Linda Richards

Linda Richards is an artist whose work has appeared in books, newspapers, national magazines and galleries. She has been a member of Society of Illustrators, Artists Equity and Graphic Artist Guild.

Born in Baltimore Maryland, Ms. Richards is a graduate of State University of New York, Empire State College. She also attended University of Georgia, Ringling School of Art in Florida and Parson’s School of Design in New York. Over the past 50 years her efforts have been concentrated on fine art, illustration for national advertising, magazine and book illustration. She has illustrated books for Grosset and Dunlap, Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich and Time Life and Henson Publications. Two of her commissioned paintings were used to illustrate a special edition social studies book published by NASA. Her books for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich were on exhibit at the Master Eagle Gallery in New York, one of which was nominated for the Utah Children’s Book Award. She was involved in a Kermit and Space Exploration project for Henson Productions.

Ms. Richards had commissioned paintings for NASA on exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, followed by a national and international tour. All paintings currently reside at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida and are periodically on tour. For these commissions, Ms. Richards was given special access to launches, launch and assembly facilities, and contact with the crew and a position in landing convoys. One of her photographs of the Columbia, taken from her post in the convoy, was selected by NASA for a full-page illustration in NASA’s publication celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary.

Ms. Richards was commissioned to create the Christmas card commemorating the Metropolitan Opera’s Centennial and she worked with landscape artists, illustration ideas for redesigning the gardens in New York’s Central Park. She was recently commissioned for 4 paintings depicting the future plans for Amtrac’s infrastructure. Over the past 14 years, Ms. Richards has expanded her work to the area of product design and development and has worked on many projects for major collectable and toy manufacturers. Her projects include concept, reference, research, and design development, control drawings and finished art. Her responsibilities span the development of concept to actual final fits of her finished art. The techniques involve design and finished art for half etch, full etch on brass, bas relief, coining, engraving and decal design. She has worked closely with photographers, master engravers, and engineers in regard to reproducing her finished art in the U.S.A. and China. One of her specialties is the design and application of extensive deco and filigree.

Ms. Richards also continues to work on private commissions and her work hangs in galleries and private collections. Galleries include:

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Master Eagle Gallery, NYC
Alabama Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville Alabama
University of Houston, Houston, Texas
Society of Illustrators, NYC
Danforth Museum, Framingham, Mass.
The Old State House, Hartford, Conn.
The Museum of Science and Natural History, St. Louis Missouri
Mitsukoshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, Md.
Indigo Gallery, Ajijic, Mexico
Dos Lunas Gallery, Ajijic, Mexico

Ms. Richards is represented by Mendola Ltd. in New York for commercial illustration. She has her home and studio on the Eastern Shore of MD.