Meet Linda Shearer Whiting

Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Shearer Whiting.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I am a western girl from Alberta, Canada and even though I lived 10 years in Vancouver, BC and 27 years in Phoenix, AZ, the prairie girl was never really covered up. I’ve lived in Flagstaff, AZ since 2013. I realized my personal cultural identity was not of my Northern European roots, but of the cowboy shows, the Wild West myths my brothers and I made up. Now that I live in Arizona, land of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS and bright yellow billboards advertising both moccasins and ice cream, my need to stop at those crazy highway pull-offs is being fulfilled. I draw inspiration from the highway relics, but also the view from the places that I travel to.

Please tell us about your art.

I like to think I am a recorder of dying roadside attractions. I’m drawn to the creative wackiness that caused people to lure travelers off the highways with cement tee pee motels, snake farms, and diner food with Jell-O! I also love the huge spaces of the west. Thunderheads that go miles up into summer skies, the intense light, the colors of the southwest.

My paintings are oil or gouache, I also do a lot of work on paper with graphite or with monoprints. My travels around Europe inspire my hand-painted silk scarves and shawls. My art is my response to my upbringing and places that I find myself in, be it in North America or abroad. I will always be drawn to the bold, startling, and unusual in those places.

What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
I think more areas need to be opened up to artists to do their work in. Spaces that are affordable and open to the possibility of the public visiting these spaces.

I shared a studio in downtown Phoenix with another artist got 17 years. It was a wonderful space to work and reasonable rent. Development changed the whole environment and only a handful of artists still work in that area. Rents went skylight, making it impossible for young artists to be in those spaces.

The gallery business has changed so much in the last 20 years. Studios that can be opened to the public were really how a lot of us could get our work seen.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My studio is open to the public.
Northern view studio
7 e aspen Ave, aspen loft artists, studio #5
Flagstaff, AZ 86001

I am one of the artists in
Fire on the Mountain/Arizona handmade gallery
13 n San Francisco St, Ste 100
Flagstaff, AZ 86001

My website is
www.northernviewstudio.com

Contact Info:

• Address: Linda Shearer Whiting
• Website: www.northernviewstudio.com
• Phone: 928-699-4396
• Email: whitinglinda@rocketmail_com
• Instagram: lindashearerwhiting
• Facebook: Linda Shearer-Whiting

Image Credit:
Photos by Linda Shearer Whiting and Tom Alexander.

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