Denise Stewart-Sanabria was born in Massachusetts and received her B.F.A. in Painting from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. She has lived in Knoxville, TN since 1986.
Sanabria paints both hyper-realist “portraits” of everything from produce to subversive jelly donuts. The anthropomorphic narratives often are reflections on human behavior. She is also known for her life size charcoal portrait drawings on plywood, which are cut out, mounted on wood bases, and staged in conceptual installations.
Recent exhibits include: Drawing Discourse, S. Tucker Cooke Gallery, University of North Carolina, Virtual Reality, John P. Weatherhead Gallery, University of Saint Francis, Fort Wayne, IN, Feast Your Eyes: Celebrating the Food of the South, Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC, the 36th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Bradley University in Peoria, Ill, 28th National Drawing & Print Exhibition, Gormley Gallery, Notre Dame of Maryland, University in Baltimore, MD, Drawing Closer: Ink and Wood Sarratt Gallery, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and Quantum Continuum Rebecca Randall Bryan Gallery, Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC.
2018 solo exhibits include Contemporary Altars of Misappropriated Mythology, Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN, Encounters, at the Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville Alabama, and Another Virtual Reality at New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art at University of Southern Indiana.
Her work is included in various museums, private, and corporate collections including: The Tennessee State Museum, The Evansville Museum of Art in Indiana, The Knoxville Museum of Art, Firstbank TN, Pinnacle Banks, Omni and Opryland Hotels, Scripps Networks, Knoxville Botanical Gardens, Jewelry Television, TriStar Energy, and the corporate offices of McGhee Tyson Airport.
