Sharon Tama is a native of the Bay Area and has lived in Orinda for the past nine years. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in art and minor in United States History, a teaching credential in Secondary Education also from Berkeley, and a Masters Degree in Curriculum Design from the California State University of the East Bay.
Sharon taught Art, United States History, and American Government at Dublin High School for thirty-four years and thoroughly enjoyed it.
After raising her family in Lafayette and retiring from her teaching career in 2007, Sharon was able to return to her passion in art. She joined the Lamorinda Art Alliance and began painting at the Lafayette Studio. She also became an active member of the Modern Art Council of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Sharon paints in the medium of acrylics and her subject matter ranges from human portraiture, to animals, to the wonders of nature. Oftentimes her inspiration comes from her travels, and the multi-faceted photographs taken by her son, Loren, from his own worldly travels. She has received commissions and her works are found in both private and corporate collections. Her paintings have appeared on public display at the Lafayette Studio in 2009, the 2009 John Muir Medical Center Art Show, for which she received the second place award in the acrylic category, Camilla Tea Room in Benicia 2010, Orinda Library Gallery in July 2010, and the Walnut Creek Library show in the Fall of 2010.
Artist Statement
It is both rewarding and exhilarating for me to explore the vast world of subject matter, color, and emotion. My paintings reflect a slice of time in the midst of a conversation, for example, or an intriguing moss-encrusted twisted oak, or perhaps the quirky personality of a much-loved dog. Whatever captures my interest becomes the subject of my next canvas.
