Lindy Chambers
All Things Are Good
48 x 72 in.

Lindy Chambers
Crystals in the Mountain Pass
Oil on canvas
48 x 48 x 2 in.

Lindy Chambers
Mouth of the Ouachita
Oil on canvas
48 x 48 x 2 in.

Lindy Chambers
Caught in the Middle With You
Ink on Rives
14 x 19 in.

Lindy Chambers: Making Mundane Serene

Humble Beginnings

Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Lindy Chambers spent her childhood drawing and riding horses with her identical twin sister, LeeLee. While each is an accomplished artist in her own right, neither may have followed this path had it not been for their prominent interminable influence on one another.

Lindy and LeeLee's mother was a talented watercolorist who designed greeting cards for Hallmark until Multiple Sclerosis set in shortly after the twins' birth. Their father flew a bomber for the Marine Corp during WWII and worked at Toddle House following his return home, renting out the upper levels of their large Victorian home to travelers. He would often bring home rolls of adding machine paper for the girls to draw on.

"We were not allowed upstairs and the main thing I remember is the wood and porcelain toilet my mother would empty. I think that act had a profound visual impact on my brain. I was drawn to the unusual, much like the visual impressions circus actors had on me. The house had a dark, creepy basement where Daddy kept his dress whites from the Marine Corp in a trunk until our cat Willie had her kittens there," Lindy smiled. "It's not like he was ever going to wear them again."

The house also had an enormous attic with a round turret window overlooking the neighborhood and a nearby river and bridge. The twins were fascinated by what they saw below and painted the view again and again. "I can still see it perfectly – LeeLee and I both wanted to explore what was under the bridge. We painted many pictures of it and the river," Lindy said.

The twins' artistic endeavors were impressive, so much so that in first grade, their school paid for them to take art lessons at the Ohio Museum of Art. "I remember it like it was yesterday. Not only the magic walls with paintings and the sculpture of the naked David, but the colors we used, and the mediums and materials we had never seen."

"I think now that probably was the deciding factor that put us on our path to becoming professional artists. I say "us" because as a twin, you are somehow always attached to the other. We are identical, much to our mates' displeasure."

Moving Forward, Together

Indeed, the sisters have never been far apart and often have made similar life choices. While their father hoped they would pursue veterinary medicine, the girls had their hearts set on art school. Instead, they both married very young, going in separate directions briefly but returning to one another soon thereafter to pursue a mutual passion for fine art. They endured hard times, surviving off corn, squash, and the occasional rabbit that they were "fortunate enough to hit with the car and not squish." Often there was no heat and no hot water, but Lindy and LeeLee were happy, studying art history and furiously creating art. In time, they both left their husbands, (who had little use for their artistic pursuits), and moved to Roanoke, Virginia in search of jobs. Eventually, Lindy remarried and moved to Houston, while LeeLee went on to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Today, she is a professional artist designing work primarily in steel. She owns and operates Trails West Gate Company.

Educational Background

Lindy has received extensive professional training in the fine arts. From 1968-1970, she studied advertising and graphic art at the Guilford Technical Institute, followed by a sculpture program at the Glassell Museum School in 1974. She learned mould making and bronze casting at the Al Shakis Art Foundry and set up her own casting foundry in 1976. The foundry eventually caught fire, destroying twenty years of work and all of Chambers' moulds. While many artists would have been crushed, Lindy saw the situation as an opportunity to break free from bronze casting and begin painting and working in clay, holding true to her motto "explore and conquer."

Galleries & Shows

Chambers' art has been featured in numerous shows in galleries across the United States, including Houston, Lexington, Palm Beach, and New York. She was the artist commissioned to design 30 pieces of sculpture for the University of Houston, who gave them as gifts to patrons of the University. Lindy was also commissioned to produce an original version of the Statue of Liberty for feature in a popular television commercial, and she was asked to create a unique clay sculpture of the World Cup Jumping competition champion, Uncle Sam.

