MY STORY

I am an American-born, New York transplant, living and working in Austin, TX, with my four artistic children and my artist husband.

Even though it has been said that I was born an artist by close friends, and my early pursuits were in the fine arts, I attended university to study architecture and urban planning. My time at university taught me discipline and gave me a great love for design, which has served me well to this day.

While I worked to establish a career in these fields, my heart wasn’t in it. My last effort to bring meaning into an unfulfilling career was Feng Shui training. On the last day of the training, we were lead through a meditation that concluded with this question – what do you want to do? Without hesitation I wrote, “I want to paint”. The answer was shocking but not surprising. 

It was that day that I decided to go back to my art and pursue a career as a professional artist. I wanted to give my art the attention it needed so I sought painting instruction in the Mische Technique from Philip Rubinov Jacobson's. In 2001 and 2002, I attended Prof Phil's Old Masters New Visions seminar in Vienna, AU and Florence. In 2003, I joined Brigid Marlin's Art of Imagination group and participated in several shows with that group, both internationally and in the States. Through these experiences, I had the privilege to meet and exhibit along side visionary luminaries - Brigid Marlin, Martina Hofmann, Robert Venosa, DeEs Schwertberger, Olga Spiegel, and so many others! It was during this time that I also had the opportunities to meet and briefly study with Ernst Fuchs, the grandfather of the visionary movement.

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While pursuing my artistic dreams in NYC, I discovered I was pregnant with my first daughter. Two years later my twins were born, and two years after that we welcomed our fourth child into our family. I faced profound challenges when my children were born with medical needs and this demanding period in my life led me to temporarily step away from my studio practice to focus on caring for them. In addition to managing their medical needs, I also homeschooled. It was during this chapter of my life I discovered the joy of teaching and my love for and making art with my children.

My artistic output during my homeschooling years was broad and extensive. I learned the fabric arts and was constantly making dolls, knitting and crocheting. I also dabbled in quilt making, sewing, macrame. Though, as my children grew, my attention turned toward making art with them. I introduced them to watercolor painting, needle felting, and other hand made objects. Once further along in our homeschooling journey, I started to design curriculum to share art skills and art history with my kids. It was here that I developed projects to further their understanding of ancient cultures like: Greek mosaics, Egyptian papyrus, Chinese scrolls, illuminated pages, and fresco painting during. 

In 2019, after all of those years away, I returned to my studio practice and my personal art. For two years, my studio output was prolific and in 2021, I had a solo show called, 'Reemergence', that exhibited 36 paintings I had made since my return. Since then, I have been juggling motherhood, my studio practice, and building my art career.

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A firm believer in the power of art to enrich and transform lives, I also actively work to promote the value of art in my community. My teaching and volunteer work includes providing art instruction to children and adults with disabilities. I am the artist-in-residence at Buda's Brightside, a dayhab for adults with disabilities, and every summer I work with Art Spark Texas to bring art instruction into AISD's special needs classrooms. This work is near and dear to my heart. It gives me so much joy to witness first-hand the transformative power of art, not only with my own children who have disabilities, but also with many of my students.

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Through sharing my paintings, my knowledge, and my experiences, my hope is that I can leave an indelible mark on the all of the people I have had the honor to share art with.

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Linda Chido is a representational painter with master’s degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Buffalo, NY. She studied the Mische Technique under artists Philip Rubinov Jacobson and Michael Fuchs. In addition to her work as an artist, Linda is a mother, teacher, writer, and advocate dedicated to making art accessible, particularly to underserved communities. She and her artist family are based in Austin, TX.