Sharon Furrate Bailey was originally inspired at the age of eight after her father, Lewis Reid Brown, a commercial architect, took her to an art showing. It was not until 2007 that Sharon began taking art classes from art teachers that include: Marita Gentry, Michelle Conques, Julie Buckner, Elise Toups, and Hannah Lane Romero. She is now a full-time artist and you can find her almost daily in her Woodland Art Studio in Baton Rouge.
Sharon is known for her use of color in her abstracts. She also paints whimsical art such as her popular crawfish series that gained a broad following and buyers when featured in The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate in 2008.
Sharon has been a featured artist in several art events with the main ones being the annual White Light Nights Arts Festival and Hot Art Cool Nights held in the Mid-City Historical District of Baton Rouge. In addition, Sharon has had four pieces accepted into the juried show entitled, The Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival in Alexandria over the past five years. In 2016, her painting entitled “Crossing Jordan” won The Festival Award, in which this painting became part of First United Methodist Church’s permanent collection.
Sharon has also had her paintings featured in films such as God’s Not Dead and Caged No More. The television series “Queen Sugar” produced by Oprah has also featured Sharon’s work. She has been interviewed and featured in City Social, 225, and other publications. She has been commissioned and has sold to a wide variety of buyers all across the United States and as far as Australia.
She is happy to have her work available at the following: The Foyer and Mosaic Garden (Baton Rouge, LA); Southern Chic (Alexandria, LA); Furnish (Metairie, LA); Robin’s Nest in the Pass (Pass Christian, MS); Hillyer House (Ocean Springs, LA) and Ron Atwood Gallery (Shreveport, LA).
