"Portrero Hill" by Lynn Di Nino

In recent years I've been preoccupied with our dependence on plastics. These birds are an offshoot of my concern . . . let's find a use for these plastics which litter up our lives! 6" x 12" x 4", 6 oz., 2023. Soft plastics, batting and low fire clay.

You can more fully appreciate Lynn and her artworks when you know she was raised in the cotton belt of New Mexico by a single mother of five who worked as a waitress. From an early age she collected throw-aways in order to create her shoes, wearables, and art projects. These activities were her emotional lifeblood. College was not an option.

Lynn became a full-time artist following a recession lay-off at Seattle Mental Health where she worked as a recreational therapist in the early 70’s. Her involvement with Friends of the Rag -the original wearable art collective circa 1975 in the Seattle area -led her first to ‘soft sculpture', then to hard sculpture using cement, wood, fiber, welded steel and her original love: household items. Her success is the result of a lifetime art-making preoccupation and she simply cannot live without using her hands to make things. She has earned her living as an artist through commission work, gallery sales and grants. In 2017 she received the Governor’s Artist of the Year award.