American artist Linda Kessler became enchanted by painting and photography as a young child growing up in New York City. While education was a challenge for her due to being dyslexic she found art became a refuge of creativity. Her aptitude was well recognized and rewarded with her first exhibited artwork as part of a group show, in New York City, when she was eleven years of age. 

 

After completing her graduated studies in Mental Health Counseling in Boston, in her early 20s, she returned to her love of color and shape and attended a painting class with Miroslav Antic, a Serbian (Yugoslavian) painter in Cambridge. His teaching method opened her eyes to seeing color in a new and exciting way and became a catalyst in her career as a painter. Soon after, she decided to return to New York to study classical drawing and painting voraciously at the atelier of Anton Russev and with instructors David Leffel, Frank Mason and Thomas Fogarty at the Art Students' League. A painter who influenced her greatly was Russian painter Ilya Repin for his realistic quality and skill.  After many years of study and upon receiving a prestigious award for one of her portraits she completed her studies and traveled to Mexico for several months, which began her foundation for a life devoted to painting, photography and travel. 

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In her mid 30s she lived for two years in Brazil.  During this time she met Eli Reed, Magnum photographer, who inspired her work. Although a self-taught photographer, during her time in Brazil, she became a relentless street photographer documenting Brazil's people and country. She consistently returned to the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson as a reference.

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To further her education in painting, Ms. Kessler attended Pratt Institute for her graduate studies. Her representational work became transformed into a new way of seeing, which involved her emotions as well. She discovered abstract painters Antoni Tapies, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde and Joan Mitchell.  She welcomed a new vision and way of expressing herself.

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In 2000 she accept a position teaching art and photography as an instructor to high school students in a New York City public school.  She taught many students who never picked up a pencil or brush.  Her inventive and innovative projects, with her nonconformity not following the academic rigor expected of her and all teachers, led to many of her students winning awards and having work exhibited in public institutions and corporations.

 

After fifteen years, Ms. Kessler retired and began to live for extended periods of time overseas. At the same time she received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to curate her exhibition at La Mama Gallery, in New York City, with her "Subway Sleepers" project. Shortly after she began living traveling and living overseas again. In 2017 she lived in Paris for three months and 2018 she lived for six months in Barcelona, exploring Spain, Portugal, Southern France and Morocco.  And, then she discovered Cuba, which she returns to yearly. Her love of traveling she says "is like a child seeing the circus for the first time, with its excitement, fascination and curiosity.  And, her love of painting, with the unknown, tactile feel of paint, and creativity continues to embody an exploration of herself as she continues her lifelong journey.  She lives and works in New York City and Patmos, a tiny island in Greece.​

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CV

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