Artist Bio:

Sharon L. Bjyrd is best known for her vibrant, soulful portraits that celebrate the beauty, resilience, and expressive power of the Black experience. Her work is a love letter to the complexity and richness of Black identity - steeped in culture, history, and a profound reverence for her subjects.
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Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, her early professional life was grounded in service - working to empower women affected by poverty and domestic violence. A self-taught artist, Sharon’s return to painting emerged during a season of physical stillness caused by chronic illness that allowed her to rediscover a long-standing creative voice. Her primary medium is acrylic paint, occasionally incorporating mixed media to amplify texture and meaning. Her practice has recently expanded to include curation and installation. Influenced by contemporary Black artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Faith Ringgold and Kerry James Marshall, Sharon’s work blends portraiture with African-inspired patterns and bold color palettes, creating emotionally rich, visually arresting images.

Her work is on permanent public display at the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics Eastpark Clinic and at Madison College - Truax Campus; featured in the book Let’s Talk About It: The Art, The Artists and The Racial Justice Movement on Madison’s State Street; and has shown in both solo and group exhibitions across Wisconsin and Illinois - including at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s Art Fair on the Square, Art Lit Laboratory and the historic South Side Community Art Center in Chicago.

Artist Statement 

As a Black woman, daughter, sister, mother, and artist, I create from a place that is deeply personal and fiercely purposeful. My art is my activism - a visual love letter to the Black experience - especially the beauty, resilience, and dignity of Black women and men. Through color, form, and symbolism, I seek to affirm what the world too often tries to deny: our humanity. My work centers on what I know intimately - the elegance of brown skin, the pride in natural hair, the power of ancestral memory, and the unbreakable spirit that grows, even in hostile soil. Whether I’m painting or curating an exhibit,  my goal is always to honor our truth, spark conversation, and challenge the narratives that devalue us.

Art, for me, is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. It’s how I process pain and celebrate joy. I am committed to using my craft to elevate stories that are often overlooked, to create beauty where there has been erasure, and to ensure that our images,  full of strength, tenderness, and complexity, are seen, heard and remembered.

Artist Resumè