Linda Dubin Garfield

“Mountains and Oceans”  is a reflection of my deep connection with the natural world, particularly the powerful landscapes of mountains and oceans. These are places of awe and tranquility, where the grandeur of towering peaks meets the infinite expanse of the sea. Through my work, I strive to capture the delicate balance of these environments—their beauty, their strength, and their fragility.

Our mountains and oceans are more than just picturesque views; they are vital ecosystems that sustain life and regulate our planet's climate. Yet, they are under threat. The stark reality of climate change is altering these landscapes before our eyes. Glaciers retreat, sea levels rise, and the once-predictable rhythms of nature are disrupted. As an artist, I feel compelled to not only celebrate these majestic places but also to raise awareness about the urgent need to protect them.

This collection is both a homage to the timeless beauty of these natural wonders and a call to action. Each piece is an invitation to reflect on our role as stewards of the Earth. We must recognize the impact of our actions and embrace sustainable practices that will preserve these landscapes for future generations.

Art has the power to inspire change. Through these works, I hope to evoke a sense of reverence for the natural world and a renewed commitment to its preservation. Let us stand together, not just as observers, but as guardians of the mountains and oceans that define our planet. Through my art, I strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation

Over the last few months, I have been editing and completing several works on paper that seemed incomplete to me. Now they are done and ready for being seen and appreciated by the public. They range in size from 4 x 4" to 8 x 8" and all have a 2" mat which adds to their size.

Contact me for more information.

Ghost forests are hauntingly beautiful natural landscapes that have been drastically altered by the impacts of climate change. These eerie and poignant scenes have captured the attention of artists seeking to depict the unsettling transformation of these once-thriving ecosystems. In their art, ghost forests are often portrayed as skeletal remnants of what was once lush and vibrant, where the stark contrast between the dead, bleached trees and the surrounding environment serves as a visual testament to the profound shifts in our climate.

Artworks depicting ghost forests evoke a sense of melancholy and urgency, serving as a powerful reminder of the consequences of human actions on the planet. By capturing the ghostly remnants of trees that stand as witnesses to environmental crisis, my art not only highlight the ecological devastation caused by rising sea levels and changing ecosystems, but also invites viewers to reflect on their own role in shaping the future of the planet.

This series celebrates art’s transformative power in advocating for a sustainable future.

The Amazon rainforest, often referred to as the "lungs of the planet," plays a critical role in regulating the Earth's climate. However, it is increasingly threatened by the impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures, altered rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events are disrupting the delicate balance of this biodiverse region. As temperatures increase globally, the Amazon faces higher risks of droughts and wildfires, leading to deforestation and the release of massive amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere.

Climate change is also affecting the hydrological cycle in the Amazon basin. Changes in precipitation patterns can lead to prolonged dry seasons followed by intense rainfall, increasing the risk of floods and soil erosion. This disrupts the ecosystem's ability to support its rich biodiversity and could ultimately lead to irreversible damage. Additionally, the loss of ice in the Andes, which feed the Amazon's rivers, poses a threat to the region's water supply, impacting both wildlife and millions of people who rely on these waters for their livelihoods.

Art has the remarkable ability to engage people emotionally and intellectually, making it a powerful tool for raising awareness and driving action on pressing global issues such as climate change. Through various forms, including visual arts, performance, and multimedia installations, art can evoke strong emotions, challenge preconceived notions, and inspire change. When it comes to climate change interventions, art can play a crucial role in influencing attitudes, shaping public discourse, and encouraging sustainable behaviors.

Through my art, I strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation.

I am inspired by nature and create art out of the outstanding natural beauty all around me. We are now at a critical juncture where we need to advocate for harnessing our imagination, wealth, and technology to make our communities and our country greener and healthier places to live for everyone. Recently the Supreme Court curtailed the powers of the EPA to protect the environment, no longer requiring the reductions in emissions that are urgently needed to limit global warming. What are we to do? We need clean air, clean water, clean energy, open spaces and a livable climate for ourselves and future generations. Artists are interpreting these catastrophic times using our visual language. Through our art, we strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation.

This series celebrates art’s transformative power in advocating for a sustainable future.

I have always been attracted to quilts. Bits and pieces, layers and shapes, color and texture have been significant factors in my art since I started making mixed media works on paper. Recently, I have created a series of works which combine collage, pattern and layers inspired by art quilts. Using materials I have collected over the years, I am creating art quilts made of paper and I have several artists who sew doing the stitching. The paper art quilts are 12 x 12” unless otherwise indicated. Some are bigger.

I do custom quilts using images provided by you. Let’s discuss what you would like to have to honor a significant birthday, remember a loved one, mark a special moment… let’s talk!

