“The dream quality of Sharon Yamamoto’s paintings is the soul of her work, made real by the exact line of her drawing, solid modelling of her figures and the meticulous precision of her brushwork.”
BIOGRAPHY
Sharon Yamamoto’s artistic roots run deep into a rich family history and multicultural heritage. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, her parents were uprooted from California and relocated to an Arizona internment camp for Japanese Americans, where they met, endured the war, and married. After their release, they settled in Chicago, Illinois.
Born Sansei (third-generation Japanese American), Yamamoto grew up in a vibrant multigenerational household where traditional Japanese arts—ikebana, doll-making, origami, sewing, carpentry, and music—were woven into daily life. These early influences, combined with an appreciation for medieval art and mid-century narrative animation, established symbolism and universal storytelling as the cornerstones of her visual language.
Formal training began at age twelve at The Art Institute of Chicago’s Junior School, where Yamamoto first worked from live models. Encouraged by an instructor, she entered a national competition and earned a full art scholarship to Illinois Wesleyan University, graduating summa cum laude with a BFA and a teaching degree. A senior-year research trip to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum to study the Pre-Raphaelites proved pivotal: she met her lifelong partner and relocated permanently to London after graduating in 1969.
While continuing life-drawing studies at Heatherley’s School of Art, Yamamoto joined a Self-Realization group at the College of Psychic Studies—a sixteen-year immersion that profoundly shaped her creative philosophy. In 1986, she established a studio at London’s ACME Studios, taking part in seven open-studio showcases alongside solo exhibitions at the Black Bull, Alba, and Atlantis galleries.
Yamamoto relocated to Florida in 1995, exhibiting extensively across Miami and Boca Raton before opening her own Miami Beach gallery in 2001, the same year she received Best in Show at ArtFest Fort Lauderdale. Returning to the UK in 2003, she continued to show widely across Europe, with exhibitions at London’s Ice House and Hepsibah galleries and Galería Dasto in Spain.
Featured in publications such as New Art International and Art Connoisseur, Yamamoto’s work has garnered a dedicated international following. Her pieces are held in private and public collections across the US, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Puerto Rico, and Japan. A member of the Fine Art Trades Guild and the recipient of five major art awards, she currently lives and works in Henley-on-Thames, UK.
ARTIST STATEMENT
From early childhood, my passion was creating pictures. Long before any formal training in classical art, children’s books and films taught me the language of visual storytelling.
At twelve, my parents enrolled me in classes at The Art Institute of Chicago Junior School, where I first experienced drawing and painting from a live model. While I no longer rely on working directly from life, the human form remains my favorite subject—capturing the vitality, emotion, and individuality of people never ceases to excite me.
As my process shifted toward working from imagination, a narrative style naturally emerged. Every piece is an act of discovery, prompting deeper questions about what it means to be human. I believe meaning exists everywhere, and I am constantly searching for it; what surfaces on the canvas is always a surprise. The figures and animals that inhabit my work feel like old friends—avatars of love woven through everyday life.
