Photo!=N0719033.JPEG

Teresa Sharpe displays her portraits 'Anguish' (L), and 'Hope' (R).

By Tim Robertson, Times-Union Correspondent

"Hope," "Anguish," "Melancholy," "Ecstasy." To most of us, these are emotions we've experienced. To young artist Teresa Sharpe, these words are more; they are the titles of some of her portraits.

Emotional themes permeate Sharpe's artwork.

"A lot of it comes from my experiences in life," said Sharpe, the daughter of Thomas and Lisa Sharpe of Warsaw. "My paintings are titled with emotions because I base them on how I feel sometimes with my family and friends."

Sharpe, 18, has faced the divorce of her parents, an alcohol problem in the family and the pressure of helping her younger brother, Channing, 16, and sister, Maria, 12, deal with these difficult situations. She said that these challenges produced in her many repressed emotions. While painting, Sharpe said, "I could focus on one emotion at a time for hours. It was like taking a break from life, taking a breather and then coming back and saying, 'Ok, I can deal with this.' It really helped."

Artistic expression began early for Sharpe, a 2003 graduate of Warsaw Community High School. "When I was like 2 years old, my mom showed me how to draw. When I entered elementary school, I had surpassed what she could teach me and I started taking outside lessons," she said.

Her mother, Lisa, remembers her drawing on the menus during Sunday dinners at Richard's Restaurant. She said the waitresses at Richard's kept Sharpe's drawings. "They used to leave them hanging back there in the waitress station," she said.

Sharpe's private lessons were with WCHS art teacher Don Swartzentruber at Lakeland Art Center. According to Swartzentruber, Sharpe showed promise from the beginning. "With children, art is a visual representation of daydreaming," he said, "She spent more time doing that than most kids."

In her years at Lakeland Art Center, Sharpe's artwork had fantastic themes, such as unicorns and dragons. Swartzentruber said that, in first and second grades, Sharpe's work was as good as that in some fantasy art publications.

In high school, Sharpe continued to hone her talent. She took every art class WCHS offered except for two basic courses her teachers recommended she skip. She also worked on art independently and often brought her work to Swartzentruber and other art faculty for critique. "I suggested she become more personal, and she did that. Her work, last year, was more personal than before," he said.

Swartzentruber says this pursuit of critique is rare among young artists and is one of Sharpe's strengths. "Some of her best work was done in that context because she was so sincere," he said.

Trisha Shiley, a student teacher who taught Sharpe's career art class at WCHS, agreed. "She's always asking the opinions of other artists. A lot of people avoid that because they're afraid of criticism, but she's really open to it," Shiley said.

Sharpe named Swartzentruber as a major influence in her artistic development. She said she sees similarities to Swartzentruber's work in her own. "His always had a dark feeling, and mine has started to look that way," she said.

She also attributes her work ethic to her teacher. "I carry sketchbooks with me, I really try to sell myself to the public instead of waiting for them to come to me, which was the way he was," she said.

Shiley remembers encountering Sharpe's work ethic in class. "You could see right away that she was so far above the rest of the class; not just because of her talent, but because of her motivation. She gets things done," Shiley said.

Sharpe's artistic ability isn't limited to one medium. This year she won first places at the Tri Kappa art show at WCHS in the categories of photography, paint, drawing, colored pencil and ceramics. Her work has won numerous other awards, including two Gold Key awards and a $700 scholarship for drawing and painting at the Lakeland Art Center Art Show. Her portrait, "Firestarter," made it to the final round in Project Excel, sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance, and will tour Indiana fairs, including the State Fair in Indianapolis Aug. 6-17.

Sharpe has met with success in other arenas. She was a member of WCHS' varsity gymnastics team, wrote the column, "Sharpe Points," for the school's student newspaper and competed in world taekwondo competitions, earning a first-degree black belt. But she said she is still looking toward art for the future.

Sharpe will attend Millikin University, Decatur, Ill., in the fall. She plans to major in fine arts and would like to finish her schooling at Chicago Art Institute. Sharpe said she is not yet sure what the future holds for her career, but, she said, "I'll be in art. It's just part of who I am." [[In-content Ad]]