I have recently had the great pleasure of getting to know Linda Sojda while photographing her work and designing her website.  She is an amazing artist and just a joy to be around. If you have a chance, visit her studio at Cripple Cove Studios, 97 East Main Street (at the left of the driveway leading down to Capt. Joe & Sons), or visit her website at http://www.lindasojda.com to see more of her work.
Linda’s art practice examines color, pattern, shape and texture and what happens when these elements are juxtaposed. The unexpected combinations give her painting direction. Her work is non-representational and yet it is very much inspired by the landscape. Nature’s organic patterns and shapes, contrasting hues of color and unintended markings offer vast possibilities.
She works in mediums that foster exploration and unforeseen outcomes. Oil and wax can be blended, layered, scraped, and sanded allowing transparencies and depth of field.  She also paints with sumi ink and gouache on Japanese Okawara paper. With this medium she deconstructs Chinese characters and uses the gestural brushstrokes and negative space to shape an image. This approach results in paintings that are direct, immediate and bold, as you can see from the examples above.
In kindergarten, Linda painted a bowl of fresh fruit sitting on her teacher’s desk. Miss Gray liked her painting so much that she showed it to the principal. He must have liked it too because he had it framed and hung it in his office. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Linda has had many great days in her life, but that day is still one of the best. Since that time, making art has never really left her. Painting in her studio, visiting a gallery or new exhibit, gathering with her artist’s group or sketching ideas at home, art has been a constant in her life, for which she is beyond grateful.
Linda grew up on the shores of Lake Erie, about fifty miles west of Buffalo, New York. In college she studied art earning a degree in art education. She taught art K-12 in New York, Michigan and California. At the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem she is an educator to both adults and children. Today she lives in Gloucester and has maintained a studio at Cripple Cove Studios in East Gloucester for several years where she leads small workshops and welcome visitors. Linda is an active member of the Rocky Neck Art Colony and currently serves on its board of directors and on the Goetemann residency committee.
Linda’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the United States and Canada.
E.J. Lefavour
Good Morning Gloucester 