Jan Sharkey-Thomas was born in the Hudson Valley in 1930 and grew up in New York. Her father, a freelance illustrator, led her through the paths of conventional mediums. After a formal art education in Manhattan, she worked there for a time before immigrating to Canada in 1963.
She became actively interested in the World Wildlife Fund and other conservation movements in the late sixties, after rescuing an adult ocelot from an abusive owner; the cat was her companion and model for more than twenty years.
The major thrust of Sharkey-Thomas’s work has been animal and wilderness themes. She has had solo exhibitions most years since 1972, usually in Ontario, but also several in New York. British Columbia lured her to stay for the ten years she assisted with wildlife drawing classes at the Okanagan Summer School of the Arts, and she is now a permanent resident of Saltspring Island. Her three sons, Antony, Ethan and Paul Marcano, are Gulf Island artists as well.
Ghosts of the Future 30/75
Jan Sharkey-Thomas
Woodcut
33 x 41 cm.
Value: $240.00
Rental per month: $5.00
A theme being explored in other media, Ghosts of the Future was a particular challenge for Jan Sharkey-Thomas, as her first serious woodcut.
The artist’s preconceived notion of a wood block print was of bold images in rich contrast. To pursue what she had in mind successfully, she felt a mystical diaphanous quality was necessary. Thanks to Peter and Jan at New Leaf Editions, who worked carefully with the three separate blocks prepared for the composite image, it was possible to achieve precisely the luminosity and subtlety Sharkey-Thomas had visualized for the final print.