“Life is best when there is a way to express myself without words. It was so satisfying when I discovered that paint, form, and content were all I needed to share the story of a life lived as a Chicana . . . . My art reflects a life-long quest exploring symbolism, indigenous tradition, and the use of materials and methods which I then interpret into contemporary forms of expression.” My themes reflect the memories of being a farm-girl, of being a person of color living, working, and raising a family in Nebraska. . . . . The medium of expression has evolved over the decades from portrait art using acrylics on canvas  to adopting paper that opened avenues of communication with patrons and students alike. – Linda Rivera Garcia

Over the years Linda has worked with various mediums: walls, canvas, paper mediums such as papier mache, paper cuttings, folding, tearing, and embellishing with graphite, inks, markers, acrylic and watercolor paints. This exhibit celebrates many of these in conversation and as part of a larger cultural display.  Many of these works tell stories—traditional, historical, folkloric, ceremonial, and personal tributes. Since the 1990s—acting as a team with her husband José—Linda has introduced the cultural traditions of “Dia de los Muertos” through statewide workshops, art exhibits and installations of memory all throughout Nebraska.

Artist's Biography

Linda Rivera de Garcia is a Mexican American Chicana artist, who has been active for over fifty years creating, teaching, and exhibiting Mexican/Latino folk and indigenous arts and traditional culture throughout Nebraska. Living her entire life in Nebraska, she is now retired from her career as a children's librarian. Linda has recently finished a commission for a work of art to be included in the permanent collection of the Great Plains Art Museum, in Lincoln, Nebraska, after having a summer long exhibition there. She has also exhibited at the Museum of Nebraska Art/MONA, the Durham Museum, and the Sheldon Museum. At the Joslyn Museum, Linda assisted in curating a exhibit of Mexican folk/popular art from the Doug and Pat Wagner Collection. Linda's main motivo/motivation is reflected in her artistic production, its beginnings rooted  in the late 1960s, as a student of the College of St. Mary's in Omaha. In 2009, she and her husband José, founded the Mexican American Historical Society and now operate the South Omaha Museum of Immigrant History, also in Omaha.