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All images ©LaFontsee Galleries. May not be reproduced without written permission.
Linda LaFontsee • Profile
Using a variety of media including encaustic, oil and gouache, Linda LaFontsee conveys the dance of life with an organic freedom, independent of representation. LaFontsee is inspired by color, movement and line; all of which she is continuously constructing and deconstructing through tones, varnishes, burns, molds, melts, and scratches into the surface of her paintings.
LaFontsee also finds inspiration in repetition. History appeals to her; she is attracted to layers of peeling paint, the configuration of bricks, and natural outgrowths such as rings of a tree stump or the scattered tones of pebbles. Like life under a microscope, Lafontsee’s paintings appear alive, in flux, primordial, and eternal.
LaFontsee attended Kendall College of Art and Design and has years of independent study and workshop experience. Her paintings are included in the collections of Central Michigan University, Nokomis Foundation, Alticor, Bank of Holland, Jade Pig Ventures, and the law firm of Varnum Riddering Schmidt and Howlett L.L.P.
Linda LaFontsee • Statement
"When your eyes are open, you see beauty in anything."
-Agnes Martin
I am inspired by color, movement and line. In what is there and not there.
A line put down inspires another. Color excites. Prodding me to add, embellish or void out.
My part in the process is simple — to listen, to keep on with it.
I build up, break down, and build up again.
Most lines are left. Their history is recorded.
Painting brings the stubbornness out of me.
I can't let them win and stay unattractive. So I listen and paint.
Linda LaFontsee • Biography
EDUCATION
2003
Ox-Bow Summer Workshop, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Saugatuck, Michigan; Painting Independent Study
2002
Two week residency, Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, Mount St. Francis, Indiana
2001
Ox-Bow Summer Workshop, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Saugatuck, Michigan; Painting
2000
Ox-Bow Summer Workshop, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Saugatuck, Michigan; Encaustic Painting
1983 - 1986
Kendall School of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, Michigan
EXHIBITIONS
2007
LaFontsee Galleries, "2007-d," Grand Rapids, Michigan
2006
LaFontsee Galleries, "FOUR," Grand Rapids, Michigan
2005
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, "One & Only," Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Ambient Gallery, "Random Repetition," Solo Exhibition, Grosse Pointe, Michigan
LaFontsee Galleries, "April Fools: Paintings or Prints?" Grand Rapids, Michigan
First United Methodist Church, "Celebration," Juried Exhibition, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2004
LaFontsee Galleries, "Tactile Surfaces," Grand Rapids, Michigan
Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, "Live Coverage," Grand Rapids, Michigan
2003
LaFontsee Galleries, "Holiday Muse," Group Exhibition, Grand Rapids, Michigan
LaFontsee Galleries, "Natural Code," Grand Rapids, Michigan
2002
Southwestern Michigan University, "Resurface," Solo Exhibition, Dowagiac, Michigan
LaFontsee Galleries, "LaFontsee Galleries' Fifteenth Anniversary Celebration," Group Exhibition, Grand Rapids, Michigan
College of Lake County, "Burning In: Four Encaustic Painters," The Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art, Grayslake, Illinois
LaFontsee Galleries, "Quiet Strength," Three-Woman Exhibition, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2001
LaFontsee Galleries, "Winter Presents…," Group Exhibition, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2000
LaFontsee Galleries, "New Season, New Work, New Road," Grand Rapids, Michigan
1999
The Nines Gallery, "Small Works," Holland, Michigan
ARTS-RELATED EXPERIENCE
2002
Artist in Residence, Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, Mount St. Francis, Indiana
2000
Art Search Committee Member, Gilda's Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1997
Co-Chair, "Live Coverage," Fundraiser, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1985-present
Co-Owner, LaFontsee Galleries/Underground Studio, Grand Rapids, Michigan
