Linda Yao

Artist Statement

Born in New Zealand, Linda is a long-time San Francisco resident, painter and printmaker inspired by the cultural and geographical diversity of the Bay Area. As a child she explored the woods behind her East Coast homes, sketching tadpoles and fireflies caught in jars and doing crayon rubbings of fallen leaves. Later, traveling with her parents around the world, she added mountains, oceans and deserts to her repetoire. She experimented with exotic cultural motifs: she studied miniature and pottery painting in Pakistan; she did batik in the Philippines. During her travels she became attuned to the environmental resonance and dissonance that gave each place its unique nature, history and fingerprint and incorporated her reflections into her landscapes. Today she continues to explore new places, distilling her insights into her latest work.