Linda Josephine Mendell (graves) Denny: Born September 5, 1943, (am I that old?). “I’m younger than that now”. I lived in Shreveport, Little Rock, Memphis, Bay St Louis, and New Orleans before moving to Jackson. I soon found that I had a gift for seeing and that painting gave me a joy I had never experienced before. At the end of the eight grade Madge Dinkins showed her students work at the Jackson Municipal Gallery and I sold a collage for $7.50! Went to Murrah High; Malcolm Norwood was art teacher.
At Hinds Junior College, I was taking business courses until an automobile accident changed my life. Changed major to art in spring 1966, then transferred to Mississippi College in summer. Finished December 1968 with the ritual of graduation in May 1969. Had graduate teaching assistantship to Northeast Louisiana University but had to wait until summer 1969 to start, so I taught at Wingfield High that spring. I taught at NLU and finished my MA the summer of 1970. I was offered and accepted a job at Hinds Junior College.
Taught at Hinds, moved to Hattiesburg and taught part time in the art department and worked on my doctorate in Adult Education, then Gifted Ed, then Administration and Management in Higher Ed… went to work in 1987 in USM TLRC as Resource Coordinator. …Then in 1989 started working with husband in electronics Repair Company and moved to Meridian. We were very blessed to be able to work together for nine years.
Returning to Jackson I have recently started a new job that meets my need for analytical, detail work, and by satisfying that need, I am free to seek a spiritual presence in my painting. I want to paint for love not money!
As an undergraduate, I took advanced classes before prerequisite courses. I painted on my on, meeting only one painting class, only going to critiques. I was able to watch Sam Gore paint a couple of times and that was worth my going through the ritual to get the piece of paper that said I could teach. I went to the graduate school that offered me an assistantship.
I have the diplomas that say I took the courses, but my education in art began when I started teaching. Things that I always knew had to be verbalized to open doors for students who did not see naturally. I have always loved color. I have studied color independently and developed a system of teaching color mixing that opens doors...I would tell my students I would give them the keys to the car, where they drove it was up to them…I loved teaching but those days are behind me.
I now seek to express the spiritual presence that permeates my life…. that river of creative energy…. nothing we do is really from us alone; we are merely blessed if we can tune into it and capture it on canvas. I can paint in any medium, in any style, but it is my abstract work, the making of the unseen reality into real, tangible, observable form that I love the most. Yet, I love to paint landscapes, to celebrate earth’s beauty. In addition, I even love to paint sheep, chickens and flowers! (Years ago it was people, often nude!)
I have painted expressionistic pieces that have the power of Kokoshka and Soutine. Painting was a journey from a hell of non-existence into light. Words often get in the way of what I want to say. They are a source of misunderstanding! So, that explains why writing a bio is hard. I wish I could change the mistakes of yesterday, but I cannot. I can only dream of tomorrow. If I win a lottery, my husband and I will buy a bus and tour the country with me painting! … Material toys are not important, only the joy of pulling the brush through paint and the enthusiasm I feel in living.
National Arts & Crafts, First Place Painting 1970
National Liquitex Color May Challenge, 1983
There are numerous state and regional shows and purchases in Jackson, Columbus, Gulfport, Picayune, Hattiesburg, Monroe, New Orleans, etc. Tate show in Memphis. Several group shows.
…. My work is in private collections from the Hampton’s to San Francisco. …
I just have never kept up with shows or sales and really have not entered competitions for years. I paint for myself…and don’t even have slides!