Artist Biography

Linda Rae works in drawing, mixed media paintings and photography.    Her work is inspired by her heartfelt connection to the Earth, its creatures, plants, and peoples.  Linda received a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art from Fort Hays State University in Kansas, and a Masters Degree in Art Therapy from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.   She was board certified by the American Art Therapy Association and worked for a number of years as an art therapist with children and adults, in hospitals, residential treatment, and private practice.  She also designed and implemented a site-specific art therapy program for a correctional facility.  Linda also has taught children and adult art classes in a wide variety of settings.

For the last several years Linda has devoted herself to her own art work and studying how the creative process interacts with and effects consciousness.   Linda lives in rural northeast Kansas, with her husband, two horses, two dogs, and four cats.  She loves to ride horses, hike, bike, kayak, cook, and garden when she is not in the studio creating.

    Artist Statement   

"I have never been without art.  It has always been a part of me, my way of relating to the world, expressing myself, and learning about everything around me.  My art is about the celebration of simply being alive.  I see such beauty, such tremendous beauty, in a leaf, a person's hair, the glint in their eye, the way a cat curls its tail around itself when it sleeps.  Some things, like flowers, are obviously beautiful to most everyone.  But to me, the whole world, and everything in it is a tremendous gift of beauty.  Drawing helps me to really see the world for exactly what it is, rather than what I think it to be.  It trains my mind to slow down and my eye to see true form and relationships, phenomenally.  Painting is an opportunity to be playful with color, texture, and design elements, to work spontaneously, intuitively, and to follow each painting's lead.  Photography allows me to capture a fleeting moment, a brief encounter with the "ordinary", that through my artist's eye has become extraordinary.   Sometimes this experience is literally gone with the blink of an eye.  Photography also teaches me to consciously choose what I focus on.  I am very passionate about what can be known through the creative process. By developing our creativity, we inherently connect to our creator and open up our consciousness.  My own creative process has allowed me to open parts of myself that I did not know existed.  By learning from within myself I have earned my Ph. Me." —Linda Rae

                                                              --Linda Rae

Exhibits

May 2008 Manhattan Art Center Photography Exhibit