In 2004, Chambers' work was selected for Art News magazine's Seismic Disturbance compilation, a reflection on contemporary society. Only nine artists were chosen. Chambers' clever assemblage of non-biodegradable junkyard items – Styrofoam cups, aluminum cans, rubber shelf liner – simultaneously illustrated the environmental dangers of the materials and society's appeal to and dependence upon them.

The Lohin-Geduld Gallery in New York described Lindy's contribution to Seismic Disturbance as having a commanding presence, going on to say: "The detritus of everyday living form the components of Chambers' artistic language. Cups, rollers, corrugated metal and fan motors are composed with adroit skill, forming an expressionistic construction reminiscent of Schwitters, Nevelson, and cubist collage."

Chambers says of her work, "I've been all over the place in artistic style though I didn't find my voice for a long time, even though I worked at it every day. But neither did Dubuffet – so I like being in that class." Chambers' technique has developed with her career, influenced by the Pop Art movement during her early twenties and later by artists such as Fairfield Porter, Milton Avery, Thornton Dial, streamlined through years of experimentation with various mediums and styles.

Chambers takes inspiration from ordinary, "everyday, mundane things" as is seen in her trailers series. "I like to paint what is around me, what I see often and the things I pass by daily. I think it is an honest expression of some of my life's observations," Lindy says of her work.

Today

Chambers has occupied studio spaces in North Carolina and various parts of Texas, now operating out of Bellville. She is a member of Artists Changing Tomorrow, which benefits the often neglected art departments of rural Texas schools. She enjoys riding cutting horses, having grown up with jumping horses during her years spent on the East Coast. Her life revolves around the art she creates and loves, and most days she spends over ten hours in the studio.

"There is so much to learn, and so little time. I am working as hard as I can. I try not to use the same colors twice (like Charles Hawthorne) but I am not married to his theory or to anyone's theory of what you should and should not do in art. I do not try to be an alarmist for attention; I think much of what is out there is what most artists threw away while exploring 30 years ago. It seems fresh now because it would not have been valid then. Our times, our visions, they change. It is very hard to be original and I don't think an artist can try conscientiously to do so."

Lindy Chambers' newest series of paintings may be viewed on her website lindychambers.com or their website valleyhouse.com/, Dallas, Tx.

Chambers transforms the pastoral into the extraordinary. Long before she puts paint to canvas, her artistic process begins with the simple act of paying attention. From the outside looking in, she observes often overlooked aspects of life to discover an otherwise unseen beauty in the ordinary -- in mobile homes, stray dogs and piles of trash.

Her paintings are vibrant compositions of color. She works in two distinct palettes, one bright the other subdued, each containing an incredible diversity of hue and value. Her insistence on variety furthers the idea that everything contains its own unique beauty, if only you stop to notice.

Chambers skillfully uses lines and shapes to both break up the vibrancy of the canvas and to imbue her compositions with a narrative power. The line work introduces a tension to the color as the objects of her focus appear to pop and the details of each scene defiantly catch the viewer's impatient eye. It is in this way that her paintings elevate above mere depiction to offer a lesson in the art observation.

Each painting has strong elements of abstract and impressionist techniques, as well as drawn forms that are cartoon like in character. The blend of the two adds dimension to the flat surface and provides visual anchors in the midst of the cacophony of color.

Based in Belleville, Texas, Chambers is a Texas Big 10 for Art prize winner at KCAM, a past recipient of the Silver Award from Art Forward, and the Alexander Rutsch Painting Award from the Pelham Art Center. Originally she studied graphic design but progressed to taking classes at Glassell School Museum of fine arts, She also studied Bronze Casting at Al Shakis Foundry. She still considers herself self-taught.

Her work has been featured in galleries and museums across the U.S. including The Grace Museum in Abilene, the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, Colorado and the Pelham Art Center in New York.

----Sarah Haas Author