Shari Mendelson is a sculptor living and working in Brooklyn and Schoharie County, New York. For the past 15 years she has been working on a series of sculpture that are influenced by Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Mesopotamian art and are constructed primarily from found plastic bottles. Mendelson has always had a very hands-on, materials-based practice. Her love of materials and process, ancient art and history, and her concern for the environment have coalesced in her current body of work. Mendelson has been the recipient of four New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships (2017, 2011, 1997, and 1987), a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant (1989), and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant (2017) and a Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award (2024). She has been a resident at Yaddo, MacDowell, and the Bau Institute/Camargo Foundation. Mendelson has been a visiting artist at UrbanGlass, The Corning Museum of Glass, The Toledo Museum of Art, and Pilchuck School of Glass. Solo exhibitions include Fahrenheit Madrid, Madrid Spain, (2023-24) Tibor de Nagy, NYC (2023, 2020), Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY (2022), The Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ (2019), The Agnes Varis Art Center, Brooklyn, NY (2018), Todd Merrill Studio, NYC (2067/17), John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY (2013) and Pierogi, Brooklyn, NY (1997) among others. She has been included in numerous 2 person and group exhibitions including a 2-person show at the Eckert Art Gallery at Millersville University, Millersville, PA, and a 4-person show at Make Hauser & Wirth, LA, CA both in 2024. Mendelson’s work is in the permanent collection of the following museum collections: The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, The RISD Museum, Providence, RI, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, and The Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, AU. Her work is also in many other public and private collections. Her work has been featured in publications including in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, Sculpture Magazine, Hyperallergic, The Forward, the Los Angeles Times, Glass Quarterly, and others. Mendelson received an MFA from the State University at New Paltz and a BFA from Arizona State University. She has taught at many schools including Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, The Maryland Institute College of Art, New York University, and The Ethical Culture Fieldston School.