From sober cave art to pixelated computer graphics, our species has long known that painting is a way to connect – to connect to each other, to ourselves, to the larger world and all life, and to the big universal truths. Like music, painting is a medium that transcends borders and boundaries; it is a language unto itself, one that can encompass and convey ideas and emotions in visual form. Unlike music and writing, which are linear, temporal forms, a painting exists all at once, in no time, or in all time. The painting is about relationships; the relationships of the colors and the compositional details to one another; of the ideas and feelings evoked to each other; of the artist to the piece; and of the viewer’s place in things. My teachers are those brave artists who have tried to reach inside themselves and have thereby touched others. They’ve shown me to paint what I love and to love what I paint. My pieces are indeed like children, siblings even, outgrowths of inner visions on being alive. My love and my empathy are for all that is being trampled in our mad stampede toward the future. Linda Messier

Education: * Earned an Associate of Arts & Sciences, cum laude, for Performing Arts/Music/Piano, Bennett College, N.Y. * Continuing Education Programs: University of Massachusetts; California State University, Arcata; Miu, Majorca, Spain * Independent Study/Travel : France, England, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Martinique, Jamaica, St. Croix Began Painting 1982: * Self taught. Largely influenced by specific impressionists, expressionists, mythologists, and primitives. Exhibitions: * Fiddlehead Gallery, Benardsville, NJ * Essex Hunt Club, NY * The Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, NY * Inner Vision Gallery, Denville, NJ * The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ Commissioned artwork for: * Random house * Berkley * Harcourt-Brace * Warner Books * Scholastic * Original Print Collectors Group * Southeastern Publications * Peat, Marwick, & Mitchell * Sunrise Publications * Readers digest * Brown & Company * Ace Science Fiction * Viking Press Messier has been featured in Time Magazine for her illustrations in the children's book "Fireflies, Fireflies Light My Way", (selected as one of 1997's "years best"). Messier has also been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, World Magazine, Natural history Magazine & Architectural Digest.