SHARON ARNOLD
Across the span of my life, I've bridged multiple communities, industries, and interests; but the bulk of my professional life has been spent first as a chef, and most recently as curator and educator in the arts. Across both careers, my focus has been towards building community, conversations, and connectivity; and engaging deep scholarship of their underlying histories. Alongside my visible professional life, I've held a less visible but no less rigorous practice of tracing and reviving heritage traditions, and learning my ancestral lineages and inherited cultures to better understand where I come from, and where next to go. What each of these paths share is, of course, the interweaving and expression of various knowledge systems which ultimately build and inform our known world.
This convergence—Dimensions Variable—is where all my areas of interest now meet, from arts, philosophy, and cultural criticism to animism, folklore, and ancestral practices. I'm excited to take these years of study and practice to publicly engage a more holistic conversation about how these things are related, and their relationship to the way we move forward, together.
This convergence—Dimensions Variable—is where all my areas of interest now meet, from arts, philosophy, and cultural criticism to animism, folklore, and ancestral practices. I'm excited to take these years of study and practice to publicly engage a more holistic conversation about how these things are related, and their relationship to the way we move forward, together.
Here's the formal business:
Sharon (she/they) is a queer independent scholar, writer, and educator working in arts, cultural histories, and animism. They approach this work through the examination of histories, folklore, community ecosystems, and solidarity networks to support new paths forward. They identify themselves as a person working within syncretic ancestral folk traditions, primarily rooted in the study of Irish and American traditions and folklore with a committed devotion to community, land, and spirit.
Sharon has a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on critical theory and cultural criticism. Since 2018, they have co-taught a monthly Plant Medicine Lab, annual Ancestral Reconnection & Restorative Practices, and the year-long Earth Medicine Practitioner Training Program with Madrona House founder Vanessa Ainslie, as well as various other classes throughout the year. They've completed courses through the Irish Pagan School including the six-month Ogham Journeys and the year-long Cóir Mentorship Program, and continue to learn from mentors and colleagues across their various communities, as well as an ever growing library. In addition to teaching at Madrona House, they taught from 2017-2020 as an adjunct instructor in the art department at Cornish College of the Arts, with an emphasis on the ethics and practicum of curatorial and exhibition-making; as well as integration of critical, cultural, and political theory and research in studio practices. They are currently working on various projects which tether multiple intersections of art, food, culture, and folklore which are regularly published on Dimensions Variable.
My overly extensive art world bio and CV can be found here.
Sharon (she/they) is a queer independent scholar, writer, and educator working in arts, cultural histories, and animism. They approach this work through the examination of histories, folklore, community ecosystems, and solidarity networks to support new paths forward. They identify themselves as a person working within syncretic ancestral folk traditions, primarily rooted in the study of Irish and American traditions and folklore with a committed devotion to community, land, and spirit.
Sharon has a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on critical theory and cultural criticism. Since 2018, they have co-taught a monthly Plant Medicine Lab, annual Ancestral Reconnection & Restorative Practices, and the year-long Earth Medicine Practitioner Training Program with Madrona House founder Vanessa Ainslie, as well as various other classes throughout the year. They've completed courses through the Irish Pagan School including the six-month Ogham Journeys and the year-long Cóir Mentorship Program, and continue to learn from mentors and colleagues across their various communities, as well as an ever growing library. In addition to teaching at Madrona House, they taught from 2017-2020 as an adjunct instructor in the art department at Cornish College of the Arts, with an emphasis on the ethics and practicum of curatorial and exhibition-making; as well as integration of critical, cultural, and political theory and research in studio practices. They are currently working on various projects which tether multiple intersections of art, food, culture, and folklore which are regularly published on Dimensions Variable.
My overly extensive art world bio and CV can be found here.