The Art Box - Episode 24 - Meet Linda Harris

Linda Harris is a retired mathematics teacher who has lived with her husband in Mesquite since 2017.   They were drawn to Mesquite by the golf, arts and culture, and the beautiful desert landscape.  Linda received a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and a Masters in Education.  She taught in Missouri for 25 years, and was also a curriculum specialist for her district. 

Linda is a self-taught artist, receiving no formal training after 9^th grade art class.  While in Missouri, Linda enjoyed porcelain art in her spare time.  She attended porcelain art workshops around the country, and after retiring, bought her own kiln and taught porcelain art in her home.  Upon moving to Mesquite, Linda became interested in watercolor, oils and acrylics. She took some watercolor classes and workshops, and found that she especially like painting portraits. She won awards in the Mesquite Fine Arts Gallery Exhibitions for four of her portraits, “Earth, Wind, and Fiery Redheads” (1^st Place/2018),  “A Special Sliver of Light,” (Best of Show/ Sponsor’s Choice/2019) and “Moonlit Vigil” (1^st Place/2020), and Mesquite Mayor Al Litman (Honorable Mention/ 2021). 

Linda taught two of the GSWA classroom lessons in 2019, and became coordinator of the program the following year.  She now oversees the free educational programs and workshops for VVAA, believing strongly in the mission “to promote the power of the arts for all ages and all cultures,” and the educational goals which support this mission.  She is responsible for working with VVAA volunteers to plan, advertise and implement the programs, write grants which support the programs.  She previously wrote the FY 2022 Arts Learning Project Grant to bring Artist/ Photographer Larry Burton to Mesquite as VVAA's first Artist in Residence during February 2022.  She worked closely with Mr. Burton and the Project Director to plan activities and workshops, host community events, organize data, and write the final report.  A recent grant has just been approved to bring Recycle and Reuse Artist Deborah Lambin here as February’s Artist in Residence.  

When not at the art gallery, Linda enjoys hiking in the beautiful desert landscape near Mesquite.  She has two sons, a granddaughter, and two brothers and their families still in the Midwest.