Sharon Brentwood

About the Artist/Site

Sharon Brentwood’s genius lies in the collection and display of varied and eclectic artworks, both those she has collected in her travels and those she has created herself. And while she maintains that she grew up in “dull, normal, bologna-and-Velveeta cheese America,” several moves with her family as a child – she grew up in Galveston, TX until fifth grade, and then lived in New York, Philadelphia, and Austin – along with ten years spent in Germany, Switzerland, and Spain following college all fueled her love of objects, textures, and colors. At the same time these travels sharpened her eye.

Although much of her own artwork is ceramic (and she has taught ceramics for years at Austin Community College), she also combines found objects such as jewelry, buttons, and ornaments to create new objects and also to directly ornament interior walls or beams within her home. The smaller pieces, including many religious and devotional objects from Mexico, are complemented with such varied collections as coffee mugs, old typewriters, shopping carts, metal lawn chairs, globes, and paintings, many of which are representations of religious virgins. Brentwood includes artworks by local artists among her collections, including birdhouses by Samuel Mirelez, as well as works by numerous anonymous self-taught artists from the US and Mexico. While some areas of the property are heavily loaded with works of certain types, objects are fluidly displayed throughout the different sections of the home and yard, eclectically delighting the eye with the variety of colors and forms, and inspiring questions into provenance, original function, or artist.

Brentwood’s collection has spread beyond the interior of her home to the surrounding lawn; some of the larger series (such as the lawn chairs, shopping carts, and typewriters) are displayed there, as are other assemblages of abstract and figurative sculptures, interspersed among the vegetation and potted plants.

Brentwood is being squeezed for space by her collections, so is considering looking for a larger space in which her collection could be better showcased and viewed. As this is a private home, access is not generally available.

~Jo Farb Hernández, 2015