Past Exhibits
Linda Coghill
“Honoring Our Ancestors”
Oct 7th –
Dec 9th, 2007
At an age when most people are thinking of retiring, Linda Coghill is going full steam ahead in her career as an artist. Her mixed media pieces using old photographs are winning spots in juried shows all over the country. Linda always enjoyed art but she wasn't necessarily driven. The first career she tried was being a school teacher.
Then she studied ceramics and spent 12 years as a potter finding a good amount of success. Then following a divorce she found her next career while dating a magazine writer who did the music columns. Her natural ease in talking with famous people was noticed by someone who offered Linda a chance to be an artist relations representative for an amplifier company. Linda traveled in elite circles and met some of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll.
At that same time she picked up another career - astrology - something she initially thought was a lot of bunk. But after reading about it she became intrigued and then became convinced that it is a science. In fact it was her astrology that led her back to her art.
Retired from the rock 'n' roll scene she noticed something in her own astrological chart. There was a forthcoming time that had to do with career. It had a lot of energy, a lot of focus, a lot of good luck around it. She thought about it and went back to doing art.
About that same time she stumbled onto a treasure trove of old family photos. Linda decided to incorporate her past into her future art.
“For one thing, [the photos] are really 
close to my heart and I feel like I am embracing my ancestral lineage into the now and in that way really honoring my own life. It's like a ritual. It makes my art really heartfelt.”
Linda plays around with patterns and colors to create the background and then incorporates copies of the old photographs and other scraps of paper such as sheet music or hand-written letters into the piece. The result is a look that is both modern and antique.
Linda feels she has a balance in her life now, honoring her past, while looking to the future.
