Life & Work with Linda Welling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Welling.

Hi Linda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I was born in Nebraska and now I’m a resident of Kansas City. I received a BA degree in art education and was awarded the most promising art student my senior year. I am a published author and arts and activities magazines and have presented at the Missouri Art educators state convention. I have had my work shown at the 210 galleries in the crossroads as well as at COR. I am currently doing a series of mini-lessons for great day KC.

I first got interested in art in high school. My high school art teacher encouraged me and from there I knew I wanted to be an art educator. I have been in public education teaching art K through 12 as well as college courses for 38 years. I’ve loved every minute of it, and because of that love, my husband and I who are both creatives found a 100-year-old brick building near downtown Kansas City and renovated the four-story building into our Live/workspace.

My art studio is on the fourth floor with a gorgeous view of downtown KC. Once I retired from teaching in 2015, I knew that I wanted to continue creating art and teaching others how to enjoy creating. Being an art teacher means that I have to create all different types of work. My first love is painting, I love to use color in my work and I want the color and techniques in my paintings to evoke a feeling of emotion when people respond to it. I paint from my experiences and many times I paint intuitively meaning I have no end result in mind but paint just mainly from my feelings.

I began this way of painting after going through two rounds of breast cancer. I paint for the sheer joy of creating because it was very healing to my soul when I was going through such a dark time. I was trained as a realist and can paint realistically, however, experimenting with paint and using more than just a paintbrush was very freeing and healing. In my studio, I teach others the joy of creating. I teach a lot of techniques and let my students experiment with those techniques. I believe everyone is an artist.

I have taught painting classes, drawing classes, batik classes, mommy and me classes, girls’ night out classes, and couples classes. As an art teacher for so many years, I was dismissed as an artist by a lot of people… My first love is teaching, but I also love creating! In my 19 years teaching in the Lee Summit school district I made the commitment to put every piece of student artwork on an online art gallery called Artsonia As a way of promoting how important the arts are to children as well as adults.

I created an album cover for my singer-songwriter husband’s first release. I loved designing my art studio, I enjoy repurposing items for function and for beauty. It’s all part of the creative process that makes me unique as an artist.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have taught in many different schools and many different age levels. Because of this, I believe it’s made me a better teacher and a better artist! It’s enabled me to see the world through a child’s eyes as well as a teenager’s eyes. I was told at one school I had to give a semester test, and on that test was one question.

Tell me everything you learned in my class this year! My students worked at their Mac computers and wouldn’t stop typing when I told them the time was up! What they wrote was more than any true or false or short answer test could ever indicate! It brought tears to my eyes. I can say I’ve had a very rewarding teaching career, and that love of teaching is continuing in my art studio today!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
When I create my own personal artwork I stay true to myself and use my maiden name which is Linda Limbach. With teaching name, I go by Linda Welling. I enjoy all forms of art, but painting is my first love.

This last year I did a series of Angels using a watercolor technique and acrylic paint. To make my art more affordable for everyone I painted these in 5“ x 7“ format. They were a huge success and I did a lot of commission pieces as well. The year before I did a series of florals on 12 x 12 canvases. Those were sold at my sister’s floral shop in Nebraska.

I am most proud of the classes that I teach in my studio. Everyone that comes enjoys the process, it’s much different than the paint and sip classes in that I teach technique and experimentation, and allow each student to make choices in their work, versus everyone painting the same thing. With that teaching strategy, I can make anyone believe that they are an artist because they are!

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My networking has been through word-of-mouth. Being an educator, I have had a lot of opportunities to meet a lot of other teachers, parents, and students. I have gotten to follow my students and student teachers and see their careers blossom as creatives.

Pricing:

• My classes in my studio are two hours long and I charge $35. Private lessons are $25 an hour

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.lindalimbach.wixsite.com/lindalimbachart
• Facebook: @Linda Limbach-LLArt and @funkyartist75