ABOUT ME

My name is Sharon Battaglia, I am 47 years old and I live in Plainwell, Mi.

 

I grew up in Gobles, Mi. My first job was cleaning the farrowing barns on a near-by hog farm. I have been a 4-H leader, a leader for Camp Fire Boys and Girls, and an antiques dealer. I have refinished antique furniture, worked as a cashier for a grocery store, worked as a janitor in a nuclear power plant, done end of year inventory for a hardware store and been an aerobics instructor.

 

I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother... and also a self- taught artist. I have never taken an art class nor have I ever taken a wood shop class.

 

I used to wonder how I came to this point, but now I can look back at a definite path leading to this. Of course I took many wrong turns on the way but eventually I have gotten to the place I was meant to be.

 

This is my gift from God. I know this to be true because I find it so easy and fulfilling. I was put here to create these wonderful pieces of art.

 

I pick up a part  and just know what it wants to be. I don't see what it is, or if its usefulness is over, what it was. I see what it can become, what it wants me to turn it in to.

 

The core of a piece isn't very exciting - the inside framework, shelves and back; except that the shape is apparent. I already have an idea what the outside will be. I build the core with something in mind: be that a top, front, door, legs or just maybe a handle that needs a cupboard to go on. I just know what should come next. What will work. What won't work.

 

I especially enjoy creating the crazy, colorful pieces with wacky parts used in unusual ways and I enjoy the reactions I see when people recognize what the different parts are that make up a certain piece. It makes me smile.

 

I have a drive that needs to be met. I must build. I must create. I must leave behind a legacy.  I feel like I am saving these parts that someone else at some other time has created, but have now been tossed away. They call out to me to be saved. I have piles of inventory waiting their turn to become someones new heirloom. Once again a treasured piece.

 

I love what I do. I do what I love.

My life is a journey that has just begun.

Another Man’s Treasure  (269) 685-1990

Another Man’s Treasure © 2011