For our first interview of the 2021 Delaware Fun-A-Day, we talk to Maryland author and mixed media artist Sharon Brubaker about seaglass, concretions, books, the Green Man series, and Celtic inspirations. Thanks, Sharon!
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We like to know how people are connected to Delaware Fun a Day - are you a resident, born and raised? What opportunities have you found being in the exhibit?
I am not a Delaware resident but have worked in Delaware for over thirty years. Being part of Delaware Fun-a-Day has permitted a tribe of creatives from the tri-state area to come together to celebrate creativity and fun.
For those folks not familiar with neighboring Cecil County (in Maryland directly next to New Castle County, Delaware), would you like to tell them a little about the area and how it served as the backdrop for your Green Man Series of novels? Do you have any ‘travel’ tips you can give folks who want to ‘explore’ the area?
When I was looking for a home, I fell head over heels in love with Cecil County, Maryland. In tootling around, discovering the area, I stumbled on the location I dreamed of for the Green Man series setting along the shores of the Northern Chesapeake. Many local spots are featured in the book series. I have a fantastic map of each book created by the talented Meredith Boas! After a conversation about my passion for visiting the settings of various books, Meredith said she could create a map for my books. I was thrilled!
The maps are included in the books for sale at The Palette and the Page in Elkton, Maryland, and at Kathy’s Corner in North East, Maryland, or by contacting me at sharon@sharon-brubaker.com. When you read the book, you can visit several settings using the map and referring to small portions of text in the book. It’s so much fun to have dinner where the characters had dinner or visit where they ‘walked’ in the novels.
This is going to be your FOURTH year participating in Delaware Fun-A-Day! And while you’re an incredible local author, you’re also an artist who works in several mediums and has completed a different type of project each year. Can you describe your favorite past Fun-A-Day project?
I view Fun-a-Day as a challenge to help me learn a new skill in jewelry design or another art form. Delaware Fun-a-Day provides a structure to explore, learn, and have fun doing so. I can’t choose a favorite…yet…maybe in another ten years. This year’s project of little art dolls for the garden is definitely a stretch for me!
For your 2020 project, you created jewelry in the form of bracelets, pendants, and necklaces. You also used different materials on top of the copper, such as Inktense, Prisma Color, and Black Gesso. What can you tell us about these materials? Were they successful in getting you the outcome you hoped for?
As a jewelry artisan, I am fascinated with color on metal. Deb Karash is an artist I follow for Prismacolor on Copper, and I was fortunate to take a class with Roxan O’Brien, who uses a similar technique. Although I love using Prismacolor pencils on metal, I wanted to experiment with Derwent’s Inktense pencils. They are an amazing medium that can be used to dye the material you are working on, but they can also be used well in layering, like in a watercolor painting. Exploring using these mediums was challenging and fun. I have incorporated sea glass in the majority of designs that I cull from Chesapeake area beaches.
You’re an avid sea glasser, and you regularly search for and find beautiful sea glass in the Chesapeake Bay. You also incorporate this sea glass into your jewelry work. Can you give us any tips on searching for sea glass? Or are you just really lucky?!
I wish I was lucky at finding sea glass! It’s definitely a treasure hunt. Our glass on the Northern Chesapeake is relatively young. It takes 20-50 years or more to get a well sanded ‘gem’ of sea glass. Tips? Go at low tide, be persistent, explore many areas. The Chesapeake Bay has hundreds of miles of coves and coastlines to explore. When you get a chance, (post-COVID) visit sea glass festivals in the area to speak with the experts. There are a multitude of sea glass groups around the world on social media.
Tell us about your latest novel in progress, ‘Tides of Blue’ and how sea glass served as your main inspiration and focal point for the story.
Each shard of sea glass is a story. It came from somewhere. It belonged to someone. Somehow, it ended up on the beach where you found it. What if you could trace back the shard to the original vessel? What story or stories does it hold? That was my impetus for the sea glass once I picked up a piece of coveted cobalt blue. I wondered where it came from. I traced it to a type of poison bottle from the 19th century.
My imagination went crazy. What if someone had been poisoned by the contents of the bottle and the bottle thrown into the bay? What happened when it broke up? Who picked up the shards? What was their story? I used my curiosity and imagination to come up with a tale of sea glass shards and their stories.
Less known than sea glass are the mysterious tube concretions that you find in the bay. What would you like to share about these naturally formed objects, and how have you used them in your works?
Ahh…tubular concretions! They are a really, really cool rock formation that I find on a nearby beach. My good friend collects them and gifts me pieces that are appropriate for jewelry. The rock tubes, spheres, and bowl-shaped pieces on the Chesapeake Bay date back to the late Cretaceous era. So… these rocks were being formed when dinosaurs roamed the earth! I use them to create edgy, organic pieces of jewelry.
As an independent author and novelist, you also maintain a blog as a place for research, thoughts, and discussion with readers. While generally focused on the Green Man figure from ancient folklore who inspires your novels, you also regularly talk about other areas of interest such as Celtic cultures, sea glass, selkies, spirituality, and of course, writing. Tell us more about your blog and how folks can connect with you and stay up to date about your various writing projects and novels in progress.
My blog can be found on my website at www.sharon-brubaker.com. I began the blog as a repository of information about the Green Man. The more I researched, the more I learned that he was a universal archetype. It helped, too, when people asked me questions about the Green Man. Since I have always been fascinated with myth, folklore, and archetypal figures, my interests spill over to the blog and my writing. The blog directly links with projects that I am working on and a place for me to revisit for my research. The blog also provides information for readers and aficionados of the Green Man for brief articles and information.
In the Green Man book series, what is it about the Green Man in particular that draws you in? And since the Green Man appears in different forms throughout the seasons - do you think he’ll inspire your 2021 Delaware Fun-A-Day project ‘Signs of Spring’?
I have been fascinated by the Green Man since dreaming about him as an adolescent. I learned that he was a ‘real’ figure/archetype in my twenties and sought any and all information on him since that time. I knew long ago that he would be a character in some sort of novel. The Green Man represents birth, death, and rebirth in many cultures. Yes, I think he’ll be influencing me as Spring begins to burgeon this month.
March 20th is the first day of Spring - so we have to know - what are you planning to plant in your garden this season? AND if you could be any flower - what flower do you think you’d be?
Well…I am a plant-a-holic. I love playing in the dirt and creating gardens. This year I am focusing on a woodland garden area and the border to a labyrinth built with my son and a dear friend. I’m seeking to create a collection of Hellebores (Lenten Roses), Brunnera, fern, and to naturalize with snowdrops in the fall. I’ve been looking at tea plants – Camellia sinensis. Luck with growing them in this area is on the sketchy side. We’ll see. I am also looking out for brightly colored annuals and perennials for a small garden that I share with a neighbor. I will have vegetables and herbs in containers due to the huge deer population in the area. March is the time to plant cold-weather crops such as lettuce, arugula, spinach, turnips, and radishes. Homegrown salad will feature at my house in late April and early May.
If I could be a flower, hmm, that is a tough one. I have a long-standing love affair with herbs. Rosemary and Lavender are two of my favorites. I am also in love with hellebores. They bloom in late winter and hold their flowers until summer. I love the stages of the floral growth in this evergreen plant.
Lastly, where can people see more of your work?
Go to my website – www.sharon-brubaker.com for more information. Locally, my books are available at The Palette and the Page in Elkton, Maryland, and Kathy’s Corner Gifts in North East, Maryland. They are also available at amazon.com