LINDA LANZA
Expressive Arts Specialist
P. O. Box 7695
North Brunswick, NJ, 08902 USA
info@inkwings.com
Linda Lanza practices and teaches expressive writing arts to find meaning through imagination. She holds a degree in English Literature with highest honors from Rutgers University and certification from Smithsonian Institution/National Gallery of Art to teach critical thinking through art. Post graduate work includes 440 hours of training with Dr. Sherry Reiter, RPT for her credential as a therapeutic writing specialist.
Linda classically trained in calligraphy and painting with Mary Lou Cook, Dick Beasley, Jenny Hunter Groat, Thomas Ingmire, Friedrich Neugebauer, Karlgeorg Hoefer, Jacqueline Svaren, David Mekelburg, Peter Thornton and others.
In 2001, she received a $12,600 grant from the City of New Brunswick to create and facilitate two year-long expressive writing workshops, Calligraphy and Life Stories, at the Senior Resource Center in New Brunswick.
Also in 2001, she received the National Association for Poetry Therapy’s Distinguished Service Award for her work from 1997-2001 as creative director and editor of its newsletter publication The Museletter.
Linda was invited in 2005, with a request to return in 2006, to facilitate a journal writing workshop for the annual New Jersey Women and Aids Network conference as well as a 10-week expressive writing series for HIV-positive women, Soul Tracks: Creative Journaling to Reduce Stress, through University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.
In 2006, she created and facilitated a weekly writing workshop series, Soul Tracks: Reflective Writing to Reduce Stress, for the Breast Cancer Resource Center in Princeton.
In the fall of 2007, she created and facilitated Lifelines: Memoir Writing and Journaling, a ten-week workshop series at South Brunswick Senior Center.
During the pandemic, Linda created, curated, and hosted 156 consecutive sessions of Inkwings Writing Adventure, a weekly expressive writing hour online for teens and adults from March 2020 through April 2023. In her summer online writing camp for middle schoolers, Art Appreciation as a Starting Point for Writing, kids explore the origins and diversity of writing and engage their visual, verbal, audio, and kinesthetic senses to write and make things while practicing fundamental writing skills.
For over 30 years Linda’s award-winning work has been published and exhibited including Off the Cuffs from Soft Skull Press, Writing Away the Demons from North Star Press, Mosaic, Pudding 34, The Artful Letter calendars published by Universe Press, Letter Arts Review, the Richard Beasley National Invitational Exhibition, and INCIPIT Circolo Calligrafia Italiana in Trieste, Italy.
Linda is author of four books of poems, three of which are self-published ebooks and one as yet unpublished. Linda taught the Calligraphy Intensive elective as an adjunct professor at College of St. Elizabeth, and, for 18 years, taught the Calligraphy Workshop as a faculty member of Princeton Adult School.
Linda’s creative practice involves written artifacts that reflect the confluence of observation, memory, and inner listening. As a calligrapher, she experiences writing as both gesture and texture as it comes through the body. As a poet with synesthesia, she draws from music, painting, and mythology to plumb the depths of the heart and its capacity to heal. Her poems embody themes of interiority, intimacy, dreams, archetypes and personas, the mysteries and power of nature, the seasons of love, loss, courage, and redemption. Once, she dreamed she was a bookmobile on horseback.
Influences? Walt Whitman inspires her to notice and honor small details, be of service, write it down. Walter Crane shows in picture book illustrations that words are images and plant stories in the mind. How musician Stan Getz bends notes suggests how to shape a piece of writing as though it were alive and pliable. Joni Mitchell demonstrates that creative storytelling can be multi-media and wide-ranging. Rainer Maria Rilke proves that a handful of words can sustain a life.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
*SCRIPTA: The Magazine of the Philadelphia Calligraphy Society, Autumn 2022 – “Peace.” Artist, contributor
*SCRIPTA: The Magazine of the Philadelphia Calligraphy Society, Spring 2022 – “Sweet Willie’s Alphabet” Artist, contributor
*ENVELOPES TO ALICE – Published by the Society of Scribes and The Typophiles, New York, 2021 – Artist, contributor
*SCRIPTA: The Magazine of the Philadelphia Calligraphy Society, Autumn 2020 – “Coping with COVID-19.” Artist, contributor
*SCRIPTA: The Magazine of the Philadelphia Calligraphy Society, Spring 2019 – “The Mystic Art of Writing.” Featured author/poet/calligrapher.
* NOTES FROM NEW YORK: The Newsletter of the Society of Scribes, Ltd., Fall 2013 – Bogle cork graphite drawing, contributing artist.
*WRITING AWAY THE DEMONS: Stories of Creative Coping Through Transformative Writing anthology – North Star Press, St. Cloud, MN – published May, 2009, The Woman Who Plowed Verses – Chapter 1, author.
