A Life in Visual Media
Paul Sharits was a visual artist, filmmaker, and performance artist born in Denver, United States. His creative journey was deeply shaped by personal shifts; after the death of his mother and his marriage to Frances Trujillo Niekerk, Sharits burned much of his early narrative work, leaving only the film Wintercourse (1962) from that period. His academic background included a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Denver's School of Art and a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Design from Indiana University Bloomington.
Sharits's professional life was closely tied to the academic and experimental film communities. He served as a teacher at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Antioch College, and the State University of New York at Buffalo. At the University at Buffalo, he taught film history and analysis within the Department of Media Study, contributing significantly to the program's development.
Artistic Practice and Legacy
Drawing from his foundations in painting and graphic design, Sharits utilized a meticulous process, often storyboarding his films with colored ink and graph paper before composing them frame-by-frame. He is recognized for his work in experimental filmmaking, specifically within the structural film movement. His filmic output included:
His works have been preserved by Anthology Film Archives and distributed by The Film-Makers' Cooperative and Canyon Cinema. Sharits's films were also featured in the exhibition MindFrames: Media Study at Buffalo 1973–1990 at ZKM in Karlsruhe. He passed away in Buffalo, New York.
