An artist is often required to suffer for her art. Linda Simpson is fully aware of the sacrifices art demands. "I can't tell you the number of times that I have missed a family event, or an appointment, or let domestic chores go, all because I was absorbed in a new creation. It is as if the work draws me into it requiring my undivided attention." Pursuing figurative sculpture has demanded much of this veteran school teacher turned artist and studio owner. But, with sacrifices also come joys. "Few fully understand the mixture of exhaustion and exhilarations that an artist feels when a work is completed. It is positively addictive."

Linda Simpson's work concentrates on the human form. An award winning sculptor in her own right, she has worked with a variety of well-known and widely recognized sculptors. Ms. Simpson has studied at the Loveland Art Academy under Paul Lucchesi, at the Scottsdale Art Academy under Bruno Lucchesi , Artists of the Rockies under George Lundeen, Oklahoma Sculpture Workshop under Tuck Langdon, and in the studios of Rosalind Cook in Tulsa, Oklahoma and of Bill Snow in Carthage, Missouri. From each of her mentors, Ms. Simpson has drawn insight and inspiration. She says that the highest compliment she can pay each of her mentors is to sculpt with enthusiasm and imagination.

Ms. Simpson holds a bachelor degree from the University of Alabama. She taught in public and private schools over the last two decades but has increasingly given voice to her life's desire to sculpt. She owns and works out of the Blue Parrot Studio in Alba, Missouri. The Studio itself has attracted attention for the work produced in it and also for Ms. Simpson's renovation of a brick edifice on Main Street in Alba. The Blue Parrot and Ms. Simpson have been featured in media stories in the region.

Active within art circles, Ms. Simpson holds membership in the Oklahoma Sculpture Society, in the Kansas Sculptors Association, charter membership in the National Museum of Women in the Arts, charter and Board membership in art Central of Carthage, founding member of the Spring River Artists, and in the regional fine arts group, Art Forum.

Ms. Simpson sculpts in terra cotta and alabaster. Each medium has its own qualities. She says that "the clay is free form … I marvel as each piece grows and changes." As for the alabaster, Ms. Simpson sees her job as the artist to "discover the figure in the stone then release it." As one local observer of the art scene has commented, "(Ms. Simpson) pieces are sensual, powerful, and assertive, much like the artist herself."

Ms. Simpson makes her home in Carthage, Missouri.

1996 - Present Owner and Sculptor, Blue Parrot Studios, Alba, MO

EDUCATION

BS in Education, University of Alabama, 1980
BA in Art (in progress), Missouri Southern State College, Pittsburg State University

Specialty training in sculpture
Loveland Art Academy
Scottsdale Art Academy
Artists of the Rockies
Oklahoma Sculpture Workshop
Oklahoma Sculpture Society Stonecarving Workshop
Snow Stonecarving Workshop

GALLERY EXPERIENCE AND SHOWS

Victorian Carthage, Carthage MO, Summer Garden Show, 1996
Imagine Gallery, Carthage, MO, Three Women Show, 1997
Grand Lake Resort, Vinita, OK, Shangrala Art Show, 1997
Open Studio Tour, Joplin/Alba, MO, 1998
American Cancer Society, Joplin, MO, Brushtrokes, 1998, 1999
Midwest Gathering of the Artists Show, Carthage, MO, 1998
artCentral, Carthage, MO, Spring River Artists, 1998
Spiva Art Center, Joplin, MO
Keys Gallery, Springfield, MO, Group Show, 2000
Juanita K. Hammons Center for the Arts, Springfield Visual Whispers Show, 2000