SHARON ARNOLD
Dimensions Variable began in 2008 as a collection of writings about art, artists, and art ecosystems but has since become the confluence where all my streams of interest meet from art, philosophy, and critical theory to ideas of enchantment and various folk traditions. When not working on my own independent research topics, I often write essays for artists, galleries, and arts publications. A selection of these may be found through the art writing tab on my menu at the top. You can view the archives from my former art space, Bridge Productions/LxWxH in the link below.
About me:
Sharon Arnold is an essayist, curator, and educator tethering art, wonder, magic, ecology, spirituality, and culture together through frameworks of philosophy, enchantment, and cultural theory. Other more personal perspectives and experiences they work from are that they’re queer and genderfluid; they’re a high school dropout and worked at the stoves in upscale restaurant kitchens for 17 years, but have a bachelor’s degree now and have spent the last 15 years working in the arts; they’re neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled; and they’re working to research and better understand their multiple, varied, and complicated cultural lineages (mostly white-identified European-American), beginning with Irish- and Scottish-American lineages. Their interest is in the way these deeply interconnected themes form confluences and expressions of both life and knowledge that shape our contemporary lives; especially when nurtured in community, conversations, and connectivity.
Sharon has a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on critical theory and semiotics. In addition to various independent curatorial projects and writing, they also ran an online project turned physical exhibition space, Bridge Productions which, until its final projects in 2020, focused on collaborative process-based work, talks, and projects by artists, curators, writers, activists, and performers through various modes of storytelling in online exhibitions, digital residencies, and social media; as well as periodic curatorial projects, in-print publications, and public programming. From 2018-2020 Sharon co-taught various classes on folklore, folk magic practices and history, and restorative cultural and ancestor practices at Madrona House Apothecary. Sharon also 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 have recently been published in Seattle's newest in-print arts periodical, PublicDisplay.Art as well as online arts magazine New Archives, and several artist catalogues for J. Rinehart Gallery. Sharon is currently working on various essays, courses, and projects which are regularly published on Dimensions Variable.
My complete curriculum vitae can be found here.
About me:
Sharon Arnold is an essayist, curator, and educator tethering art, wonder, magic, ecology, spirituality, and culture together through frameworks of philosophy, enchantment, and cultural theory. Other more personal perspectives and experiences they work from are that they’re queer and genderfluid; they’re a high school dropout and worked at the stoves in upscale restaurant kitchens for 17 years, but have a bachelor’s degree now and have spent the last 15 years working in the arts; they’re neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled; and they’re working to research and better understand their multiple, varied, and complicated cultural lineages (mostly white-identified European-American), beginning with Irish- and Scottish-American lineages. Their interest is in the way these deeply interconnected themes form confluences and expressions of both life and knowledge that shape our contemporary lives; especially when nurtured in community, conversations, and connectivity.
Sharon has a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus on critical theory and semiotics. In addition to various independent curatorial projects and writing, they also ran an online project turned physical exhibition space, Bridge Productions which, until its final projects in 2020, focused on collaborative process-based work, talks, and projects by artists, curators, writers, activists, and performers through various modes of storytelling in online exhibitions, digital residencies, and social media; as well as periodic curatorial projects, in-print publications, and public programming. From 2018-2020 Sharon co-taught various classes on folklore, folk magic practices and history, and restorative cultural and ancestor practices at Madrona House Apothecary. Sharon also 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 have recently been published in Seattle's newest in-print arts periodical, PublicDisplay.Art as well as online arts magazine New Archives, and several artist catalogues for J. Rinehart Gallery. Sharon is currently working on various essays, courses, and projects which are regularly published on Dimensions Variable.
My complete curriculum vitae can be found here.