Wendy Sharpe

Wendy Sharpe AM FRSN (born 24 February 1960) is an Australian artist who lives and works in Sydney and Paris.

[14] The City of Sydney council commissioned Sharpe in 1998 to paint an Olympic pool-sized mural on the life of Australian swimmer, actress and vaudeville performer, Annette Kellerman.

It is a series of eight paintings hung suspended along one side of the pool, permanently displayed in the Cook + Phillip Aquatic Centre, Sydney.

Titled ‘Women’s Empowerment Mural’, it is on the corner of Church and Federation Street, Newtown, painted on the wall surrounding the home of Ewan Samway and his partner Matt Vagulans.

[16] In 2021, she painted a forty-metre ephemeral mural, ‘Vu iz dos gesele?/Where is the little street?’, at Sydney Jewish Museum.

[18] Triptico, Collaboration with Paulina Quinteros and Elena Kats-Chernin (Costumes and design, and live painting), ARA Darling Quarter Theatre, Darling Harbour, Sydney[19] Sharpe has created works through residencies with Circus Oz , Sydney Dance Company and Opera Australia[14] and drawn burlesque performers and drag queens from the audience view and backstage.

[14][21][22] Sharpe was commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne in 2008–2009 to make a series of drawings to commemorate Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird and Petruska’, with choreographer Graeme Murphy.

Per the Australian War Memorial (AWM) website:Sharpe commenced duty in Darwin, where she attended briefing sessions and recorded the everyday activities of life in the barracks.

Attached to the Army History Unit, she was assigned a military escort and wore a non-combatant uniform with the insignia "Australian Official Artist".

Sharpe spent three weeks sketching the local people and Australian peacekeepers, before returning to Sydney to complete major works based on her observations.

[34] The work produced on board the ship was later shown in a major exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney; all money raised was donated to Mawson's Hut Foundation.

[14] Her residencies in Sydney include Taronga Zoo (2011),[40] and at State Library of NSW (2017-2018),[41] during renovations and major building work.

[48] She drew patients, students and staff of the Addis Adaba Fistula Hospital, Desta Mender Rehabilitation and Reintegration Centre, and regional clinics.

[49] To assist Lou's Place Daytime Women's Refuge, Sydney; Sharpe created a fundraising exhibition titled Her Shoes.

Sharpe and Maryanne Coutts guided a group of Australian celebrities through a series of drawing exercises, using nude models.

[52] Space 22 was a six-part documentary series exploring the impact of art and creativity on mental health, hosted by Natalie Bassingthwaighte.

[53] Sharpe's mural, ‘Vu iz dos gesele?/Where is the little street?’, was the subject of an ABC TV documentary, Site Unseen, in the Compas series, at Sydney Jewish Museum in 2021.

The subject of the mural was based on imagery from a recent trip to Ukraine with her cousin, Ruth Fishman, to research their family history.

[55] Sharpe has also appeared in a number of documentaries, including: Sharpe has been a guest on many radio interviews and podcasts about her work, including Talking with Painters with Maria Stoljar (podcast) in 2020;[59] Conversations with Sarah Kanowski in 2022;[60] and  TEDTalk: Asylum Seeker Portrait Project, at the University of NSW, on 22 September 2018.

[65] Sharpe was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to the visual arts, and to the community".