TOP ARTISTS FOR 2019 | LINDA ATKINSON
"The challenge in painting sculpture is to paint each side differently and uniquely, and by the time you are back at the beginning the painting must come together as a whole." What makes your work
Tell us about some of
and approach unique?
your achievements.
As a sculptor in graduate
My proudest achievement
school, I worked
was winning the
primarily with professors
commission to carve the
in the painting
Ark doors for Temple
department, particularly
Emanuel in Roanoke.
the photo realist painter
The center piece of the
Robert Bechtle.
sanctuary, the 4’x8’x3”
I made sculptures of
doors are of carved and
potted plants, human
painted mahogany, lit from
scale, painterly,
within and pierced with
gestural.
stain glass.
I painted shadow and light as if the sculptures
What is the backstory of
were flat, giving them a
one of your pieces?
heightened synthetic
When I was invited to
sense of reality.
submit a proposal for the
From sculptures of
Ark doors at Temple
plants I moved on to
Emanuel, I researched
making sculptures that
Jewish symbols and
addressed genres usually
struggled with pulling
florals, still life and landscape. The challenge in painting sculpture is to paint each side differently and uniquely, and by the time you are back at the beginning the painting must come together as a whole.
Why is your work a good investment? This award, as one of the Top Emerging Artists for 2019 pretty much says it. It is an honor to be included in this publication, with the opportunity to present my art to a global audience. As an art appraiser, I would have to say that the best investment you can make in art is buying something you truly would love to live with. Trust your own judgement, trust your eye.
those symbols together cohesively. Ultimately I settled on a Tree of Life motif, and my design was unanimously chosen by the Temple selection committee. After I carved the doors, I was reading an older brochure about the Temple, and found that the
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