Artist Statement

Artistic expression is a developmental process. The freedom of using your inner compass to continually guide you, sometimes fearfully, but most often fearlessly forward. My inspiration has always been the blend of color, pattern, and texture. But experience has shown me that color has power, pattern can create energy and movement, and that texture is not all about touch or surface value. It is also about contrast and the perception of feel. In that light, creating the appearance of texture is often just as important as creating the ultimate feel of depth found in a rough surface.

All two dimension art begins with a support, be it canvas, paper, wood or metal. My support is 100% silk, which has been in continual artistic use for thousands of years, even predating the invention of paper and thus, becomes a historic foundation, yet an ironic one for modern art. From this point, each piece is a multiple medium endeavor of pigmented dyes, paint, pencil and often gilding, achieving an unbridled kaleidoscope effect of pattern, color, movement, and depth. My creative process is without personal boundaries and is the perfect blend of artistry and mystery. A story unfolds with the completion of each piece and only then is it given its title.

Bio

Born in Denver, Colorado, educated in IT management, Linda Neel actually grew up with two absolute loves - textiles and horses.  Early on, her passion for textiles was a passionate hobby and horses a way of life.  So much so, that her love of breeding and dressage would bring her to Virginia in 1984. Ready for the new spin on life, she also opened Leesburg Virginia’s first art gallery, Leesburg Gallery of Art.  The gallery became well known for its fine art, fine art reproductions, and distinctive museum quality framing.

In 1990, Linda and artist husband, Tom Neel, accepted a unique opportunity to join the management team of fine art publisher, The Greenwich Workshop, in Connecticut.  For four years they represented some of the nation’s top artists, before returning to Virginia.  In that time, Linda had also chosen to leave her life of horses behind.  Another new beginning.

Her unquenchable thirst for textiles became an unstoppable creative journey of workshops and experimentation, but finding her love of dye and silk, as a true medium, was the game changer.  First, her colorful contemporary silk scarves became a hit with clients, while also exhibiting and acquiring awards at textile shows around the country. Linda's knowledge of textiles as an artistic medium is vast, allowing for her ultimate goal of creating fine art.

Linda has successfully merged her complex process of working with silk and screen, into a fusion of fine art. The result; dramatic, fresh and unseen before. Abstract patterns ascend, depth is felt and color appears with movement. Each unique deep panel has been hand mounted, wrapped around all four sides and varnished thus offering a three-dimensional quality. Suitable for corporate or private art collections, each piece is signed and titled.

Linda's artwork is currently available at The Cooley Gallery, 9 N King Street, Leesburg VA.

Awards

2014  Abstracts Art Exhibit, Special Merit Award
2013  Piedmont Regional Art Show and Sale awarded Second Place in Contemporary Category
2012  Piedmont Regional Art Show and Sale awarded Honorable Mention in Contemporary Category
2010  Fiber Celebration 2010 awarded third place in Wearable Category
2005  Golden Threads awarded second place 


Juried Exhibitions

2018: August Featured Artist, The Cooley Gallery, Leesburg, VA 

2016: Fiber National 2016, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA

2015: FALC 20th Annual Juried Exhibition, Cary, NC

2014: Dimension XLII, Art Center of Corpus Christ, Corpus Christi, TX

           Abstracts Art Exhibit, Light, Space, & Time, Jupiter, FL, Award 

           Relationship, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Two person show, Manassas, VA

    Cabin Fever, Bryne Gallery, Middleburg, VA

    MITRE Corporation Exhibit, McLean, VA

2013: AWSome Art Finalist, Amazon Web Services, Herndon, VA 

           Art in The Burg, Middleburg, VA 

           Piedmont Regional Art Show and Sale, The Plains, VA, Award

2012: Piedmont Regional Art Show and Sale, The Plains, VA, Award 

2010: Fiber Celebration, Northern Colorado Weavers Guild, Ft Collins, CO, Award

2008: ArtWear Fashion Week, Lincoln Center, Ft. Collins, CO

           Aldie Mill Art Show and Sale, Aldie, VA

2007: Fiber Fantasia, Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild, Atlanta, GA

           Fiber Celebrated 2007, Intermountain Weavers Conference, Durango Arts Center, CO 

2006: Fiber Celebration 2006, Northern Colorado Weavers Guild, Ft Collins, CO

           ArtWear Fashion Week, Lincoln Center, Ft Collins, CO

2005: Golden Threads, Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild, Atlanta, GA, Award

           Fiber Celebrated, Intermountain Weavers Conference, Durango Arts Center, CO 

Bibliography 

Published interview in Artists in Middleburg Newsletter, March 2013

Published in the catalog for Fiber Celebrated 2005