Lynda Steffen Clark

Artist statement:

HISTORY: My pioneer great great grandparents moved to the territory of Wisconsin via the St. Lawrence Seaway. They settled around Fond du Lac. Most of the family never left. In 1970 I received a degree in art education from UW-Oshkosh and taught in Fond du Lac, Rio, Pardeeville, Wyocena, and Princeton. I couldn’t wait to get out. I moved half way around the world to teach art in Sydney, Australia. After that, I worked in Silicon Valley as an illustration artist from San Francisco to San Jose. Early 1980s I was taught computer graphics by General Electric. For them, I made clip art and taught computer graphics throughout the USA. Later, art houses in Silicon Valley ran three shifts a day producing high end business presentations. This was long before Power Point. I learned Adobe Illustrator in 1988 and still swear by it. I am known for making complex images look simple. I have been active at the Stanford Art Museum and the Madison Museum of Contemporary art.

INSPIRATION: I was born on Lake Winnebago and spent summers on Green Lake. I lived on Sydney Harbor, San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. I will be 79 years old this year. In 2013 I was able to retire on the Madison isthmus. There is a view of Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. I was always an artist. As a school child my work made it to the Milwaukee’s art museum school shows. It is an honor to show my current work.

PLAN: My illustrations are hung at eye level. They are like “Where’s Waldo” except everyone is real. Many prominent Madison people can beseen. These are grouped together in the Capitol Lakes Atrium. The illustrations in the Henry Street Cafe are not Madison. They are of family inGreen Lake WI and world travels.