Sharon Leahy-Clark British, b. 1965
Based at the Centre for Recent Drawing, London.
Graduated: Royal College of Art 2001, MA Fine Art Painting. Middlesex University 1999, BA Hons (1st class) Fine Art. Polytechnic of North London 1986, BSc Hons (2:1) Sociology.
Recipient of several awards including the Helen Chadwick Memorial Prize. Work in collections including British Airways and The Drawing Gallery. Co-founder of ‘Head on a Plate Projects’ collaborative drawing project with artist/critic Sarah Kent.
Teaching: Drawing and tutorials at the Art Academy, London.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 Forthcoming: Head on a Plate Projects at 303 Projects, Lowestoft, live drawing event
2022 Head on a Plate Projects, Fitzrovia Gallery, live drawing event
Head on a Plate Projects, Centre for Recent Drawing, live drawing event
2019 Rolling the Rock, Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD),Islington, London
2017 Not afraid of the dark, Paper Gallery, Manchester
2011 The Three-Cornered World, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Royal Cambrian Academy Open, Conwy, Wales
Champs Noir, Terrace Gallery, London
Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2022 Small Things with Big Ideas, White Conduit Projects, London
Give or Take, Centre for Recent Drawing, London (curator & exhibiting artist)
Royal Cambrian Academy Open, Conwy, Wales
The Lido Open, Margate
Like a slight hiccup… La Grange Gallery, Reims, France
2021 Thank you and I mean that very, very sincerely, 303 Projects, Lowestoft
Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, Somerset
Royal Cambrian Academy Open, Conwy, Wales
2020 ArtWorks Open, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London
Picture Palace, Transition Gallery, London
2019 Royal West of England Academy Open 167, Bristol
2018 Caroming, Centre 4 Recent Drawing, London
2017 Like the Lines of a Hand, Paper Gallery, Manchester, and touring
The Sense of Things, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, California
Between Things, Minories Gallery, Colchester
Summer Salon, Luborimov/Angus Hughes Gallery, London
2016 Freeze for Frieze, Project for Frieze Week with Moncler and Purple PR, London
Sixty, Luborimov/Angus Hughes Gallery, London and Art-Athina, Greece
Tender and Cruel, Vacuous Gallery, London
2015 The Functionality of Thought Dean Clough Gallery, Halifax, Yorkshire, and touring
2014 Oriel Davies Open 2014, Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown, Wales
New Mills ArtFEST 2014, (commissioned artist) New Mills, Derbyshire
Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 (touring)
2013 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013, Jerwood Space, London, and touring
Derwent Drawing Prize, Mall Galleries, London
Sunday Times Watercolour Prize, Mall Galleries, London, and touring
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
ArtWorks Open, Barbican Arts Group Trust, Project Space, London
Ludlow Open, The Harley Centre, Ludlow, Herefordshire
Neo:artprize 2013, neo:gallery22, Bolton
2012 Ludlow Open, Millichope Gallery, Ludlow, Herefordshire
2010 Re-animate, Oriel Davies, Newtown, Wales
Ludlow Summer Exhibition, Ludlow College, Shropshire
2009 ArtWorks Open, Barbican Arts Group, Project Space, London (awarded Commendation)
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts
Ludlow Summer Exhibition, Ludlow College, Shropshire
2008 Jerwood Drawing Prize - Jerwood Space, London, and touring
Artsway Open 2008, Artsway Lymington, Hants
British Glass Biennale 2008, Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge
2007 Celeste Painting Prize 2007 (finalist), Truman Brewery, London and Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh
Creekside Open (selected by Victoria Miro), APT Gallery, London
2005 Different Alphabets/Different Languages, Bury Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire
2004 Aftershock 1A Space, Hong Kong
Faith, Transition Gallery, London and CAS Gallery, Osaka, Japan
2002 Mostyn Open 12, Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales
Core, MOT Gallery, London
1996 Figuring Cezanne, Tate Britain and Lethaby Gallery, London
Art Fairs/Projects/residencies
2017 Manchester Contemporary, UK
2016 Freeze for Frieze, Moncler, Old Bond Street, London (Project with Purple PR)
Art Copenhagen, Denmark
SIXTY, Art-Athina, Greece
Art Dubai, UAE (RCA Secret, Project)
2015 Sluice, London
London Art Fair
KÖLNER LISTE, Cologne
2014 Exchange Rates, New York
Manchester Contemporary, UK
Affordable Art Fair, London, (Project Space with Paper Gallery)
Cill Rialaig, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry, Ireland (residency)
