Sharon Koontz : Artist and owner

  Sharon Koontz attended UCM where she received her bachelors in Fine Arts.  She started her career at Vance Publishing as an illustrator, then onto Hallmark Cards.  After the birth of her son the couple agreed she would become a stay at home mom, but continue on building her career from home.

 That is when Sharon fell in love with the art of faux finishing and painting murals for clients in the Kansas City area.

  In 2002, after the birth of her second child, the family moved to Sharon's home town of Mexico, Missouri.  They purchased an old Georgian style home where she set up her studio and continues to create and do commissioned work for clientele.

  After her third child she began creating original pieces while still maintaining her commissioned work.  "I wanted to start to find me again in my work..  I love re-purposing old and worn objects to paint on. Old windows and old wood are my latest canvas."  The old windows are representive of an old painted piece of furniture.  The original cracks and layers of paint, are preserved to add beauty to the piece.  This to me begins that story that the artwork wants to tell. The art of the counrtyside, farm animals, even my angels seem to talk to me more when I begin with a piece of someone's history.  My second canvas, the old cedar shingles (off our roof) again are a piece of history.  I could not pass up the potential of creating something different and unique with this new canvas.  The tree paintings and the angels are so unique when done on the weather-beaten cedar."  

  After living in Mexico for some time, and doing murals here and there for business's in Mexico, Sharon began getting requests from friends for art classes for their children.  " I heard about the Paint Party idea from my niece in Huntsville Alabama.  I knew that I  enjoyed watching my young students find what they love about art.   Art is FUN and adults need to get in on the Fun too.  I also go all over Missouri to sell my work and felt I needed a place in Mexico to display my art."  

So the combination of the Art Party Studio and Gallery began the journey of developing what is now  "COLOR ME BLEU."