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Linda Lillegraven was born at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1948. She received her BA in Art from San Diego State University and a BS in Zoology in 1970 and 1972, respectively. She then went on to earn a MS in Biology from the University of Utah in 1975.
A summer spent doing research in an isolated corner of Utah convinced her that she wanted more than anything to paint the great open landscapes of the West, despite her extensive experience with wildlife. Living in Laramie, Wyoming provides infinite opportunities to see and paint the high, open country she loves. The harsh climate and expansive wilderness of Wyoming provides stunning variety for the artist, with the light changing from one minute to the next, and from one season to another.
“It is difficult to paint the prairie because the air is thin, the light is hard, and the transitions of color and tone are so subtle as to be almost invisible,” she said in an interview with Southwest Art. She is inspired by the challenge of capturing the open landscapes of Wyoming, striving to include a minimal amount of detail while simultaneously giving the viewer a sense of space.
Lillegraven works in both oil and pastel, but she prefers the blending, texture, and color range of pastels. Due to the dust-like texture of pastel, she has developed a method for stretching her own “canvas” of wet watercolor paper on stretcher bars, primed with a mixture of acrylic gesso and pumice to create an optimal surface for pastel. “One pastel may be too blue, another too yellow, but when I juxtapose two very different colors, I get an interesting surface,” she says. The texture allows Lillegraven to create brilliant hues and subtle transitions of light, the result of several pigments interacting.
Linda Lillegraven’s work has been shown in exhibitions throughout the United States, including Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale (2017-2018), Cheyenne Frontier Days Art Show (2015-2017), Buffalo Bill Art Show (1993-2017), National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Western Visions (2014), and Briton Museum’s About 6x6 (2014- 2015) and Small Works Show (2016). Selected collections include University of Wyoming Art Museum in Laramie, WY; Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne, WY; University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; Wyoming Military Department, Cheyenne, WY.
“The Ann Korologos Gallery gives nuance to the idea of ‘Western art’, tapping into the American West and frontier culture as an inspiration for their collections. Focused on American artists working across various media from painting and photography to sculpture and print-making, Ann Korologos Gallery is an unmissable, distinctively Coloradan bulwark of the Rocky Mountains’ arts scene. Located outside of Aspen in the small town of Basalt, numerous artists featured at the gallery channel the town’s idyllic surroundings into their artistic vision, with particular reference to the town’s reputation as a mountain fishing Mecca.”
Artist Linda Lillegraven was born at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1948. She received her BA in Art from San Diego State University and a BS in Zoology in 1970 and 1972, respectively. She then went on to earn a MS in Biology from the University of Utah in 1975. A summer spent doing research in an isolated corner of Utah convinced her that she wanted more than anything to paint the great open landscapes of the West, despite her extensive experience with wildlife. Living in Laramie, Wyoming provides infinite opportunities to see and create paintings of the high, open country she loves. The harsh climate and expansive wilderness of Wyoming provides stunning variety for the artist, with the light changing from one minute to the next, and from one season to another.
Linda Lillegraven lives in Laramie, Wyoming, and earned a BA in Art and BS in Zoology from San Diego State University. The great open landscapes of the West, with their changing light and seasons, offer the artist a lifetime of inspiration. Her oil paintings depict the transitions of color and tone of the plains, so subtle as to be “almost invisible,” yet perfectly conveyed by the hands of Lillegraven. Her landscape paintings include a minimal amount of detail while giving the viewer a sense of big skies, open fields, space and scale. Lillegraven is a featured artist in “Carved, Etched, Painted,” on view May 2022 at Ann Korologos Gallery.
