After Sharon Portelance received her BFA from MECA&D, she left Maine to travel the United States, and ultimately settled in Seattle where she began her studio practice and taught at the Pratt Fine Arts Center. In 1989, Sharon returned to the East Coast to attend graduate school at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she earned her MFA . From 1996 to 1998, she taught at Southwest Texas State University and the University of Texas in Austin. During this time, she was fortunate to be invited to teach metal skills to a group of indigenous people in Michoacan, Mexico, and lectured at a number of institutions. She has taught at MECA&D since 1999 and served as acting dean of the College and vice president of academic affairs for three years. Sharon recently completed a three‐month residency in Tallinn, Estonia at the Estonia Academy of Art. She is currently developing a new body of work that explores the relationship of the interior of the body to the exterior of the body, while continuing an ongoing investigation into the nature of jewelry and how it can operate both privately and publicly.
Laurels
● Work included in the 2015 Society of North American Goldsmith’s Conference MA POP UP exhibitions
● Guest lecturer throughout the United States and in the Czech Republic and Canada.
● Work collected by the Samuel Dorskey Museum, the Okresni Muzeum Ceskeho raje in the Czech Republic, and New Mexico State University Museum
Extracurricular
Sharon loves to travel and ride her bike. When not teaching, she is usually in her studio.