Linda Brenner: studied sculpture at Rhode Island School of design, graduating with a BFA. She has been a recipient of a Leeway Foundation WOO Award and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts SOS Stipend in addition to two residencies at the Hambidge Center for the Arts in Georgia. She has been teaching sculpture and drawing classes at PAFA since 1988 and was Chairman of the sculpture department from ’92 –’95.
Linda has been involved in numerous projects and commissions, often in collaboration with others creating architectural models for museum exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art, PMA, MOCA and the Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania which continue to travel internationally.
These commissioned works are about producing a product to serve the public/client. Through collaboration, making the work can be very exciting and pushes one forward in new directions. Each project is a sum of its parts; i.e. an accumulation of ideas. The final solution and product belongs to all.
Making art in a studio is a very private part of an artist’s life. Collaborative rules are reversed. One has total artistic control over the projects chosen to do. The decisions made are the artist’s decisions alone. The client may only enter the picture at the end. It is extremely important to pursue these personal projects even if there is little or no support from the outside. Your own body of work is what establishes you as an individual and as an artist and you must make it happen.
Some of her recent work has been on exhibit at Philadelphia International Airport, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Pentimenti Gallery and at the Annenberg School of Communications (U Penn).
EDUCATION:
Tyler School of Fine Arts 1962-63 Sculpture
Rhode Island School Of Design 1958-62 BFA, Sculpture
University of Pennsylvania Summer 1959 Liberal Arts
TEACHING POSITIONS:
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Associate Professor, Drawing & Sculpture 1988-present
Moore College of Art Guest Lecturer September 2006
Community College of Philadelphia Guest Lecturer November 1992
Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris Guest Lecturer March 1992
Spring Garden College Instructor, Dept. of Architecture 1983-90
Drawing and Design Studio
ADMINISTRATIVE POSITION:
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Chairman, Sculpture Dept. 1992-1995
ARTIST RESIDENCY:
The Hambidge Center Rabun Gap, Georgia Fall 1998 & Fall 1999
GRANTS:
The Leeway Foundation, Window of Opportunity Award September 1999
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts - Special Opportunity Stipend September 2002
EXHIBITIONS: (selected)
2011 “Hopes and Fears Revisited” (with photographer Judy Gelles) Annenberg School of Communication – U Penn
“Hopes and Fears” (with photographer Judy Geles) Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2009 “Interplay: Art, Audience, Architecture – Perelman Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
Welcome House (with Photographer Judy Gelles)
2008-2009 “Models in the Making” (the Design and Craft of Architectural Models – Kroiz Gallery/Architectural Archives
2007-2011 “The Ghost Cats” continue at Eastern State
2007-2008 Paulownia Project installed at Philadelphia International Airport
2006 Paulownia Project-A Window Installation-The Galleries at Moore, Moore College of Art and Design, Phila
2005-2006 “The Ghost Cats” - at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site – reinstalled by popular demand
2004 “The Ghost Cats” - artist installation at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Philadelphia, PA
“ArchiSculpture” Foundation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland (Kahn Model of the Capitol of Bangladesh)
2003 “Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2003” - The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
2002 “Dual Identities - Seven Philadelphia Artists/Academics”, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Phila.,PA
“ Non-objective Painting & Sculpture” - Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
2000 Solo Exhibition - Burt Hill/ Philadelphia, Architects, Phila, PA
“New Directions ‘2K” - Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
“National Small Sculpture Exhibition 2000”, Hattiesburg, MS
1999 “Contemporary Relics” - William King Arts Center, Abingdon, VA
1998 “Sculpture: The 3-D Process” - The Charles Sumner School Museum, Washington, D.C.
