Artist Bio: Linda Wright, Painter
High school was when Linda really knew
she was an artist. She attended CEGEP to create art & study
literature. The topics that engaged her most were drawing, painting
and sculpture. She encountered some resistance from her parents
about her choice of study. They had friends that were artists
and they were struggling financially.
After Cegep Linda left Montreal and went
out west, surviving by doing odd jobs and teaching French. Returning
to Montreal she enrolled at Concordia University. She decided
to return to the University of Calgary to finish her studies.
The year was 1977 and Calgary was a boomtown as it is now. She
noticed that most of the art professors were male: they were regarded
as the “serious” artists. In the summers, Linda worked
on geophysical surveys for oil exploration. She spent many weeks
in the wilderness where she saw abandoned farms, swamps and the
hugeness of the sky. She enjoyed the way the colour of the long
sunsets would bounce off wheat fields. Her sketches and photo
images from that time had a significant influence on her later
painting.
Linda received her B.F.A at Calgary in 1979. One of her favourite
teachers was Harry Kiyooka who was well-known for his large semi-abstract
paintings with Mediterranean influence. From him she learned how
to think about 2-dimensional work. After University she took a
job at a geophysical company office for one year. Afterwards she
moved back east and spent some time in the Eastern townships and
Laurentians exploring painting. She travelled to Europe where
she spent a lot of time in galleries and museums. Rembrandt stood
out. She adored the gorgeous renascence art and sculpture. Bernini
and Rodin were impressive and inspirational. Impressionists Monet
and Degas were highlights, filling in the blanks from her school
studies. One of the things she remembers from the trip most clearly
is a recognition of the importance of organic and inorganic elements
and how most successful art work has a combination of both. Also
remaining with her was the knowledge that the bones of a painting
have to have a strong balance between soft and strong.
After her European odessey, Linda came to Chelsea to visit a friend.
She got a job with the NCC working on surveys of use patterns.
She headed up a project to promote facilities for the disabled
in Gatineau Park. She was always painting during this period,
inspired by the local landscape. Around this time she managed
a co-operative gallery known as “A Source of Art”
in the Glebe area of Ottawa and taught part-time for the West
Quebec School Board and the Municipality of Chelsea. She was an
assistant manager at Rothwell Gallery briefly and later, a founding
member of Galerie Old Chelsea. She had her first child in 1987.
Her work reflected this change in her life; imagery of children
in action began to populate her paintings. She has been a member
of “Artist in Their Environment” for the last 9 years.
Linda is now moving into a different kind of work, and in spite
of her vast experience, this challenges her confidence. It is
a new thing because her previous work has been more of a continuum
from A to B. Her new concepts develop in response to what she
sees on the canvas. She starts with a small sketch, not too detailed.
She then transfers linear elements to the raw canvas. In her hands
the paint behaves more like watercolour, using pure pigments as
glazes. Working in this way contributes to a more watercolour-like
look. She builds up layers, perhaps as many as 10. Her preference
is for big brushes (e.g. 2-3 inch wide house-painting brushes).
The most challenging aspect of her new work is not having anything
to refer to; it’s a more of an internal process in contrast
with previous work, which was painted from photos and sketches.
She is known for the skewed perspective she often used in previous
work. As she says “I altered the perspective as a result
of imagining the view of different life forms such as a bird’s
eye view or perhaps that of a very young child.” Linda’s
new work references colour more than previous work. The artist
has come to realize that specific colours immediately invoke or
represent certain imagery as a result of our own experiences in
nature, or through the photographic bombardment that is our daily
experience. Linda firmly believes that aesthetic experiences are
important for everyone. As an example she cites how during WW2
the English kept going to the opera even through the bombings.
She emphasizes; “Art is an essential human need, an emotional
experience…an intuitive process which takes me out of my
body and time and space”.
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