The story of Sharon Sprung, the Brooklyn artist commissioned to paint a portrait of Michelle Obama for the White House
NEW YORK - It's a height that most artists can only dream of: to be commissioned to paint a historic portrait of the First Lady of the United States. Six years ago, that honor was given to Brooklyn artist Sharon Sprung.
In her Boerum Heights studio, Sprung told CBS2's Hannah Kliger about Michelle Obama's initial reaction when she saw the completed work.
"I really felt that she genuinely liked the painting and she noted certain things about it," Sprung says.
So did the former president.
"I want to thank Sharon Sprung for capturing everything I love about Michelle: her grace, her intelligence, and the fact that she's fine," Barack Obama said at the unveiling on Sept. 7.
Sprung sprang into the national spotlight since the reveal of her work - a portrait of Mrs. Obama in a blue ballgown, sitting on a couch.
She explains that towards the end of Obama's last term, in 2016, she got an email from the curator of the White House, saying she was at the top of their list of artists for the project.
"I said, well, that's incredible," she laughed. Eventually, she went for an interview with both the Obamas in the Oval Office, and after weeks with bated breath, she found out she was selected.
"I kept calling and they haven't made a decision, and then I called one day and they said you have it," she recalls. "It was such a mix of emotions I can't even describe it, but I knew in my heart I would do a good job."
She sat down with Michelle Obama once again in the White House, where they discussed poses, clothing and the setting of the portrait. Sprung says she worked on the painting for eight months until she felt it was ready.
When it was finished, she says Michelle Obama came to her Boerum Hill studio to sign off on the work.
Now that the portrait, which was in storage for the past five years, has finally been unveiled, it will live in the White House along with decades of other presidential paintings.
"A girl like me, she was never supposed to be up there next to Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolley Madison," the former First Lady said last week.
Sprung, who has dedicated her whole life to making art, is now also making history.
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