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I enjoy creating contrasts using controlled marks juxtaposed with free and organic shapes. Balance is the goal, yet I strive for surprises within the bounds of compositional principles. Lines of color are layered and scattered on canvas or panel surfaces. These marks hover, emerge, and sometimes explode over or within forms reminiscent of earthly details or phenomena.

These works satisfy my need to bridge two worlds of creating: the application of consistency, using the controlled mark, verses surfaces that roam and evolve, free and full of surprises. Controlled or not, the process is one of solving problems that arise in my evolution of making. The mood of the work evokes contained but passionate energy. Color choices inform meaning, spanning notions of subterranean or surface earth features to the ethereal realm.

Bio

Born, raised and educated in Southern California, Linda Jo Russell has pursued parallel careers as art educator and artist. She received a B.A. in education with a minor in art from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She completed her graduate studies in Drawing and Painting at California State University at Long Beach where she received her M.A. in 1977 and M.F.A. in 1979.

In 1965, Linda Jo began her teaching career in the public school system, primarily teaching art to high school students. After receiving her M.F.A., her work as a teacher expanded to include drawing and painting courses at California State University at Long Beach. It was there that she connected with her colleague, Dr. Betty Edwards, author of the renowned book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. For several years, under the special guidance of Edwards and the Center for Educational Applications of Brain Hemisphere Research at CSULB, she joined a select team of teachers that developed expertise in the method of teaching Perceptual Skills in Drawing.

Since then, Linda Jo has taught workshops and extended courses in this method of drawing to both children and adults throughout the nation and abroad. Past teaching venues include Harvard and Cornell Universities, University of New Hampshire, El Camino and Los Angeles Harbor Community College, Otis College of Art and Design, UCLA Extension in the Visual Arts, and Drawing and Painting/Advance Placement Studio Art at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in California.

Parallel with her teaching career, Linda Jo maintains a commitment to her personal artistic development. She has continuously exhibited her artwork since 1978.