Written By – Joseph Scaglione
“I hold a pebble in the palm of my hand.
It is old and full of secrets.
It’s been through ten thousand storms.
It’s seen countless summer days.
It’s been skipped across the surface of the water.
Rocked gently on the ocean floor.
The waves have carried it back to land on the beach at my feet.
I’ll make something special.”
Sharon Nowlan wrote the words above, yet words are not Sharon’s tool of choice when making art, instead, she uses the main character of her poem: pebbles.
Making something from nothing is a level of satisfaction creators aspire to reach with every piece. Sharon is a master at this; making the world around her into a piece of art, capturing and crystallizing life, or as Sharon phrases it, “Setting life in stone.”
Sharon began working in this medium about 19 years ago when her three year old son gathered a handful of pebbles and presented them to her. She’s been perfecting her craft ever since; evolving, designing, and incorporating more earth elements such as drift wood, twigs, sea glass, ink, and wire. Sharon’s goal is to capture levity with her art; an intriguing goal to have with pebbles, the lightest rocks. She tries to capture wind through objects. A skirt flapping, sails waving, or laundry hanging, to name a few examples.
Sharon’s art haven is a studio hidden behind her backyard fruit trees offering sunshine in the summer and a cozy wood fire in the winter. As mentioned, pebbles are the stars of Sharon’s art in addition to sea glass, with each material meticulously selected to generate a particular emotion.
You can buy Sharon’s pieces on Etsy, and if you want to see them in Canadian galleries, check out The Galleria in Calgary & The CobbleStone Gallery in Waterloo. She also started a new collection alongside giftware company Demdaco. To learn more about this collection and Sharon visit https://www.sharon-nowlan.com/