In Memoriam: Sharon Church McNabb, 1948-2022

Sharon Church McNabb, a professor emerita at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and renowned artist, died on Christmas Day at her home in the Chesnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia. She was 74 years old and had suffered from supranuclear palsy.

A native of Richmond, Washington, Professor Church grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. She was a graduate of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. She earned a master of fine arts degree from the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Professor Church was a studio jeweler who created innovative works made from metal, stone, wood, bone, and other natural elements. She made her first piece of jewelry at age 11. Her work has been shown in hundreds of exhibitions around the world and is part of the permanent collections of many of the world’s great art museums including, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Gallery of Australia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Professor Church joined the faculty at what is now the University of the Arts in 1979 and remained on the faculty for 35 years retiring in 2014.

Below is an oral history video featuring Professor Church produced by the Senior Artists Initiative, a Philadelphia nonprofit organization that strives to preserve the heritage of recognized artists.