Sharon Carlisle shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Sharon, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’’m Sharon Carlisle, a visual multimedia artist working mostly in installation.
I’m currently completing work on elements for a sculptural installation opening on January 23rd in the Loveland Museum/Gallery called ‘pinkStardust’.
‘pinkStardust’ is the 2nd of a 3-installation series called My Manhattan Project about our atomic history.
Pink stardust is what folks in Las Vegas called the pink sand that fell from the sky after the atomic tests being conducted at the Nevada Test Site 60 miles northwest of the city.
My ‘pinkStardust’ is about our atomic testing times. I have been in the research and development stage of the project since 2009 and began making work for the installation in 2012.
The first installation in the series, ‘skin’ was exhibited in 2001. In it I contrasted and compared elements and events of our war with Imperial Japan (WWII) that ended with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – the dawning of our nuclear age.
The third and final installation is called NUMEC, destroyer of worlds. It will be about NUMEC. A uranium processing plant in Apollo PA , where my father worked during the 1960s, was irradiated, and died from cancer a few years later – as did many others who worked there or lived in the area.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
That I was stupid.
Learning challenges, not understood or addressed when I was growing up, caused a lot of difficulty in school- leading me to believe I was stupid.
Then, as an older student, (started in my 20s) I became the first college graduate in my family, graduating summa cum laude and with distinction in my major from the University of California, Santa Barbara. So much for faulty belief systems.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
When I started making art.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
“My Manhattan Project”.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
What I was born to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carlisleartstudio.com
- Instagram: 1. carlisle.studio 2. mymanhattanproject
- Linkedin: Sharon Carlisle
- Facebook: Sharon Carlisle
Image Credits
Sharon J. Carlisle and Robin L. Snyder
