, its innumerable plants, animals, and microbes physically and chemically unite the atmosphere into one environmental system, which makes it possible for millions of species, including people, to exist.
The question: when did over consumerism become necessary for our survival . . . when did we become so disconnected from the land that we are unaware or indifferent about who needs what? We clear land, mine the ground, flood the landscape, bitumen the roads, and saturate the atmosphere with insecticides, herbicides and emissions – devastating the skies with pollution. Do we need to take so much?
THE ARTIST
Sharon Lee was born in South Australia in 1959. At the age of 10 years, her parents moved to Port Moresby in, Papua New Guinea. This move resulted in a connection with the country until 1988. While in PNG, living with her husband on Bougainville Island, in the North Solomon providence, Sharon had the opportunity to develop a passion to paint and sculpt. An appreciation for nature, colour, design and place has continuously influenced her work and subject matter. Returning to Australia, Sharon owned an art Supply shop for 10 years where she learnt many techniques and invaluable art related information from numerous sources. In 2000, a move to living on acreage, in the beautiful Esk Shire outside of Brisbane, in Queensland, has renewed her sense of place and intense feeling of responsibility to the unique native wild life, which inhabits the bush on their property.