We recently connected with Sharon Gilbertson and have shared our conversation below.

Sharon, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project that I’ve created began simply, with an acrylic painting I did on a Tarahumara Primitive Rawhide Drum and drum mallet.

Back story: I wanted a drum to replace the one my Mama had given me, after I felt I needed to gift my brother with her drum. I just wanted another drum, and decided I would paint my own. I went onto eBay and discovered the primitive drums of the Tarahumara Mexican Indians.

I purchased a 12″ primitive drum, and thoroughly enjoyed painting this new “canvas.” I loved the drum, and the energy I felt, the connection. I took the finished drum to share at an art group and one of my friends asked if she could buy it. She was a very good friend, so I sold it to her, but found myself drum-less again.

So, I went back to ebay and purchased a couple more drums and began to paint them, along with matching drum mallets, adorning them with gemstones and hand-painted leather feathers. My drum art kept selling. My husband located the person on ebay, and we began to buy them wholesale from him, in all sizes.

After a time, I wanted to learn how to make my own rawhide drums. I found a local woman who taught classes, and I made my first (horse hide) drum. She also shared ceremony, gifts to the spirit, blessings for the beasts, Mother Earth, to all life. It was a wonderful experience. After I took her class, I started buying the materials to make drums and mallets from scratch. This opened the door to my creating rawhide rattles, medicine bags and more. I painted and adorned them to make them all unique.

I still paint Tarahumara Primitive Drums, and have an inventory waiting for me. The Tarahumara Mexican Indians live deep in the Sierra Madre, an indigenous group who still keep to centuries old ways. Working with their drums, I continue to feel connected to spirit, the ancient ones, the ancestors. I am forever grateful to these people who unknowingly opened this door for me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been drawing, coloring, crafting, and painting since I was a young child. As an adult, my energy requires quick-drying, brightly colored paints, and acrylics are my favorite medium.

In addition to painting, I’m grateful to have a natural clairvoyant and extra-sensory ability. This inner inspiration is what often flows into my artwork, as a result, my artistic style is mostly “visionary and expressionistic”, I rarely want to paint with realism as my goal. I approach my art with energy, passion and especially with emotion. My art creates a feeling that awakens my spirit and reinforces personal beliefs. It’s my hope that others will also be moved by my art with their own personal feelings of awareness, and well-being.

During the past 40 years, I’ve done countless art shows, exhibits, won ribbons, published, maintained memberships to art clubs, I’ve run online stores, etc. Now, at 70 years old, I want to spend more of my time in the art studio, and painting. Currently I have my www.ARTwithVISION.com gallery. Here you can see my work. And there is a page to contact me.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I enjoy painting on days when I’m feeling a strong connection to the animal spirits, I acknowledge and bless the beasts, I give them thanks. I often sense ancestors and my invisible guides and welcome them to paint with me, through me. It’s important for me to use my art in this way, it’s a spiritual way of connecting with pure love, reflecting and acknowledging my truth.

I also paint to share my own inner feelings of joy and happiness. By painting dancing shapes and fun colors, with touches of whimsy, it is childlike. I believe that the child within us always needs love, acceptance and recognition from our adult self. My intention is that my personal “flights of whimsy” will bring the childlike feelings out in others.

Goal? If I could pick one word to answer this question it would be “Connect”.
My own inner connections that support my artistry, and the remarkable connections I’ve made with others through my art.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being an artist provides a perfect way for me to fully express myself. Painting gives wings to my heart, and I soar.

Each time I paint, I agree to go on an adventure, with a destination that is always a surprise, I never fully know where the blank canvas and colors will take me.

While painting, the brushes, colors, and the canvas speak for me. There is never a more joyful or more fulfilling place for me than in front of a canvas!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ARTwithVISION.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.gilbertson
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artwithvisiongifts/
• Other: email: [email protected]