British born ceramic artist Sharon Virtue teaches and creates work at Ruby’s Clay studio, a non-profit artist co-operative in San Francisco, California. Sharon has conducted ceramic programs, earth architecture projects, and community mosaic projects with children and adults in San Francisco, Brazil and Africa. Sharon believes that the artist has a role as an agent of transformation. Through her experiences as an artist she has developed a strong sense of the value of art as a means of engagement with the world, and its importance in our lives.

Sharon has been awarded several grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Haas Foundation, Grants for the Arts and the Vogelstein Foundation. She was the Artist in residence at the de Young Museum in early 2006. In 2007 and 2008 she worked with over 300 orphans in Kampala Uganda, as an art teacher for In Movement, (www.Inmovement.org) a non-profit organization based in Spain. Currently, Sharon is conducting classes in the MUD BUS a mobile clay studio, bringing ceramics to underserved youth throughout the bay area. She is also working with the Boy and Girls Club on a mosaic mural – ‘Cross Cultural Collaborations’, whose design is based upon a dialogue between youth in San Francisco and Kampala, Uganda.

“Influenced by Indigenous Art and myth from around the world, I aim to create work that brings awareness to other cultures and bridges the gaps between us. My mission as an artist: To inspire, encourage and provide access to the greater community in the creation of art.”

see Sharon's website