About

Linda’s Bio

I lived most of my life in Minneapolis and St. Paul having a career as an organizational development consultant. I learned to weave in 2003 when I moved to the remote and beautiful Magdalena Mountains of central New Mexico. I fell in love with everything weaving. My first weaving teacher not only taught me about weaving, but also about sheep ranching, lambing, shearing and wool processing.


I began weaving southwest style rugs on a Rio Grande style “walking loom,” which is the traditional Spanish treadle loom introduced into New Mexico 400 years ago. My weaving was enhanced by time spent at my teacher’s wool processing mill experimenting with fiber and creating yarn.


I was introduced to tapestry weaving by James Koehler, one of New Mexico’s premier tapestry weavers. The five years with James as my teacher and mentor shaped my tapestry weaving.


I currently live in New Mexico and Minnesota with my husband, Gerry, and our Westie, Phoebe.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The complexity of weaving tapestries fascinates me.  It is a journey through color, form, and structure.  In weaving tapestries my goal is to capture the essence of nature in an abstract way creating movement through subtle blending of color. 

My art is influenced by the landscape that surrounds me: Minnesota’s lush green forests and sky blue lakes; New Mexico’s majestic mountains and white desert sands. These moments are what I want to capture in my tapestries.  

I like weaving tapestries for many reasons: the feel of the soft fiber in my fingers; the meditative quality of moving the weft back and forth through the warp; the challenge of making all the choices in color, design, fiber, and technique to bring the image alive on the loom. Weaving for me is a journey of self-discovery and self-expression through color and form.  When I create tapestries, I arrive at a deeper understanding of myself.

Select Exhibitions and Awards

2022 Albuquerque Fiber Fiesta, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1st Place for Aurora; 2nd Place; Judges’ Choice and HGA Award for Shimmer

2020    Local Color, Mesilla Valley Weavers Guild, New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, Las Cruces, NM

2019    Fiber as Metaphor, Gallery Fritz, Santa Fe, NM

2019    Earth Threads, Open Space Visitor Center Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2018    Recall, Recapture, Remember, Tansey Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2018    Tapestry as Exploration and Innovation, Fuller Lodge Art Center, Los Alamos, NM

2018    The Language of Tapestry, Tombaugh Art Gallery, Las Cruces, NM

2017    Harvest, Adobe Patio Gallery, Las Cruces, NM

2016    Questioning Limits:  Exploration in Tapestry, College of Fine Arts Downtown Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2015    Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta, Manuel Lujan Exhibition Hall, Albuquerque, NM  2rd Place for Tapestry and People’s Choice Award for Weaving

2015    Tapestry Through Time, The Historic Taos Inn, Taos, NM

2015    State of Art: Tapestry in the 21st Century: The Fine Art of Eight Southwest Masters, Jonathan Abrams Art Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2014-2015       American Tapestry Biennial 10, Visions Art Museum, San Diego, CA (2014); Kent State University Museum, Kent, OH (2015); Kaneko, Omaha, NE (2015)

2014    From the Heart, Vertu Fine Arts Gallery, Socorro, NM

2014    Primavera, Adobe Patio Gallery, Mesilla, NM

2014    Visually Vital, Vertu Fine Arts Gallery, Socorro, NM

2013    Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta, Manuel Lujan Exhibition Hall, Albuquerque, NM, 2rd Place for Tapestry

2013    Local Landscape, Local Color, Vertu Fine Arts Gallery, Socorro, NM

2013    Interwoven– Five Fiber Friends, Unsettled Gallery, Las Cruces, NM

2013    Weaving the Threads of the Past into the Future, Mesilla Valley Weavers Guild, New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, Las Cruces, NM, Curator of this Exhibit and Exhibitor

2011    Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta, Manuel Lujan Exhibition Hall, Albuquerque, NM, 3rd Place for Tapestry

2009    Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta, Manuel Lujan Exhibition Hall, Albuquerque, NM, 2nd Place in “First   time exhibition in a juried show”

2005    Taos Wool Festival, Taos, NM, 3rd Place in Tapestry Division