* OFF THE CUFFS: An Anthology of Poetry Written By and About the Police, Soft Skull Press, January 2003 – Mining for Eureka, original poem, author.
* THE MUSELETTER, The National Association for Poetry Therapy, Washington, D.C. – 24-page newsletter for creative arts therapy professional organization, 13 issues beginning November 1997, managing editor, art director.
*RHYME & RITUAL: Reflections on Self, Family and Community, Poetry anthology sponsored by NCC/Family Services Bureau, Newark, NJ, July 2000 – In Praise of Silence, I Saw a Sofa Walking, Mining for Eureka, original poems, author.
* POET’S PROCESS: Favorite Original Poems of NAPT Members, Poetry anthology sponsored by the National Association for Poetry Therapy, April 2000 – Queen of the Funny Bone Follies, original poem, author.
* TASTE THIS: Guilty Food Pleasures of the Poets, Pudding House Press, November 1999 – Instant Mashed Potatoes, original poem, author.
* PARTICLES OF EXCHANGE – limited edition artist book of original poetry, 28 pages, 1999; Fox River Confetti covers, recycled paper text block, Japanese stab binding with cotton thread.
* THE UNDERSIDE OF LEAVES – open edition artist book of original poetry, 72 pages, May 1998; Canson MiTientes covers, recycled paper text block, Japanese stab binding with cotton thread and beadwork.
* DRY RED – limited edition artist book of original poetry, 80 pages, December 1996; Fabriano Roma covers, recycled paper text block, Japanese stab binding with cotton thread.
* The Anthologist, Spring 1998 – Gathering Medicine, original poem, author.
* Aha! Quarterly, Spring 1998 – A Book of Days, original poem, author.
* PUDDING 34, The International Journal of Applied Poetry, Autumn 1997 – From a Pay Phone Somewhere in L.A. 1991, Three Out of Four; original poems with accompanying narratives for poetry therapy issue, author.
* Mosaic, Volume xii – While Dusting, In Yellow, Inertia, Tool; original poems, author.
* Aha! Quarterly, Spring, 1997 – Inertia, original poems, author.
* Aha! Quarterly, Autumn, 1996 – Footnote, original poems, author.
* Letter Arts Review, Spring, 1996 – Letter Jesters, book review, author.
* Glen Epstein’s 1995 Calendar of Country Knowledge & Extraordinary Americana – Iowa City, IA, contributing artist.
* The Colorized Atkinson Plates, 1995, ST Publications, softcover book, contributing artist.
* CNN Cable Television News, Diplomatic License, January 1994 – guest artist interviewed for Calligraphia opening, United Nations lobby, New York City
* ARTimes, June 1991 – A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures, subject of artist profile by Marion Burdick.
* Time Off, Princeton Packet cover feature, January 1991 – Letter Perfect, subject of artist profile by Richard Shea.
* The Artful Letter – 1989, 1991, 1992 Engagement Calendars, Universe Books, New York City, contributing artist.
* Calligraphy Review, Winter, 1989 – The Housekeeping Story, article author.
* Calligraphy Review, Fall, 1987 – Hands Across the Millennia, article author.
* Metropolis, September 1989 – The Write Stuff, subject of artist profile by Gini Sikes.
* ALPHABET, Journal of the Friends of Calligraphy, August 1989 – Japonisme, article author.
* SOS, Newsletter of the Society of Scribes, Spring 1989 – Painting With Words, article author.
* Signs of the Times, October 1988 – Letterforum, article author.
* Signs of the Times, March 1988 – Colorize Atkinson, article contributing artist.
* Signs of the Times, January 1988 – cover design collaboration with Al Zanetti.
* KNPR, Nevada Public Radio – Henderson, NV. March, 1984 and April, 1985 – Women in Art – subject of artist profile by Theresa Rogers.
INSTRUCTION / FACILITATION / PRESENTATIONS
*Inkwings Writing Adventures: Art Appreciation as a Starting Point for Writing” – online summer writing camp for middle schoolers – creator/curator/facilitator – July 2023, 2024
*Inkwings Writing Adventures – weekly online writing workshops for insight, craft, and soul nourishment. – creator/curator/facilitator – March 2020 to April 2023.
*Inkwings Writing Adventures – Full-day writing workshop for insight, craft, and soul nourishment. – creator/curator/facilitator – Bandon, OR. July, 2019.
