We recently connected with Linda Harrison-Parsons and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Linda, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The mission of my company, is better described as a passion. Like many artists I am a small business, a sole proprietor. My mission, my passion is a simple one: make someone happy.

I believe in sharing. I have had what I call luck, and opportunities. I have not lived a charmed life. Everyone has a story, I am no different. Because there have been tough times in my life, it has made me appreciate everything just a little more.

I have been creating art as far back as I can remember. I formed a business about 35 years ago. In forming my business I would hire artists to work with me on projects. I made them happy with employment. I made my clients happy with the quality of my work. Moving forward, I made people happy when I created a special commission piece for them. Usually this was in remembrance of family, human or fur. These moments touched my heart, making me happy too.

As my career moved on, I donated art for charities and special causes. I am slowly phasing the business of art out of my life and my mission has become to touch someone with my art.

Linda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Going back to the beginning of becoming an artist. I was born in Washington D.C. this is important because it is where I discovered The National Gallery of Art. It introduced me to works on paper, printmaking, past and present. I wanted to learn more about art.

I drew on everything as a child, paper-bags, newspapers, even my homework. That got me an appointment with my mother to talk to the teacher. Other teachers saw my abilities, but also understood I had some learning problems. Dyslexia was not widely talked about when I was young. This teacher knew I shy but some of that was, I could not verbalize what I was trying to read. He helped me deal with this through art. I could tell my story in a different way, visual instead of verbal. This comes back around later in my career.

School was always a struggle for me but I was determined to finish. No one in my family had gotten a high school diploma. I continued my education graduated high school. Over many years, got a BFA from MD. Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD and a MFA from G.W. University, Washington, D.C.

In-between high school and college, I married and had a baby. I worked lots of different jobs over the years. There were times, life got in the way and I learned to “pivot”. A word I have heard a lot since the pandemic. I have been pivoting all my life, who knew??? I created, made art, sometimes as a side job. I taught art to little ones. I became involved with art organizations, even help run a couple not-for-profit organizations. I had divorced and remarried, a lot of years between the two and I was still finding my way with art as my guide.

The more I learned about art, the more I wanted to share. I got my Master’s thinking I would teach on a university level, but that didn’t work out. Pivoting and Lady Luck came my way again. I had set myself up as a business, registered with the IRS as a sole proprietor. Started doing murals for companies, private business and individuals. It was a lot of work, I would take the clients idea and make it come to life.

I wanted to do more of my own work. Study wildlife, nature and the environment. I set up workshops from my studio. I created open art get togethers for creative souls to come together, exchange ideas and just enjoy making art. Galleries come and go, covid caused many galleries to close. Some gallery owners took shows online. This opened a whole new door for sales.
I call myself a nature and wildlife artist. I think more along the line of how these things are all tied together and how it affects the environment. I use my art to teach about nature. I share my passion with others through teaching and selling my art.

I became a registered artist through the state of Maryland and taught all levels k-12. I had opportunities to work with students dealing with emotional struggles. One of the residency I was touched by was working with teens who wanted their diploma but were dealing with drugs and alcohol abuse. They attended small classes with special teachers. There were times I would come in to teach and I might get moved into a room to wait until an issue had been resolved. I learned patience. I learned to listen better. Both students and myself learned to respect hard work. At the end of my working with them, I received hugs and tears especially from one of the students. She was not happy about taking art. Opening up to creating allowed her to state emotions without having to say a word. Others in the class later reach out to me to write them letters of recommendation to go on to art school. I was very proud.

One of my proudest teaching memories came from an opportunity to go to Zambia. My husband, Rick, was working for VA Tech and they wanted to try to set up a student study aboard program. I went with him, some additional faculty, young teachers and a VA Tech student. This would be a combination of education dept. and hospitality tourism dept. I was the photographer, documenting the trip. Along with being an artist who would be bringing materials to teach recycled handmade paper. I did not have a formal class scheduled but again luck came my way. As we were touring Livingstone campus, there just happen to be a meeting of artists. They were there to learn about tourism, selling their art. We introduced ourselves and when it came my turned, I told them of my idea and ask if anyone would be interested.

One young woman came to me and said her aunt and uncle had a gallery/workshop space at their home. She would check with them to see what we could make happen. A young man was also interested, he had a gallery work space. A side note: most homes do not have electric or running water. A gallery space could be a space on the ground of a parking lot. Aunt and uncle, is an extension of family, but they may not be blood relatives.

I got a great response, the aunt and uncle had running water and we set up a papermaking studio outside their 3 sided open air studio space. The young man had spread the word and we had too many people wanting to attend. We divided into morning and afternoon sessions. From this workshop another came about, I taught papermaking to the local village’s middle school students. Again, it was to be about 15 students, but more kept arriving and we made it work. We set up under a large tree, we had to carry water from the local pump. We came up with lots of creative ways to pull a sheet of paper.

I was introduced to the king of the village and presented him with a piece of my artwork, a zebra painting on handmade paper. This was one of those once in a life time moments. I left behind all the materials I had brought to Africa in hopes they would be able to use materials on hand and create new artwork. I am still in touch with some of these young people. They have gone on to go to college and to be employed in the arts. I would have loved to returned but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Maybe one day I will get back to Africa. I have been left with so many amazing memories of the time spent in Zambia. Sometimes opportunities present themselves and you might not know where they are going but you hop on and just enjoy the ride.

I still teach art workshops, share my knowledge and love of art. Do what you love and you can do it for as long as your mind and body allow.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This story jumps back to Africa, this time South Africa, a time before my teaching trip to Zambia. Resilience: paraphrasing one of the definitions I read, adapting to challenging life experiences. There are times thinking back on the series of events and literally thought I might die in South Africa. I will not go into all the details but there was an opportunity to go horse back riding on the coast of the South African. I had ridden some as a young person, mostly bareback but I was comfortable on a horse. They put me on a fairly large strong horse. When time came to run the horse, he took off and I had a whiplash affect. Unknown to me nerve damage had occurred. Our group left for the inner jungle for wildlife photography. Our first drive we found a leopard up in a tree. Lots of pictures where taken, we pulled around to get closer. That’s when I experienced the worst pain I have ever known, even to this day. I went pale and we got back to camp. after hours a helicopter came to take me and my husband to a hospital. Many tests were run but nothing specific was found. After a few days the pain ease and I was back with our friends. I had another attack in S, Africa. Back in the States, just as we got home, another attack. Off to the hospital again. More tests, no real answers just massive migraine type pain, with nerve damage.

A year had passed, slowly off P.T. and medication. An opportunity was presented to do a art show based on the wildlife of South Africa. My friend Marilu and I were part of the gallery. We worked on ideas to build the show. How many pieces of work we needed, sizes to fit the space. Setting up demonstrations and artist reception. This was my focus and helped me move forward. The show was a great success.

Many that knew of my accident thought I would never want to go back to Africa. My response, if I could go back to Africa, I would go in a heartbeat and I did. I still deal with nerve damage issues but it has not stopped me from doing art or traveling.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

One of the most rewarding things for me is when someone I have never met buys a piece of my art. They reach out to me, usually at another art event. They came to tell me about the work they bought, how it touched them. I have had people over the years say, I love your art, it is not hung in the most prestigious place but it is in my bedroom placed so that it is the first thing I see when I wake each morning. That to me says it all.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lindaharrisonparsons.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lindaharrisonparsons
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/LindaWildlifeArtist
• Linkedin: www.LinkedIn.com/in/lindaharrisonparsons
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/@lindahp2011