Music is a key that unlocks the doors of our memories. It bypasses the constraints of time and place, rekindling emotions and experiences long thought forgotten. Whether it be a chart-topping hit, a haunting melody, or a tune from our youth, music serves as a conduit to the past, reviving and preserving the tapestry of our lives. So, next time you find yourself lost in a melody, surrender to its enchanting power and let the flood of memories carry you away on a lyrical journey through time.

Finding beauty in things that are falling apart or decaying brings me joy. I see rust and appreciate the patterns, I see peeling paint and wonder at the layers. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. I make beautiful images out of photographs of decaying things. I then Photoshop them and have an archival pigment print made and then add various mark-making techniques to embellish the final version.

They are available in varying sizes. Contact me for more information to create one just for you.

Through my art, I strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation.

Since the beginning, trees have furnished us with two of life's essentials, food and oxygen. As we evolved, they provided additional necessities such as shelter, medicine, and tools. Today, their value continues to increase and more benefits of trees are being discovered as their role expands to satisfy the needs created by our modern lifestyles.

Trees are an important part of every community. Our streets, parks, playgrounds and backyards are lined with trees that create a peaceful, aesthetically pleasing environment. Trees increase our quality of life by bringing natural elements and wildlife habitats into urban settings. We gather under the cool shade they provide during outdoor activities with family and friends. Many neighborhoods are also the home of very old trees that serve as historic landmarks and a great source of town pride.

The main reason we like trees is because they are both beautiful and majestic. No two are alike. Different species display a seemingly endless variety of shapes, forms, textures and vibrant colors. Even individual trees vary their appearance throughout the course of the year as the seasons change. The strength, long lifespan and regal stature of trees give them a monument-like quality. Most of us react to the presence of trees with a pleasant, relaxed, comfortable feeling. In fact, many people plant trees as living memorials of life-changing events.

Did you know the Japanese have a word for “forest bathing”? It is shinrin-yoku. As you can imagine from the translation, it just means losing yourself in the forest while enjoying the air, the scents, the vegetation and the sounds of birds and animals that live there. But did you know that there are some amazing health benefits as well? 

Through my art, I strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation.

Nature nurtures and inspires me. I combine elements of nature, texture and design along with the magic of the press. I am intrigued by memory and what remains in our mind’s eye. My work reflects scenes from travel near and far. More than a report on how it was exactly, I am interested in my expressive and passionate response to the color and pattern of the landscape, experience or image. The fluid space of memory, influenced by time, place and experience, forms the foundation of content for my work. I merge aspects of experience and observations with imagined and remembered sensations to create non-objective work that reflects life and memory. My work has overlapping layers of color and space, shifting relationships with mark making that includes monotype, silkscreen, stencil, image transfer, collage as well as drawing. Inspired by travel, I am creating visual memoirs which offer multiple meanings to the viewer.

Since there is no new travel because of Covid, these landscapes are created from memories and what remains in my mind’s eye. Two quotes I love are:
“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” Anita Desai.
"I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me." Joan Mitchell

Through my art, I strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation.

Nature nurtures and inspires me. I combine elements of nature, texture and design along with the magic of the press. I am intrigued by memory and what remains in our mind’s eye. My work reflects scenes from travel near and far. More than a report on how it was exactly, I am interested in my expressive and passionate response to the color and pattern of the landscape, experience or image. The fluid space of memory, influenced by time, place and experience, forms the foundation of content for my work. I merge aspects of experience and observations with imagined and remembered sensations to create non-objective work that reflects life and memory. My work has overlapping layers of color and space, shifting relationships with mark making that includes monotype, silkscreen, stencil, image transfer, collage as well as drawing. Inspired by travel, I am creating visual memoirs which offer multiple meanings to the viewer.

Since there is no new travel because of Covid, these landscapes are created from memories and what remains in my mind’s eye. Two quotes I love are:
“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” – Anita Desai.
"I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me," Joan Mitchell

Through my art, I strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation.

Nature nurtures and inspires me. I combine elements of nature, texture and design along with the magic of the press. I am intrigued by memory and what remains in our mind’s eye. My work reflects scenes from travel near and far. More than a report on how it was exactly, I am interested in my expressive and passionate response to the color and pattern of the landscape, experience or image. The fluid space of memory, influenced by time, place and experience, forms the foundation of content for my work. I merge aspects of experience and observations with imagined and remembered sensations to create non-objective work that reflects life and memory. My work has overlapping layers of color and space, shifting relationships with mark making that includes monotype, silkscreen, stencil, image transfer, collage as well as drawing. Inspired by travel, I am creating visual memoirs which offer multiple meanings to the viewer.

Since there is no new travel because of Covid, these landscapes are created from memories and what remains in my mind’s eye. Two quotes I love are:
“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” – Anita Desai.
"I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me," Joan Mitchell

Through my art, I strive to create an appreciation for natural beauty and a concern for its preservation.

