I am a perceptual painter interested in the tactile qualities of oil paint and the abstract patterns created by light and shadow. My process is physical, iterative, and moody. Each painting has multiple layers built up over dozens of painting sessions. I love to draw, paint, and scrape in a kind of improvisational dance. Value studies, preparatory drawings, and tonal underpainting give structure to what often feels like a chaotic application of paint.
Through the process of making paintings, I have learned that certain questions interest me:
● Can I be both analytical and spontaneous?
● Where do I land between abstraction and perception?
● Can my rendering of inanimate objects express the frenetic and impatient feeling I have when on a search for illusive constants?
● How does technical knowledge interact with a personal way of seeing? Are they one and the same?
I like to revisit everyday things. My paintings reflect how they change, either in reality or as filtered through my perspective on a given day. The variations seem endless.
Maria Lindenfeldar is a painter and book designer. She maintains a studio at 1241 Carpenter Studios and is Creative Director for Princeton University Press. She is a graduate of the Modern Color Atelier at Gage Academy of Art and has a CE Certificate in Figure Studies from PAFA.
Gage Academy of Art, Seattle, WA
Modern Color Atelier Graduate, 2024
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Certificate in Figure Studies, 2021
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
History of Art, MA, 1994; Completed PhD coursework and passed PhD preliminary exams with distinction, 1997
Creative Director, 2016 – present
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Head of the Creative Media Lab, an in-house design studio responsible for maintaining and enhancing the Princeton University Press brand worldwide. Manage a creative team of art directors and designers responsible for the integrated visual strategy of books, the website, advertising, marketing, and social media. Serve on Directors Council as part of senior leadership team. Directly supervise assistant creative directors and design project managers as part of a twenty-person team. Work with a variety of freelance designers and illustrators. Manage $750,000+ department budget for publisher with over $35 million annual sales.
Director of Design, 2009 – 2016
Provided creative direction for over 250 books per year ranging from heavily illustrated and trade projects to scholarly monographs. Served on strategic planning committee. Leader on XML-first implementation team and other digital initiatives.
Managing Designer, 2007–2009
Managed day-to-day operation of design department. Refined workflow and clarified departmental procedures. Supervised three junior designers and one intern. Designed approximately 25 books per year as described below.
Book Designer, 2000 –2007
Designed jackets and interiors for approximately 35 scholarly books per year; non-fiction trade, heavily illustrated art books, and monographs. Prepared written type specifications and electronic layouts for interior designs. Worked closely with acquisitions editors, marketing, production coordinators, printers, and suppliers.
Writer/Graphic Designer
Towers Perrin (now Willis, Towers, Watson), Philadelphia, PA
Wrote proposals for marketing department of international consulting firm. Designed communications pieces, proposals, promotional materials, signage, and presentations.
Architectural Historian, Summer Program
Historic American Buildings Survey, Chicago, IL, Philadelphia, PA
Reviewed archival material and wrote interpretive summaries. Projects included: Chicago Century of Progress Exposition houses, Fairmount Park landscape and historic structures.
Preservationist
New York Landmarks Conservancy, New York, NY
Wrote and edited grant proposals for not-for-profit historic preservation organization. Planned fundraising events. Maintained donor database.
