“Making art is something I have always loved to do. When I was a child, there were no art classes in my small school, but I adored attending Vacation Bible School at our Methodist Church, because at crafts time you could ‘make stuff’. I still am fascinated every time I enter my studio, grab a piece of paper, a canvas, or a handful of clay, enter the right side of my brain, and, with my hands, my pigments, my tools, transform those objects into something that speaks for me, to me, and, I hope, to others. Sometimes the message is profound, sometimes a bit frivolous. It really doesn’t matter—art simply is, and I am an artist. That’s good enough for me.”

Linda Dumas was born in Alabama and reared in the town of Cottonwood. She attended Auburn University, where she majored in English and speech education. She moved to the Houston area in 1964, and to Kingwood in 1977. After fielding award-winning teams in speech, drama and debate in Kingwood for twelve years, she left the field and began to involve herself heavily in art. “I’m only afraid there won’t be enough time left to do all the art concepts and media that interest me,” she says. She has worked in many different media, and continues to experiment constantly.

She first began studying oil painting in 1972. There were interruptions with different moves, but she got back into classes whenever she could. In 1990, she saw a community calendar with a listing for pottery classes, fell in love with clay and studied it with Ann Lee, Linda Woodward, and later with Roy Hanscom at North Harris Community College. She has even taken a stained-glass workshop, but found the form too exacting for her more right-brain approach.

Linda’s initial interest in collage came about through a workshop given by Margaret Dobbins. She has also done some collage work with Joan Marie Jackson. One recent interest came from a creativity workshop with Veranne Graham, where she discovered the use of fluid acrylics on a textured ground. She has been doing a lot of work with that lately, and having a ball. Veranne’s advanced workshop proved even more interesting, and gave Linda much food for thought, leading her to study for a time with the fabulous Mary Todd Beam and to do a great deal of mixed-media work. She has done a workshop with Gerald Brommer, and her latest collage time was with Nita Leland.

She has won many awards at local art guilds and leagues and at the regional Lone Star Art Guild Competition. She has also done art demonstrations for a number of clubs, and has judged shows for many LSAG clubs, as well as community groups. She has had work accepted for exhibit at Kingwood College, Lake Jackson Center for the Arts and Sciences, at the Texas Sculpture Association show, exhibitions for SLMM and ISEA. She is a member of the Lake Houston Area Artists, the Lone Star Art Guild, and the Society of Layerists in Mixed Media. She is a Signature Member of the International Society of Experimental Artists. Since 1998 Linda has also been fortunate enough to be able to serve as a judge on the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show School Art Committee—something she enjoys tremendously. In her fifth year, she was promoted to Steering Judge.