Perrin Sparks

Armed with a Master's degree in Medical Illustration from the Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Perrin worked for 25 years at a variety of academic medical institutions (Stanford Medical School, Baylor College of Medicine, UT Southwestern) producing surgical illustrations for publication, medical animations and classroom teaching. While she still holds a part-time position as Assistant Professor teaching surgical art in the Biomedical Illustration Graduate Program at UT, her focus is primarily producing fine art for commission and gallery sales. She hosts a weekly nude figure painting session and schedules 5 or 6 workshops each year in Italy, California and the Texas Hill Country. In Dallas, she teaches several one week workshops at the Creative Art Center.

After years of precisely portraying surgical anatomy for limited color production, she enjoys full-sized figurative paintings with a focus on searching for a subject's elusive qualities during the exchanges that occur from working with a live model Her pastels are particularly colorful and expressive and lately she has enjoyed capturing smaller, on-site landscapes in this looser manner. "I guess after years of 'red for the arteries, and blue for the veins' I needed to break out and tell my own story!"

Recent Publications:

• 'Steps to a likeness' (90 minute instructional video), 2002, Love of Art Productions, Bestfilms, Plano, TX
• Portraits, Special Issue, featured in a 6 page article, 2002, American Artist Magazine, NY, NY.
• Featured in the Gallery (Muriel McLachie Fine Art Award, AMI Salon) Journal of Biocommunications, 27(3), 2000
• Featured in a 6 page article titled "lights, Poses, Portraits" in the 1999 March issue of American Artist Magazine, NY, NY.
• Featured along with six other artists from the USA in International Artists Magazine, April/May 1999 Master Artist's Showcase
• Included in North light Books "The Best of Portraiture," 1998 publication, NY, NY

Recent Awards, Honors and Exhibitions:

• Best of Show, 2002 Texas and Neighbors Exhibition, Irving Arts Center, Irving, TX
• 'Pastels Only' 2001 Open National Exhibition, Pastel Society of America, NY, NY
• "On My Own Time" (2001 Best of Show: UT Southwestern), Dallas Business Committee for the Arts, NorthPark Center, Dallas, TX
• Grumbacher Gold Medal, 2001 Juried Show, Richardson Civic Art Society, Richardson, TX
• Finalist, Portrait Category, Annual 2001 Art Competition, The Artist's Magazine
• Portrait Award, Board of Director's Award, 2001 National Open Show, Pastel Society of the Southwest, Southwest Art Gallery, Dallas, TX
• Forman and Portrait awards, 2001 National Juried Show, Associated Creative Artists, Ann Hughes Fine Art Gallery, Dallas, TX
• Pastel Society of America, 2000 Open National Exhibition, NY, NY
• Salmagundi Club 2000 Open National Exhibition, NY, NY
• Aim for the Arts, August 2000, Federation of Canadian Artists, Vancouver, BC Canada
• Juror's Award and Meritorious Award, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center 2000 National Show, Breckenridge, TX
• Dorothy Barta Portrait Award and the Canson, Inc Award, Pastel Society of the Southwest 2000 National Open Show, Dallas, Texas
• Board of Director's Award, Associated Creative Artists Annual 2000 Show, Dallas, TX
• 2nd Place, 1999 Plano Art Association Annual Juried Exhibition, Plano, Texas
• Workshop Scholarship, Pastel Society of the West Coast, 2000 Annual Show, Carmel, CA
• New Orleans Art Association 2000 National Show, New Orleans, LA
• The Target Award, and The Robert Hatlelid Purchase Award, American Cancer Society, 1999 Annual Brushstrokes Show, Joplin, MO
• Exxon Award, 1999 Texas and Neighbors Exhibition, Irving Arts Center, Irving, TX
• Salmagundi Club 1999 Open National Exhibition, NY, NY

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