Manatee County’s Linda Sheffield took a roundabout route to art

When Linda Sheffield was attending art school in New York City, all her teachers and her fellow students seemed to care about was abstract art. That didn’t interest Sheffield, whose art reveled in realism.

She had been painting and sculpting since she was a child and wanted to make a career in art, but it seemed as though the arts world had no place for her.

“It was difficult to get the kid of classical training I was looking for,” she said, “so I left art for a while.”

It was quite a long while, in fact. Sheffield had a variety of jobs all over the country and was in her 50s before she returned to art school and got her degree.

Now she’s a painter and sculptor, with work that shows (and sells) consistently at ArtCenter Manatee. She also teaches painting and sculpting there.

Carla Nierman, the executive director of Art Center Manatee, is an unabashed fan of Sheffield’s work.

“It’s sensitive and tender, but it’s strong at the same time,” Nierman said.

She took a meandering. decades-long path from art school to art. It led her through gigs as in the music industry, a couple of jobs as a late-night radio DJ and, for six months, as Al Pacino’s personal assistant.

“He drove me crazy,” she said of Pacino. “He’s a great guy, just really spacy.”

She recalled that Pacino once called her at 2 a.m. and said he needed a swimsuit. Another time, he called her and said “Linda, I can’t find my shoes.”

“I said, “OK, what do you want me to do about it? Have you looked under your bed?’” she said.

That was while she was still living in her native New York City, she had attended the Music & Art High School and New York University before she decided that she and the art world of the time weren’t a good match for each other.

She started working in the music industry and had built a solid career in publicity and marketing for a couple of records labels. She kept painting, but it was just for herself. She never tried to show or sell her work.

“Finally it occurred to me,” she said. “I was promoting all these other people, but I wasn’t promoting myself.”

She had met and married her husband David in Atlanta, and about seven years ago she realized a lifelong dream.

“Florida had been a long-time want-to-move to, and when I met my husband it became a plan,” she said. The Sheffields picked Manatee County because of the beaches.

Meanwhile, she took courses online through the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. The curriculum required sculpting classes even for painters, because it gave them a better understanding of form.

“My sculpture teachers told me I was in the wrong program, that I should be in sculpture,” she said. “So I decided to do both.”

She earned her master’s degree just last year.

She paints in oils, with subjects ranging from gypsy kids on the street of Italy to classically inspired still-life studies. She sculpts in clay, than paints the finished sculptures with a metal-based paint. She then sprays on veneer that oxidizes the metal in the paint, and gives the clay sculpture the look of bronze or brass.

Neirman saw her work and immediately asked her to teach at ArtCenter Manatee. Sheffield immediately accepted. She’s been teaching both painting and sculpture there ever since.

“Everyone loves her,” Nierman said. “She’s a rare artist in that she’s able to see in both two and three dimensions, and she’s skilled at both.”

To buy or view Sheffield’s art, visit her website at lindasheffield.art.

This story was originally published September 30, 2017 at 11:33 AM with the headline "Manatee County’s Linda Sheffield took a roundabout route to art."