Sharon Kilfoy | Co-Founder|Interim Executive Director|Artist

After attending the Art Institute of Chicago Junior School, obtaining a BA in Philosophy & MA in Art from UW-Madison, and doing post-graduate studies at the Escuela de Diseño y Artesanias in Mexico City, Sharon launched a successful early career as a studio artist specializing in collage, assemblage, and art-in-boxes. She served a stint as a CETA artist, working with Dane County high school students and Madison neighborhood center youth.

She then brought her skills to the Respite Center, a 24-hour emergency crisis childcare center, working as a childcare specialist, then as the childcare program manager, where she developed a curriculum for caring for children (0-14) with a trauma-informed, art-centered focus. She remained at the Respite Center for more than two decades and then served the umbrella groups at Center for Families (including the Respite Center) as Program Developer and Writer. Once her children were grown, she opened her home as the Williamson St Art Center, where she taught art classes, provided state-wide artist-in-residencies and painted murals with community groups throughout Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, and Mexico.

After retiring from Center for Families, Sharon focused on community-mural-making full time, partnering with Dane County government, founding Dane Arts Mural Arts (DAMA) a countywide mural program that trains other artists to be community change makers through mural making. Referred to as “the mother of Madison murals” by Madison Arts Administrator Karin Wolf, Sharon has now returned to her roots as a studio artist, finally inhabiting the lovely studio at the rear of her Williamson St center. She continues to work at the intersection of art and activism, being mindful of the transformative power of art for communities and individuals but also being aware that it has historically been the job of artists to serve as seers and not shy from truth-telling about the future we face.