Allison Sharpe

Allison Sharpe studied for five years at Edinburgh University gaining a Fine Art degree in 1989. Time was equally divided between art history and practical work and her subsequent career has centred on these two areas of research. In 1991 her MA thesis A Pageant Memorial was published in part by the Society of Antiqueries, and the remaining section appeared in the Journal of Antiquities in 1993. The subject was a 17th century effigia furnishing monument seen in the context of Tudor and Shaft memorial production.

Allison's artistic interests are in landscape and figure painting; she works for the rural and urban landscape in pastels, watercolour, mixed media and oils, also life drawing and sculpting portrait heads in clay. Favourite artists include Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, Ivor Hitchins, Carel Weight and David Hockney.

In 1999 she was elected as a member of the Filingdales Group of Artists. Since 1991 Allison has tutored many OCA courses (currently Drawing, Painting at all levels and Understanding Western Art). In July 2001 she completed Leicester University’s MA in Museum Studies, by distance learning, and so has a personal insight and understanding about this method of study. Since then Allison has had a full time curatical position at a regional gallery, while continuing to pursue her own work.