Sharon Strasburg currently lives in Denver, Colorado working with monotypes as her primary medium. Ms. Strasburg has been creating her monotypes at Open Press, a fine art printmaking facility, for more than eight years. The South Dakota native earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of South Dakota in 1976 and went on the earn a Master of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art of Temple University in 1978, studying at their campuses in Rome, Italy and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the past few years Ms.Strasburg has received awards for her monotype prints that include six merit awards, four best of printmaking awards, along with Best of Show honors at the 2002 Omaha Art Festival. She has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows and has work included in several corporate and private collections. Sharon sells and exhibits her work at juried fine art festivals around the U.S. and in galleries in Denver and Philadelphia.

Always innovative and pushing the boundaries of painterly expression with liquid, light-filled colors, Ms. Strasburg's lush images explore travel through real and imagined environments. One roams across and through a dissolving place and time. A hint of earthly detail provides the catalyst for the viewer to access emotions connected to the memory of a special place. The pieces reveal astute handling of rich luminous tones while combining softly undulating transitions of color with areas of expressive textured strokes often segmented by sharp edges that abruptly shift the scene to infinity and back.

Sharon's pieces are monotypes created with oil based etching inks printed on BFK Rives, a 100% cotton printmaking paper. Monotypes are made using a combination of painting and printmaking techniques. To create her images Sharon applies oil-based printing inks to a sheet of mylar using palette knives then blends the inks with rubber rollers of various sizes. When she is satisfied with the image she places a fine art paper on the ink-painting, lays them on the flat bed of an etching press and rolls the press bed under the pressure cylinder. The wet ink-painting is transferred to the paper. Only one transfer can be made from the painting. An original piece of art work is created.