Sharyn O'Mara

American, born 1966

BiographySharyn O’Mara is a contemporary artist and educator who maintains her studio in Philadelphia, PA. Although she focuses heavily on the medium of glass, her practice also spans drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, and printmaking. She is keenly interested in marks and the language of marks, from lexicons to canine nose prints on glass as a way of expressing ideas about absence and loss.

O’Mara’s dogs have been the subject of a series of recent drawings, images, and photographs that visualize her deep connection to the animals that have lived within her household. Over time, she has come to consider the residue of their existence – dog hair, nose prints, tattered toys, a collaboration with her artistic outcome. These works are reflections on empathy and longing situated within a rapidly paced and media-driven culture that seems devoid of intimacy and trust.

Her work has been exhibited in the U.S. and abroad and is held in public collections of the Corning Museum of Glass, Arkansas Arts Center, and Temple University. O’Mara is an associate professor at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University where she has led the glass program for nearly 20 years. Previously, she taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Kansas City Art Institute. In fall 2017 she served as the Georgette and Richard Koopman Distinguished Chair in the Visual Arts at Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT. A single image from her Chandelier series was included in the
exhibition, New Glass Now, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY.

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