"After years of teaching, I found my way back to an art studio and eventually to an art form I love: Collage."
Since 2007, her work has been included in several group exhibitions giving her art exposure to a wider audience. In 2011-2013 she participated in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Annual Exhibit of The National Arts Program at the Mount Sinai Medical Center where she was awarded honorable mention in all three annual exhibits. Linda was also selected to participate at the 92nd Street Y’s Annual Curate Juried Art Show 2011-2013, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Since 2015, she has been in 28 curated shows and to her delight, Linda has had four solo shows at the office of Dental Partners of Fifth Avenue in NYC which exhibited her collages.
EDUCATION
2017 - Present
Member of the Art Students League NY
2016 - Present
Member of the National Association of Women Artists
2004 - 2018
92nd Street Y Studio Art Department
1969
Smith College
Bachelor of Arts: History, Studio Art and Education
BIOGRAPHY
For Linda, a native New Yorker, art has always been a passion. Though an educator for 33 years, she decided that she would devote her time to becoming a professional artist.
After leaving education, Linda became involved in SAVI, an organization that focuses on sexual assault and violence intervention. She was trained as an advocate for survivors in hospitals dealing with the police and rape kits. At the same time, she joined The Transition Network, a non-profit organization for professional women over fifty redefining the second half of life. Exploring topics such as “passion and risk-taking, led her to rekindle her love of studio art and follow her dream of becoming a collage artist.
The 92nd Street Y provided Linda with access to professional artists such as Ellen Alt, Johnathan Tucker, Tirsah Bassel, Anna Shekelo, Eric Hibit and Wennie Huang. They provided excellent teaching resources and experience in the studio.
Next, Linda joined the Art Students League of New York where she studied with Mariano Del Rosario and Deborah Winiarski. She entered juried shows - receiving many successful entries and awards - and was accepted into the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) in 2017.
Because of her experience teaching technology, Linda developed an approach that incorporated digital photography in her work. She uses photographs as inspiration and combines different materials such as handmade papers, foreign newspapers, magazines, acrylic paint, oil crayons, sand, glue, even found objects. She finds that “the streets of New York City are a gold mine” as are the deserts and mountains in California that have inspired some of; her most popular two and three-dimensional collages.
Covid 19 and the resulting lockdown reoriented Linda’s approach to life and art. She studied via the internet with California artist, Nicholas Wilton, who reoriented her to the world of abstraction. She is both attracted to the freedom, the movement and the limitless opportunities to rearrange reality through paint and collage.
“I am attracted to the freedoms, the movement and the limitless opportunities to rearrange reality through collage. I am learning to critique and change was does not work. I have embraced the concept of using play, intuition, and letting go to create meaningful, personal and impactful colleges that reveal my exuberance for life.“ -Linda Sicher