Linda Celestian grew up in upstate New York. She attended Moore College of Art receiving an MFA in Fashion Design and completed a year of postgraduate study in Painting and Sculpture. After a few years as a designer in the Fashion industry she returned to fine art experimenting with new techniques and materials.
She works with paint in its fluid form manipulating it to imitate natural occurrences.
She enjoys exploring natural techniques to sculpt her fiber creations, including nuno felting, shibori dyeing, and rust dyeing. Silk has been her preferred material because of its diaphanous qualities. Inspired by nature, small sculptures are stitched to linen circles like specimens and can be installed as collections. Elegant wearables harken back to her fashion roots.
Her large, suspended sculptures command a space while concurrently feeling weightless and free-floating.
Nature’s beauty and underlying order have a calming effect on me. Living on a 34-foot boat with my family in the summer and ice skating on the nearby river in the winter are some of my favorite childhood memories. As a child, I spent a lot of time outside. In nature, I could blend in and disappear. I felt complete and at home in a place where no one knew my name or asked a thing of me.
The overarching theme throughout my work is the energy and life force I feel at the beach or on a hike through a forest. Nature is alive and in flux, ice melting, waves crashing, wood decaying and supporting new growth, flowers blooming, grass swaying in the breeze, and clouds floating across the sky. That is what inspires me to create, pulling from my memories and feelings about nature.
The paintings incorporate spills and pours alongside other marks that create depth and carry the viewer’s eye in and around the canvas. The quick drying time of acrylic paint allows me to work with layers of poured paint, printmaking techniques, and glazing. The drawn shapes in the work are borrowed from seeds, pods, leaves, fungi, and other overlooked details I've taken the time to study and draw. My recent vibrant color palette has been chosen to evoke emotion and communicate the passion I feel for my subject.
Embracing new technology and materials is an exciting development for my work. My exuberant laser-cut acrylic shapes are hung in installations that break out of the rectangle and enliven spaces. This is a direction I plan to continue exploring.
1983-1988
Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in Fashion Design, Post-Graduate Study in Painting and Sculpture
2014
Public Art Practice Course, Penland School of Crafts taught by Nancy Blum
2016
Wilmington Creative District’s Public Art Prep Program led by Eric Okdeh
2012
Vanity Fare-Best in Show Award, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA
Jurors, Lyn Godley and Pam Ptak
2018
Delaware Division of the Arts, Opportunity Grant
2016
Delaware Division of the Arts, Emerging Fellowship in Painting
2014
Delaware Division of the Arts, Fellowship Honorable Mention
2013
Delaware Division of the Arts, Opportunity Grant
2012
Delaware Division of the Arts, Opportunity Grant
2003
Delaware Division of the Arts, Artist in Residence, Wilmington Montessori School
2002
Delaware Division of the Arts, Artist in Residence, Mt. Pleasant Elementary School
2015
Studio Visit, Volume Twenty-Seven
2015
Arden Fair Community Murals, Arden, DE
2018
Arden Child Mural, Buzz Ware Village Center, Arden, DE
2016
Park Towne Place, Philadelphia, PA
2019
Cambridge Innovation Center, Philadelphia, PA
2022
Shape Shifting, Gallery 37, Milford, DE
2021
Dawning, ArtBox at Lincoln Square, The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, PA
2020
Ocean Blues, 2 Commerce Square (InLiquid), Philadelphia, PA
2019
Affluent, Pennswood Art Gallery, Newtown, PA
2017
Confluence, Mala Galleria, Kennett Square, PA
The Beach and Beyond, Camp Rehoboth, Rehoboth Beach, DE
2016
Fluent, Delaware Division of the Arts, Mezzanine Gallery Wilmington, DE (Fellowship)
2015
Overflowing, InLiquid Gallery, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, PA
2014
Crescendo, Mala Galleria, Kennett Square, PA
2013
Oceans, Isles and Shoals, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA
2011
Outpouring, Delaware Division of the Arts, Mezzanine Gallery, Wilmington, DE
Waterways, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Hatch Gallery), Wilmington, DE
2004, 2008
Annual Arden Fair, Arden, DE
2021
Of the Earth, Art Fluent, online
2019
Juried Craft Exhibition, The Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
Juror, Paul Sacaridiz
Catalyze, Cambridge Innovation Center, Philadelphia, PA
2018
Flow, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA (curated by CFEVA)
2017
Biggs Picture Juried Landscape Competition, Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE
Juror, Jason Rosenfeld
Elemental, InLiquid at Lacey and Phillips Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015
Sky Frame, 2 Commerce Square (InLiquid), Philadelphia, PA
POST, Park Towne Place (InLiquid), Philadelphia, PA
2013
Five in Fiber, Gallery 37, Milford, DE
Broad Spectrum: Members’ Juried Show, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts
Juror, Molly Donavan
2012
Art in the Open, Philadelphia, Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Vanity Fare, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA
Jurors, Lyn Godley and Pam Ptak
FiberPhiladelphia, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, PA
Jurors, Elisabeth Agro and Bruce D. Hoffman
2011
RSVP Invitational, LGTripp Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
3rd Street Gallery Community Exhibit, 3rd Street Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010
NEW: Members’ Juried Show, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts
Juror, Roberta Fallon
National Small Works Painting, The Main Street Gallery, Groton, NY
Jurors, Mariann Loveland and Roger Smith
2009
On the Fringe of Fiber, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
Juror, K. Pannepacker
The Possibilities of Pause, Delaware Art Musuem, Wilmington, DE
Juror, Carina Evangelista
2008
Essential Elements, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
The Natural World, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA
Juror, Robert P. Metzger
Natural Progression, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Hatch Gallery), Wilmington, DE
2006, 2007
Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
