Linda Armantrout
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Linda Armantrout moved her home and Studio to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2019. The Light and the Land of Enchantment called. Recent work is informed by New Mexico's rich history, culture, Light, and beauty.
After years of landscape painting, Linda developed a figurative Power Image Series using the horse as metaphor. “Horse Power as Spirit” was shown in Boulder, Colorado. Power Image #7 used pictographs and began her paintings about connections to ancient marks, and to the idea of making marks on top of marks.
The Spirit Messenger Series, was shown as “Reconnection to Spirit” at Sellars Project Space in the Twitchell Building in Salida, Colorado. These paintings and drawings offer symbolically charged animals as messengers or guides.
Armantrout was invited by Jennifer Parisi and Sally Elliot to show at Spark Gallery in Denver, Colorado. The show closed out the 2018 season at Spark, and was Linda’s final show in Colorado. Titled “Messengers, Guides, and Protectors”, the show met her artistic goals and allowed Linda to create a solo narrative in the North Gallery.
Linda has been encouraged by curators, Sally L. Perisho, Ken Bloom, and Jerry Allen Gilmore. Her work was selected into various regional group exhibits by Dianne Vanderlip and Gwen Chanzit (Denver Art Museum), and she received a juror’s award from Debra Jordy.
Jimmy Sellars has supported Armantrout with shows at Sellars Project Space in Salida, Colorado. Janet Russell showed Linda’s work for a decade in Louisville, Colorado. Designer, Rodney Briggs, placed Linda’s work throughout Colorado. Linda’s neighbors and friends have become collectors, and collectors have become friends. Linda is grateful for years of support from all who have connected to the work.
Artist Statement
I paint and draw to relate to the world, and to express feelings and thoughts about life. I am a colorist. The paintings are about "connections" and often use animal imagery. They are supported by studying myths, Native American wisdom, petroglyphs, and the mysticism of religions, and by “being still” and open to guidance. My intention is to allow room in each piece for the viewer to find personal meaning.
At the Denver Art Museum, I read, and I quote here: “Animals generate a feeling of reverence and awe among followers of different religious traditions and help us bond with some form of the sacred. Depending on the religion, an artistic rendering of divine spirit, a connection to an ancestor, or an earthly form taken by a higher being. Animals can also act as guardians or guides.”
Resume
Linda Armantrout has a BA in Studio Art from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she received an art history foundation from John Alcott and John Sloan. She studied painting with Black Mountain College abstract expressionists.
Later, Linda studied with Edith Niblo, John Lencicki, Jim Valone, and Chuck Ceraso. Her lineage includes Maitland Graves, Hans Hofmann, Charles Hawthorne, Monet. Teaching, since 1989, compels Linda to think more deeply about art.
Linda taught at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design for nearly a decade. She taught basic design for corporations, at Louisville Center for the Arts, and in her Studio. She taught many years in the Louisville Arts District.
Solo/Duo Exhibitions
2009 NCAR Gallery 1, solo exhibition, Boulder, Colorado
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 29th Annual Eldorado Studio Tour
2018 Creative Framing Art Gallery, Louisville Arts District
Selected Awards
Professional Affiliations
2001-2018 Boulder County Arts Alliance, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder Artists Register
Gallery Affiliations
2015, 2016 Sellars Project Space, Salida, Colorado