Christine Sharp

     Artist/ Journalist/ Peabody Award winning CNN producer, Christine Sharp, has been described by colleagues as a “Renaissance Woman.”  Sharp says, "I'm really just a cat with 9 lives." 

My Painting Process: Sharp says, “I love to paint. I start out  in watercolor on location (plein air) to absorb the inspiring nature that surrounds us. Then, back in my Kirkland Studio, I often deconstruct the landscape and put it back together in pleasing colors and shapes that give an exciting visual storytelling twist on iconic Northwest landscapes."            

   Starting Out: Sharp grew up in a big Irish Catholic family of “cops and nurses” on the Southside of Chicago. She cares deeply about the future of health care, social justice and our planet. 

  Hit the Books: After completing her bachelor's degree at Bradley University, Sharp earned her Masters Degree at the University of Washington. She graduated with honors and was recruited by the University to teach  health systems management and psych nursing at the U. of W.   

   Community Mental Health: Sharp went  from halls of academia to running cutting edge Mental Health Programs in urban Seattle, rural Illinois and Pennsylvania as well as for Washington State Government with DSHS in Olympia. (Commuting 3 hours a day while pregnant). Then President Reagan decimated innovative community health care, dumped people out of mental hospitals and exploded the number of homeless mentaly ill on the streets. And made my job into a hobby. But I digress.

   Plot Twist One: Sharp’s journey took an interesting turn when she gave up her day job to be at home with her baby daughter who had severe nutritional allergies.  She took film-making classes to launch a side business, recording family histories on videotape with handheld cameras...a new and exciting technology at the time. 

   Lightbulb Moment: Sharp's  love of storytelling took off and she began writing, producing and editing stories about courageous people making a difference. One documentary caught fire.  It was about Freida. A woman who nearly died in a Nazi concentration camp but was searching for a doctor who saved her life just before the camp was liberated.  The popular TV program, “Good Morning America,” saw the Seattle Times newspaper coverage and flew Sharp and Freida to New York to be on the show. The experience taught Sharp a valuable lesson. By marrying writing and storytelling with cutting edge video technology, stories of courage and social justice could reach a wide audience and make lasting change.  

    Hooked on Visual Storytelling: Sharp later worked with PBS, won a prestigious Peabody Award and a New York Gold Medal. She was then hired to pioneer the Northwest News Desk for CNN, a region largely ignored by the national news coverage until Bill Gates and the Silicon Forest took hold.

     For ten years Sharp produced top news stories on everything from  Bill Gates & Starbucks to Clinton/Lewinsky Scandal to Simpson Trial and a rare Bob Dylan interview.... also Sharp covered Tonya Harding and the Queen of England and everything in between.  

    Second Plot Twist: After suffering a near-fatal blood clot to her lung, Sharp decided the exciting but exhausting 24/7 news biz was too much. She threw herself into her painting, teaching and writing and has created hundreds of Fine Art Works for Galleries and collectors across the globe. Her work is included in the Collection of the Seattle Mayor, Overlake Medical Center, Evergreen Medical Center to name a few.

    Why am I telling you all of this? When you experience Art, you also get a glimpse into the story of the Artist. Whether it's a book, a painting, a song, a play, or a movie. There are many ways to tell a story. There are many ways to tell your story.

          Sharp has been featured in USA Today, Variety Magazine, Artist Magazine, Women's Day Magazine, King 5 TV,  Good Morning America,The Seattle Weekly and the Seattle Times. She wrote several articles for Artist Magazine and is Co- Founder of the Kirkland Artist Studio Tour. A Plaque  to honor her accomplishments is installed in the Plaza of Champions in Kirkland where she has lived with her husband Dave in the woods overlooking the lake.

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                                             Thank you for connecting.