Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident (AIA) 2014
Linda Lighton received a BFA with honors from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1989. She studied painting and ceramics, 1976-1978, at the University of Idaho and was on the Mortarboard Society. From 1974-1976 Lighton lived on the Colville Indian Reservation in Eastern Washington State. She attended The Factory of Visual Arts in Seattle, Washington from 1971-1974.
Lighton has had more than 54 solo shows since 1974 and participated in more than 150 group exhibitions including the 1st World Biennale in Icheon, Korea, 2001; International Bienal de Manises, Valencia, Spain, 2006; World Clay, Latvian National Museum, Riga, Latvia, 2006; Fule International Ceramic Museum, Fuping, China, 2008; and Ariana Museum, Geneva, Switzerland. Lighton received the Missouri Arts Award in 2008. In 2011 she was honored to receive the Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts and Education from the Kansas City Art Institute.
Linda Lighton is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. She has had the opportunity to represent the United States at numerous symposiums and residencies: Anadalu University, Eskisihir, Turkey, 2011; Fule International Ceramic Museums, 2008; Israeli Ceramic Artists Association and Binyamini Foundation, 2005; International Ceramic Workshop, Kekscemet, Hungary, 2002; International Workshop for Ceramic Artists in Tokonome, Japan, 1996; International Symposium, Latvia, 1998 and 1992; and at the Jiesia Bone China Factory Symposium, Kaunas, Lithuania, 1996.
Lighton is a fervent arts advocate and activist. She has worked on many boards in her community; helping to instigate the One Percent for Arts Program in Kansas City, and serving on numerous boards over the years: Young Audiences of Kansas City, Friends of Art, Nelson Atkins Museum, Review Magazine, Kansas City Ballet, and National Council for the Education of the Ceramic Arts, Kansas City Jewish Museum Board. She currently serves on the National Committee at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and administers the Lighton International Artists Exchange Program.
Linda Lighton’s work is in many national and international collections: Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Daum Museum, Sedalia, MO; Spencer Museum, Lawrence, KS; Icheon International Ceramic Museum, Icheon, Korea; Fule International Ceramic Museum, Fuping, China; Ariana Museum, Geneva, Switzerland; Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS; and University of Ohio, Athens, OH.
Lighton currently works in a large warehouse in Kansas City and rents space to other artists.
I am interested in the life force, a dangerous beauty that entails seduction, sexual prowess, moaning hormones. I want to celebrate the spirit of life, edging toward figuration, beckoning seductively, shouting, singing opera for recognition, beckoning the viewer to come closer, come hither. I want to make something gorgeous and elegant. Oops, have I gone over the line? Are these Baroque-a-go-go? I would like my work to smell of the saltiness of the sea, have colors as soft and slippery as a satin quilt. Taste the effervescent tingle of pink.
Succulent!