“Then and Now” - 50th Anniversary Exhibition of LBI Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, NJ
1997 “20th Annual Buck’s Co. Sculpture Show” - James Michener Museum of Art, Doylestown, PA
“Faculty Exhibition” Museum of American Art of the PA Academy of the Fine Arts, Phila.,PA
1995 “Distinguished Artist Exhibition” - Artists House Gallery, Phila., PA
1992 International Sculpture Conference Studio Tour, Phila., PA
1991 “In Our Circle” - James Michener Museum, Doylestown, PA
PROJECTS AND COMMISSIONS:
2005-2006
CRAFTING A MODERN WORLD: The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noemi Raymond
Commissioned to fabricate three models for this traveling exhibition that opened in Philadelphia at the Meyerson Galleries at the University of Pennsylvania with venues in Santa Barbara, CA and Tokyo, Japan
1. Reininzaka House ¾” = 1’ – 0”
2. New Studio, Karuizawa ¼” = 1’ – 0”
3. Reader’s Digest Building ½” = 1’ – 0”
2003
EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY
Commissioned to fabricate a model (1/2” = 1’-0”) showing a section of the original cell block #1 including the
mechanical systems. The model is part of the audio tour on permanent exhibition in the Prison Museum.
2002
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART : MASTER PLAN MODEL
Commissioned to fabricate a fundraising model ( 1” = 60’) Designed in collaboration with Vitetta Architects
2001
VANNA VENTURI HOUSE
¾” = 1’-0” model commissioned by PMA for the exhibition “Out of the Ordinary” - the traveling exhibition opened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art June 10 - August 5, 2001 and has had venues at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh
1999-2000
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: HAMILTON VILLAGE COMPETITION / KIREN, TIMBERLAKE
Worked with project team to design and fabricate a presentation model for University Housing. The architect was selected to proceed with a feasibility study to renovate and make additions to the residential high-rise buildings. A second model was fabricated to present the architects design to the board of directors.
1994
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS
Designed and executed an edition of bronze commemorative awards including presentation packaging.
EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY: CRUCIBLE OF GOOD INTENTIONS
Philadelphia Museum of Art, July 16- September 11, 1994
Commissioned to fabricate two models based on John Haviland’s master plan to express what had been constructed on the site by the mid-1830s. Both models involved research to illustrate what existed.
SITE MODEL: 1/16” = 1’- 0” cast plaster
SECTION MODEL OF CELL BLOCK #7: ¼” = 1’ – 0” , wood and plaster
Both models are on permanent exhibit at the Prison Museum at the site and are now included on the audio tour
1990-1991
LOUIS I. KAHN: IN THE REALM OF ARCHITECTURE
Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA - Fabrication of five new models, based on Kahn’s designs, for the exhibition; a collaborative project with two other artists.
1. Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs, Battery Park, NY
1” = 1’ – 0” acrylic, plywood, and lead, including figure sculptures modeled and cast in a lead alloy.
2. Trenton Bath House, Trenton, NJ
¼” = 1’ – 0” in basswood
3. City Tower Project, Philadelphia, PA
1/16” = 1’ – 0” model in zinc alloy, acrylic, and computer graphics.
4. Meeting House of the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California
1/16” = 1’ – 0” in basswood
5. Capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
¼” = 1’ – 0” basswood, plastic and zinc
This traveling exhibit opened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in October 1991 and continued on to Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou), New York (Museum of Modern Art), Gunma, Japan (Museum of Modern Art), Los Angeles (MOCA), Fort Worth (Kimball Art Museum), and Colombus, OH (Wexner Center for the Arts).
The models are in the permanent collection of the Architectural Archives at the University of PA
1990
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW SCHOOL, Philadelphia, PA
Designed and executed a sculptural medallion; supervised casting in bronze.
1982
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Washington, DC
Designed and fabricated a space study model ½” = 1’ – 0” of Rotunda and North Lobby of the West Building in polychrome plaster. The model was presented to the Building Committee by Carter Brown in January, 1983, for consideration of major structural changes to the building. The model was successful in convincing the Committee to follow the proposed plan and remains in the permanent collection of the Museum.
CLARENCE MOORE HOUSE, Philadelphia, PA
Reproduced sculpture “Boy with Dolphins” from archival photographs and drawings. Cast in a facsimile material for installation in entryway in conjunction with restoration of the bldg.
1994: Plaster cast of the sculpture included in exhibition “Graced Places: The Architecture of Wilson Eyre,” Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania.
1996: Plaster cast of sculpture donated to the cast collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
