Meet the
Sharon DeMattia
Lead Artist
I AM AN ARTIST and SCIENTIST
I am a systems thinker, strategic optimist, and creative concepts executive who creates large-scale interactive spaces that explore the interconnected relationships between planet and people.
I am a dragon rider, I am an invitation to the curious, and a curator of creative genius.
I received my MS from the University of Colorado, Boulder in Kinesiology and Applied Physiology and worked within the Integrative Vascular Biology Lab doing invasive Human subjects research. As my understanding of the integrity of query, methodology, and measurement expanded, so too did my understanding of the fragility and limitations of adhering solely to linear processes and prediction models.
When we only measure, we tend to miss the meaning; thus causing ecosystems to collapse into themselves from lack of relational cohesion. The art within science is found in the relationships between complex systems and the blurred edges of the spaces between what is purely evidence based.
In 2012 the Scientist met the Artist in and my journey expanded as I explored the relationships within the larger, complex organism of an integrated living earth. Since then I have used a variety of art modalities and immersive experiences to explore and examine dynamic systems that include all organic life as ontologic and infinitely responsive according to discrete stimuli.
I founded The AIM Project (Art Inside Me) in 2012, which to date includes nearly 8,000 anonymous self-portraits of previously hidden internal dialogues. The art process was access to the “stories behind our skin” that externalized and contextualized the interplay of emotions and beliefs as upgrade paths for the Soul. The bricks of pretense and the mortar of shields crumbled as canvas and pens created an internal compass to guide participants to destinations of truth amidst chaos. Galleries of Shared Humanity revealed relational interconnectivity as well as the beauty and power in our diversity.
The AIM Project project continues to teach me about how we act as complex individual systems while other complex organic systems act upon us. True systems change must consider this relationship of ecosystems as an elegant whole rather than crude parts; as harmonies rather than notes. From this new bedrock, I founded The Human InnerFace in 2018 as an artistic and scientific platform that explores the integration of human, nature, and information systems.
My art continues to scale in size and scope as I immerse myself in what I don’t understand; my experience along the edges is integral to the interactive art that I design. Science is the flexible framework in which I incorporate curiosity, play, and mystery to form optimistic strategies that invite dialogues around innovation.
I have worked domestically with organizations and institutions such as Edwards Lifesciences, Whole Foods, Burning Man, The Wounded Warrior Foundation, Pepperdine University, University of Nevada Reno, Renown Medical Center, Washoe County, Phoenix, and Seattle School Districts, CASL (CA Association of Student Leadership), CADA (CA Activities Directors Association), Ecolutions Studio, and The Girl Scouts of America. I have created with social impact organizations in Kenya, South Africa, and Indonesia.
I am always hopeful; my optimism is built on informed systems understanding.
I am forever an invitation, and my personal motto is to “Play and Make things that Matter.”