Sharon Louise Barnes is an interdisciplinary artist known for her mixed media practice that bridges painting, sculpture, and installation expressed through the medium of social abstraction.
She is a 2022 recipient of the Los Angeles C.O.L.A. Master Artist Fellowship for which she created collaged paintings and assembled sculptures in her “Seed Wind” series. The series is inspired by the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, along with her own familial narratives of resistance, resilience, and Black fugitive migration.
Barnes' works are held in the collections of the Crocker Art Museum, the California African American Museum, and the UCLA Ralph Bunche Center for African American Studies.
She earned her M.F.A. in fine arts from Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles.
During her Fellowship at MacDowell, Barnes continued her ongoing "Seed Wind" series. She created abstract, collaged paintings on paper inspired by the gentle breezes surrounding the Cheney studio at MacDowell. Afterward, she returned to Los Angeles to work on an installation for the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