I was scheduled to have a show in the Philly Fringe Festival September 2020. I participated in the Philly Fringe Festival for eleven years. In September 2005, a friend invited me to go to the Fringe, which I had never heard of, for a day. We picked a Sunday and went to Old City. Walking up and down 2nd and 3rd Streets, we saw performances in alleyways, saw 3 short plays, had our pictures taken in old time costumes, and generally had a full and wonderful day. I knew I wanted to be a part of it the next year.

In spring 2006, my husband and I walked up and down the street of Old City looking for store fronts that had windows to display art and space to have people sit and do art projects. I loved The Book Trader at 2nd at Market St. Peter Hiler, the owner, was happy to have me and, even though he had hundreds of books on the table in front, assured me he’d clear it out for the Fringe., which he did each year!

Over the years, I raised almost $15,000 for non-profits I admire. Also, I loved the way people from all walks of life would come to the Fringe and sit down and do art which relaxed them enough to have meaningful, deep conversations with strangers. People who would normally never cross paths sat making art, working together and having fun. I loved sharing my art with the public. I especially loved giving people the opportunity to make art on their own.

In my closet, I have all the art made by me and the participants from my birthday parties or mixed media workshops. Maybe next year I will be able to share it in person. I sure hope so! I am scheduled to have the exhibit at the Old City Jewish Art Center from September 9- 26, 2021. Stay tuned for details closer to the event.

See a video of my 11 years at the Fringe skillfully done by John Thornton and Yoey Garfield.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F1CAvrK-ZSI

There will be an in-person exhibit at the Old City Jewish Art Center from September 9 to October 3, 2021.

Opening Reception: September 9, 6- 9pm

Mixed Media Memoir Workshop: Sunday, September 12, 1- 3 pm

First Friday: October 1, 5- 9 pm

Materials will be provided but participants are encouraged to bring any elements they want included in their art (photos, papers, ribbons, etc)

All events are FREE!

“Behind the Scene/Seen” was created after a visit to Eastern Europe in the spring of 2007 that had a profound effect on me. Visiting the beautiful countryside of Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic and experiencing the lovely, sophisticated cities of Budapest, Vienna and Prague left me with a deep sadness that I could not explain. Being in the actual places where the Holocaust happened made me mourn the losses of World War II in a more personal way than ever. Lavish, big synagogues in the wine country of Hungary, now void of Jews, have become state-run arts and cultural centers with no recognition of their former use. Once thriving with vibrant Jewish communities, these orphaned synagogues left her feeling very depressed, with little hope for a future of Jews in Europe. Seeing Terezin and walking the grounds that held so much pain and death, even though the Nazis showcased Terezin as the "model concentration camp," transformed the full range of my perceptions, my visual as well as emotional sensibility.

The idea for a series of 21 photomontages based on my trip was born in the narrow streets of Prague, in the rolling hills of Hungary and in the darkened cells of Terezin. Who could not know what was happening? Who could not see what was going on? What illusions did people accept to mask the Holocaust that was happening outside their windows? Where did the Jewish people go when they disappeared? My series Behind the Scene/Seen deals with the issues embedded in this landscape: reality/illusion, past/present, and history/future generations.

“Secrets & Shadows: Hidden Children in the Holocaust-” Children of the Holocaust lived in the shadows, survived on the edges and were changed forever. A great part of this series is inspired by Ruth Hartz’s book Your Name is Renee.

In “Painted Fire,” Linda uses letters written before and during the Holocaust years to illustrate fragments of personal histories and how they affect the descendants of these trapped victims.

With three shows (2008, ‘10, ‘14) artists Linda Dubin Garfield and Elsa Wachs collaborated on the theme of the Holocaust. Together and separately they explored, examined and expressed important issues through their art. In “Remembering the Past, Confronting the Future” they distilled them to combine selected pieces making a powerful progression, sequencing history to affirming action. Their brief, intimate peeks into the lives of those caught in the fiery Holocaust are what remembrance is all about. In these vignettes we see the threads that hold humanity together becoming the building blocks for our shared existence and hope for a better future. Here the viewers are asked to reflect on, deliberate, resolve, and hopefully pledge to help repair this world.

See more at www.uncompletedjourney.com. Contact me to discuss further at lindadubingarfield@gmail.com.

Since 2006, I have been offering Mixed Media Memoir Workshops in various venues for various organizations including Noyes Museum of Stockton University, Fairmont Condos, Arts Garage of Stockton University, Gladwyne Free Library, The Fringe Festival, First Person Arts, Da Vinci Art Alliance, Atria Memory Care Unit, Simpson House Memory Care Unit, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Older Adult Centers, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and others.

I work with the organization to select an appropriate topic, bring materials and create a safe environment for art making and sharing.

If interested, contact me for more details. garf621@aol.com