My background is Fine Art, majoring in drawing and sculpture, I enjoy working in many different mediums.
I look at my art three dimensionally, my love for sculpting transcends into whatever medium I express myself in. My clothing becomes sculptures in motion. My Jewelry is drawn to carving and creating texture and dimensional surfaces.
I draw and paint on many kinds of fabric, enjoying the challenge of the different surfaces I choose to use. Intense quilting and thread painting give the art depth and definition. My prints are incorporated into quilts, using handmade paper and mono prints, reinforced with silk organza, and then quilted.
Travel And Photography
My camera has become my pencil to document all the wonderous trips I am so fortunate to create and the places I have been so fortunate to visit.
I specialize in unique off the beaten track and will take you from the ordinary to the extraordinary with the same detail and care that I apply to create my art . My trips are continuous adventures of discovery!
Linda Abrams
Born in Cape Town, South Africa
Education
Graduated Rada London
Diploma in speech drama majoring in radio broadcasting and costume design.
Graduated Erik Laubser School of Fine Arts Cape
Town. Earned diploma in fine arts majoring in sculpture and drawing.
Emigrated to United States 1979
1980/90 exhibited at the Firehouse Gallery as part of the Long Island Annual Juried show
1989/90/91/92/93 Sands Point Museum
1989/90/91/92 Chelsea Mansion Invitational
1993 /94 Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts
1994 Great Neck Library
1994 Jericho Library
1995 Sid Jacobson Y
1995 Mills Pond Art Center
1996 Long Island Quilt Festival
1996 The National Quilt Festival Pennsylvania
1996 Smithtown 21st annual Juried Fine Arts Competition, featured guest artist
1996 Great Neck Library Hunger Relief Invitational Exhibition
1996 Sea Cliff Gallery
1997 Farirfield Fashion Show
1997 Lancaster Quilters Heritage Celebration
1997 Williamsburg Quilt Show
1997 Quilting By The Lake Invitational
1997 Great Neck House
1997 Jericho Library
1997 Paducah Kentucky
1997 Houston International Quilt Festival
1997 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival VIII
1998 Paducah Kentucky
1998 Houston International Quilt Festival
1998 Shelter Rock Fine Art Gallery
1999 West Hampton Library
1999 Houston International Quilt Festival
1999 Paducah Kentucky
1999 Hebrew Home Museum (Riverdale Bronx). Individual and group shows.
2000 Bennington Museum Vermont
2000 Aaron Faber Gallery New York
2000 Guest Group display at Quilting By The Lake Invational
2000 N.Y. Quilts in Troy New York Guest Exhibit, Group Show
2001 Stanford University Curators Choice Group Art Quilt Exhibit
2001 Houston International Quilt Festival
2001 Millspond House
2001 Pathways to Women’s Health juried Fine Arts Exhibition
2001 Paducah Kentucky
2001 Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival
2002.Through The Needles Eye..National Traveling Exhibit
Williamsburg Festival
2002 The Festival at Myrtle Beach
2002 World Quilt and Textile Show
Islip Museum
2002 Houston International Quilt Festival
Pathways to Women’s Health Private Show
Group shows as part of “signiture quilt artists”..guest invitational at all the Mancuso shows cross country
Houston, International Quilt show
Special show Down by the Sea Myrtle Beach Invitational
Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts Library on the South Shore Special Exhibit
2004 Pathways for women heath special exhibit
2004 Houston International Quilt Festival
By Janelle Clausen – May 1, 2017
The home of Linda Abrams, a Lake Success-based artist, is a treasure trove of handmade art. There is tapestry on the walls, small sculptures on the tables and photos of landscapes and people.
Much of it was inspired from her time in South Africa, where she was born.
But the common thread through it all, she said, is an attempt to learn and showcase truth – both about herself and the world.
“You do such strange things that are so instinctive sometimes,” Abrams said, as she pointed to a crack on a small brown statue that corresponded to her own spinal injury. “I think it’s about being in tune.”
But while her house is filled with her work, be it massive three-dimensional quilts or carefully constructed trinkets, Abrams said that art was never easy.
Abrams first came to the United States in 1979. From 1985 to 1990 she worked at the Ruth Leaf Studio doing printmaking. She also worked in freelance fabric design for many years, selling her pieces.
But then somebody told her about a small place in Glen Cove that showed people how to sew. There, she met a friend who taught her quilts weren’t just for beds – they could be artistic. “She took me and she showed me all these incredible pieces that they [the artists] made,” she said.
In addition, Abrams would own and operate a belt and jewelry business, crafting wearable art that was featured in galleries and boutiques.
Abrams meanwhile worked as a travel agent for Gateway Travel, based in Great Neck, from 1990 to 2000. Then she founded Linda’s Artistic Adventures, her own travel agency that specializes in creating unique, environmentally-minded trips off the beaten path.
“I like to bring something unique and special and creative,” Abrams said.
But while her travels inspired her, she said finding time to pursue art was hard.
“I’m spending a lot of time working and not working as much in my art as I want to. My vow is now to definitely put aside more time,” Abrams said. “But it’s hard. You really have to wear two heads when you’re an artist.”
In addition to the financial challenges, Abrams has often had to overcome physical limits. As a child in South Africa, for example, the natural lefty’s hand was thwacked until she would use her right. Now she is ambidextrous.
But the worst came from an accident in field hockey. A collision led to four fractured vertebrae and a bad knee requiring at least eight surgeries over the decades.
“It was a horrible way to get grit,” Abrams said, “because I was not one of those lucky people where things came easily.”
Abrams said that even gender, to an extent, has been an obstacle.
“For the women to rise to positions of power, look at what they have to confront and go through to get there—not that the others don’t have to” Abrams said. “I think we have to go through double.”
In addition to making art and running her travel business, Abrams also does some teaching at the Great Neck Art School, Great Neck Adult Education Program and Long Island Craft Guild.
In the end, Abrams said that making art comes down to practice and encouragement much more than talent.
“Somebody said to me once I could never be an artist like you,” Abrams said. “And I said ‘you don’t know what work it takes to have that excellent ability.”