Sharonna Ray

Sharonna Ray earned her BFA in Visual Art from Savannah State University (2018) and her BS in Fashion Merchandising and Apparel Design from Georgia Southern University (2026). She is currently pursuing her M.A.Ed. in Art Education at the University of Georgia.

An interdisciplinary artist, fashion designer, and elementary art educator, Sharonna’s creative practice explores the intersections of art, identity, emotion, and learning. Her personal studio practice, Mourning Sugar, developed from her experiences with grief following the diagnosis and passing of her older brother from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Inspired by the delicate and temporary nature of cotton candy, Mourning Sugar explores the coexistence of grief, softness, resilience, and sweetness through mixed-media painting, fibers, textile-inspired surfaces, and womenswear apparel.

Sharonna has exhibited her work throughout the Southeast at institutions and arts organizations including Telfair Museums, Cedar House Gallery, Kennedy Fine Arts Gallery, the Savannah Gallery of Art, the Savannah Cultural Arts Center, the Gibbes Museum of Art, and Arts Southeast. Her exhibition practice reflects her continued exploration of mixed media, textiles, dimensional surfaces, and the relationship between fine art and fashion.

Sharonna’s path as an educator began during her senior year at Savannah State University through an art education internship at the Savannah African Art Museum. It was there that she discovered that the classroom could become her stage—a space where her creativity, enthusiasm, and ability to engage others through art could come together. Following graduation, she served as a substitute teacher for art educators within the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System to further develop her classroom experience and also taught community painting classes at Painting with a Twist. She now teaches elementary art within the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, where she is passionate about creating engaging, meaningful experiences that invite learners to explore, connect, and express themselves through art.

Her interdisciplinary approach to teaching is further reflected through Anchored in Arts, an arts education initiative she launched as part of her Georgia Southern University internship and capstone experience. Anchored in Arts uses visual art as an anchor for meaningful connections across disciplines, creating learning experiences that integrate art with science, mathematics, and students’ surrounding world.

Across both her personal artistry and educator practice, interdisciplinary exploration remains a connecting thread. Whether translating the visual language of a painting into apparel or using visual art to deepen students’ understanding across academic subjects, Sharonna is interested in the possibilities that emerge when creative disciplines intersect.

The works presented are selections from Mourning Sugar, an interdisciplinary body of work exploring grief, softness, resilience, and the presence of sweetness within loss. Developed following the diagnosis and passing of Sharonna’s older brother from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the series draws inspiration from the delicate, airy, and temporary qualities of cotton candy as a visual metaphor for tenderness and mourning. Through layered acrylic paint, fibers, mixed media, and dimensional surfaces, the Cotton Candy works blur the boundaries between painting and textile art. The Grief She Wore extends this visual language into womenswear apparel, translating the colors, textures, and sculptural qualities of the paintings through hand-dyed and painted textiles, fibers, and resin. Together, these works reflect Sharonna’s interdisciplinary practice and her interest in allowing materials, emotion, fine art, and fashion to intersect.