Skip to main content

Linda Sorensen - One Wild Woman

The Wilno Hills, an hour north of Bancroft in the Madawaska Valley, is known by some to be God’s country. It is here that you will find the artist Linda Sorensen.

Linda was born in London, England. She moved to Canada with her mother and settled in Burlington, Ontario where, as she says, she had the good fortune of Robert Bateman as her high school art teacher. It was the early 70`s and the school was the newly built Lord Elgin High - since renamed after this world renowned Canadian wildlife artist. Under Bateman she studied Pottery and Sculpture, Drawing and Painting and Art History. She also took a course in Textile and Printmaking with Birgit Freybe, now Robert`s wife. She was truly inspired!

Linda moved to the Madawaska Valley and recalls heading out “with a pack on my back and not two pennies in my pocket.” She became part of a back-to-the-land movement and lived off the grid, ``without telephone, running water, hydro and neighbours!” For the next 25 years, she devoted herself to this challenging career as mother, raising a family living a life closer to nature. This lifestyle was not without its demands, and it ignited in her a stubborn strength and proved to be a creative force. And the artist in her waited.

In time, this artist emerged and Linda began painting a body of work she calls Algonquin Wilderness, a series of images devoted to her many camping and canoe trips through the vast  of this beautiful park. In 2006, Linda teamed up with Kathy Haycock and Joyce Burkholder and the three began immersing themselves in the backcountry of Algonquin, sharing their connection and love for this area by painting it en plein air (French for ‘in the open air’). Being in nature while painting allows the artist to observe colours, explore light, textures and forms. “These paintings have a more in the moment spontaneous feel to them” says Linda.

The profound connection felt by Linda to Algonquin is certainly reflected in her work. She travels to remote wilderness locations in the park in every season capturing the beauty of the landscape that many people just do not get out to see. Linda takes her sketches and photos home with her and works in studio with water mixable oils transferring her images into large acrylic studio paintings.
Being immersed in nature is a gift and healing on a very basic visceral level. Linda, Kathy and Joyce have compiled a series of paintings, and recently published a book, Wild Women, Painters of the Wilderness. This book celebrates the Canadian wilderness landscape and the hope is “that it will persuade Canadians to spend time in the wild and to place a greater value on nature…” For Linda, this book is about her respect for nature, her devotion to conservation and preservation of our wild places.
Robert Bateman has remarked that Linda’s paintings are “strong and bold.” He continues; “The clear stamp of original character is always a sign of a true artist and Linda Sorensen has it.”

 To see more of Linda’s work, you can visit her website at www.lindasorensen.com and explore more about this book at www.wilwomenartists.ca .

©Janet Jarrell 2015

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Day I Saw Ty Conn

(This is being recalled from a very young mind...) When my father would begin telling a story from his childhood, he would begin with “When I was a little girl…” which would cause an uproar of high pitched objections from my sisters and myself. He would simply smile and continue on, as he now had our complete attention. I started this post at the beginning of November of this year when thoughts of my father return annually on the anniversary of his birthday. This story, however, is not about my father… When I was a little girl, I lived in a small house on Pine Street with my father, mother and three sisters. Ours was a busy, full house. Lisa was the oldest, very beautiful and very bossy. Pam was next, also very beautiful and we envied her fashion sense. I was the third in the line of my sisters, a middle child that cried a lot, made funny faces and was very comfortable at the centre of attention. My little sister, Joanne, enjoyed the status of being the baby in the family. She wa...
16 comments
Read more

Keith Cornell - Artist

Madawaska Church Claire Connolly, Assistant Manager Arts on King and Queen, describes Keith's work as 'Ontario, rugged landscape at it’s best'. Keith Cornell was raised in the small town of Uxbridge, Ontario. His father died during the war when Keith was very young, leaving his mother to raise him alongside his two brothers. Growing up in this quaint little town tucked beside farmland and beautiful forests, Keith would begin his life work painting everything around him. He recounts time and again a solid memory he has a very young boy. The Canadian artist David Milne had set up his easel to paint a scene in Keith’s neighbourhood, and the boy watched with fascination as the artist worked plein air. The affect of this experience is timeless. Keith did not pick up the brush and start painting right away, but that time was coming. Late Afternoon Go Home Bay During his high school years, Keith met his future wife, Karen.   For his sixteenth birthda...
2 comments
Read more

San Murata and the The Truth about Art

Skating on St Lawrence san-murata.com Anyone who meets San Murata knows that he is someone whom you won’t soon forget. Lively, charismatic and honest; he is certainly a true reflection of his art. He currently lives in the small historic town of Grafton where he loves to paint the beautiful Northumberland countryside. He also enjoys spending time in Quebec during the colder months to paint. The painting on the front cover is a scene from winter, one of the things San says he likes most about Canada, particularly in Quebec. San grew up in Japan, with admittedly a stricter social system, which encourages all children to work hard in school and go to university. San’s father was a banker and wanted his children to be professionals, so San studied at the University of Musashi in Tokyo, and although he says he wasn’t the best student, he graduated with a degree in Economics. He, too, worked at a banking job but it was always his dream to one day be an artist. In the late 60’s...
Post a Comment
Read more