Linda Chappel

Program Affiliations: Open Studio Tours Artist

About Linda Chappel

Biography
Linda Chappel’s formal studies in art began at the University of Madison, Wisconsin where she was fortunate to study in the sculpture department with Dan Reitz, George Cramer and Truman Lowe. She graduated from Madison with a bachelor degree in the Fine Arts in 1986. After graduation she worked in Santa Fe and Seattle and showed in a number of galleries, including the OK Hotel and FLN in Seattle. In 1992 Linda decided to further her studies and came to the University of Arizona at Tucson for a Graduate degree in Art History and was awarded a Master’s Degree in Art History, specializing in Mexican Art History. She is currently a full-time instructor at Tohono O’odham Community College and continues creating paintings and sculptures in her Tucson studio.
Statement
My artwork focuses on landscape, wildlife and the myths that humans form to mediate our interaction with nature. Through both sculpture and painting I explore how human's relationship with nature shift sand changes. In my current work, I approach how animals travel between this world and the next, how they occupy a space in both our present time and in a realm beyond the one that we as humans are aware of.

http://lindalchappel.com/

Bear Swimming

Coyote and Milky way

Fauna

Open Studio Tour

About the Process

Art is one way to understand the relationship between humans and the earth. Our intrinsic and complicated connections to the wider community of animals and to the landscape are the center of my art work. The layering of symbols records my understanding of these connections. I am also interested in the persistence and interplay of visual symbols from various cultures and across time. The use of expressive line and color draws the attention to the importance of the physical and tactile nature of creating art. Symbolic use of colors, shapes and animal forms dominate my image construction. Using encaustics, oil and collage allows me to layer ideas through physically layering images. The physical presence of the art is an important part of the process and each of these materials allows me to leave traces of my physical interaction with the art.

Ultimately, I am interested in the art object and to inspire others to contemplate the importance of understanding our relationship to the earth in contemporary society.

Drawing outside, painting with watercolors and direct observation is often the starting point of my art process

Reading and research of images and text is also very important in the realization of my work. I often draw upon art history, natural history and scientific research, these ideas and images are combined in my preliminary drawings and mixed media paintings.