We recently connected with LINDA ANDERLE and have shared our conversation below.

LINDA, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning to be creative in general was at my mother’s side and having the encouragement and support to just “do it”. From cooking and setting a table, making flower arrangements and using a needle and thread, doors were always open. I have taken classes, workshops and gone to lectures and visited museums and art shows for decades. I took/take notes and photos for inspiration for my “to-do someday” project list. Learning to do any creative endeavor is doing it. Doing it over and over and over. Adjusting, adapting and repeating. Learning is gathering the materials, arranging the pieces, staring at the materials and waiting. It is rearranging and beginning. It is learning when to stop or continue. Everyday is learning, the process does not end.

Speeding up the learning process would have been the ability to not work regular jobs. Life in general as it takes place gets in the way of what one truly wishes to be doing. BUT, I would not be in this stage of my creating life if I had not taken the paths that were before me each and everyday.

The most useful skills I have developed are “taking my own path and not worrying about the results. I have come to appreciate the best part of creating is the process. In needleworks, there are rules for executing stitches and after acquiring those skills, I broke the rules and let my needle be my guide-where ever it lands is how the thread lies. The only obstacle in my way is perhaps running out of thread and time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My sixty plus years of artistic experiences, testifies to my commitment and appreciation of the arts. Having traveled throughout the United States and countries abroad studying with an international array of leading skilled artisans in floral and embroidery design, I have developed my very own sense of the elements and principles of design. My fiber stitchery reflects my transition from floral design to fiber art.

I try to be innovative and daring in my approach. I find my tastes can be too particular one day and on the next, run rampant in several eclectic passionate directions. My style is in constant evolution as I seek and gather inspiration. These ‘images’ are stored, repeatedly examined and eventually revel themselves in a new form.

Allowed the freedom to stitch anywhere on felt, a concept encouraged by my needlewoman mother, Each piece is begun without plan as it evolves during the process. Emotions surface throughout the progression, making each creation unique. Areas of stitches develop organically during my ‘conversation’ with the felt and threads, allowing the work to develop intuitively. I am only partly aware of what the piece will communicate—as viewers will see and feel something entirely different. My story behind the work does not matter. It is up to the viewer to interpret and experience an interchange from their viewpoint. My days are happily filled with my work table overflowing with threads, needles, scissors, felt and ideas for designs. I create for the pure joy of creating with my hands. My goal is to inspire others to explore diverse artistic styles and embrace their creative potential.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

At near 80 years of age, I realize that time is of the essence. Do it now. And for as long as I am capable. For me, it is family, travel and creating. My family is supporting every whim as I travel and continue to take workshops and visit art venues. I set a goal a little over a year ago to enter the calls for art at galleries and feel I was quite successful in showing in more than 15 exhibitions, with two solo shows and a lovely magazine spread in What Women Create Summer ’25 issue. Daily I filter out my list of “hope to create someday” and use my waking hours with needle and thread in hand. It is an obsession and I relish it. My first year of actively stitching on felt making “human” figures, I created one hundred of that one subject matter. My upcoming goal of which I have already begun is to create a “school” of fish to number at one hundred pieces and have them shown in a gallery and I plan to answer the call to enter the installation at a fishing museum in Italy in ’26.

My mission is to bolster and enthusiastically uplift creators of all mediums. Attend artistic activities and endorse creative endeavors.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Art is subjective, not all will be understood by all. Art educates one in math, geography, chemistry, history and current events. Art is interconnected with human relationships–it is an international language. Art provides an exchange of ideas and cultural expressions. Art can provide economic growth in cities creating destination travel and community involvement.

Society can embrace the arts. All of the arts. Appreciate the arts. Appreciate the creators. Visit museums, galleries, local art shows, concerts, stage performances. Give encouragement to creators in their ventures.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lajoslinanderle
• Facebook: Linda Anderle
• Other: What Women Create, Summer ’25 issue

Image Credits

Linda Anderle
Meagan Spradling