*Poetic Medicine: Writing Away the Demons – University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ – Creative Arts Healthcare Grand Rounds – poetry reading and workshop presentation – April, 2011
*Writing Away the Demons – National Association for Drama Therapy – 30th International Conference – White Plains, NY – poetry reading and workshop presentation – November, 2009
* Breaking Down The Walls: Reaching Youth, Families and Communities Through The Arts – Arts-in-Prevention Conference – Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ – poetry reading – October, 2009
*Cornelia’s Cafe – Greenwich Village, New York City – poetry reading – July 1, 2009
*Calligraphy Art Camp – Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ – Week-long art camp for children ages 11-14 – workshop creator and facilitator – July, 2009
*Soul Tracks: Creative Journaling to Reduce Stress – University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ – 6-week series for HIV-positive women- workshop creator and facilitator – May-June, 2009
*Lifestories: Memoir Writing and Journaling – Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, New Brunswick, NJ – workshop creator and facilitator – February, 2009
*Soul Tracks: Creative Journaling to Reduce Stress – New Jersey Women and Aids Network, East Orange, NJ – 6-week series for HIV positive women – workshop creator and facilitator – August-October, 2008
*Soul Tracks: Creative Journaling to Reduce Stress – New Jersey Women and AIDS Network Wellness Conference, Newark, NJ – University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ – workshop creator and facilitator – March, 2008
*Lifelines: Memoir Writing and Journaling – South Brunswick Senior Center, South Brunswick, NJ – workshop creator and facilitator – August – November, 2007
*Calligraphy: Introduction to the Italic Hand – Hunterdon County Recreation – workshop facilitator – October 2007
*Soul Tracks: Creative Journaling to Reduce Stress – Montclair State University – workshop creator and facilitator – January, 2006
*Soul Tracks: Reflective Writing to Reduce Stress – Breast Cancer Resource Center, Princeton, NJ – workshop creator and facilitator – December, 2006
* The Intimate Word: Transforming Lives Through Poetry Therapy – National Association for Poetry Therapy 4-day annual conference of language arts for healing and development, Costa Mesa, CA, May 2004, workshop creator and presenter
* Poetry Therapy Peer Group Retreat – Convent of St. Birgitta, Darien, CT – August 2003, – poetry reading and workshop creator/facilitator
*Voicing Our Visions – Year-long, grant-funded life story writing and calligraphy program, New Brunswick Senior Resource Center, New Brunswick, NJ, October 2001-May 2002, workshop creator and facilitator
* 2nd Annual New Brunswick Arts Festival – Spoken word/performance/visual poetry collaboration with Urban Renaissance hand drummers, High Hat Gallery, Monument Park Hotel, New Brunswick, NJ – April, 2000, poetry reading/performance to open the festival
* Chapter One Cafe – Highland Park, NJ. November, 1999 – The Peach Fishery Poetry Reading Series, featured poet
* National Association for Poetry Therapy Conference – Charleston, SC. May 1999 – poetry reading
* BREATHING THE LINE: Writing Your Way Through Personal Change – East Brunswick Professional Park, East Brunswick, NJ. March, 1999 – workshop creator and facilitator
* Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ – Nick Carbo’s Advanced Poetry class, March, 1999 – guest lecturer
* Chapter One Cafe – Highland Park, NJ. March, 1999 – poetry reading
* Salute to the Visionaries – Prevent Blindness of New Jersey awards banquet, Princeton, NJ. January, 1999 – guest artist, concrete poetry exhibition, calligraphy demonstration
* Cafe 52 – New Brunswick, NJ. October, 1998 – poetry reading
* Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival – Stanhope, NJ. September, 1998 – kinetic poetry performance
* Espresso Roma Coffeehouse – Las Vegas, NV. June, 1998 – poetry reading/performance
* Jersey Shore Calligraphers Guild – Fair Haven, NJ. May, 1998 – LETTERA ANTICA: The Roots and Wings of Carolingian – calligraphy workshop guest instructor
* Chapter One Cafe – Highland Park, NJ. February, 1998 – poetry reading
* Artake Salon – Red Bank, NJ. February, 1996 – kinetic poetry performance
* 123 Coffee House – Matawan, NJ. February, 1996 – kinetic poetry performance
* FACE – Artists’ Co-Operative, Ocala, FL. January, 1996 – kinetic and concrete poetry performance
* WIN – Writers’ Group, Ocala, FL. September, 1995 – poetry reading
* Mindscape – Writers’ Group, Ocala, FL. September, 1995-February, 1996 – founder/facilitator
* The Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, FL. Poetry Ocala , October, 1995 – poetry reading, kinetic poetry performance
* Suffolk Scribes Calligraphic Retreat – Muttontown, Long Island, NY. November, 1993 -Calligraphy for Insight, Healing & Self-Expression – weekend calligraphy retreat – resident artist/facilitator
* Mercer County Teen Arts Festival – Mercer County Community College, West Windsor, NJ. April, 1991, 1992. Calligraphy for Communication and Self-Expression, visiting artist.
* New Dorp High School – Staten Island, NY. May, 1991 – Calligraphy for Communication and Self-Expression, art department career series, visiting artist
* Kiwanis Club – East Brunswick NJ, 1989 – guest speaker, The Artful Letter slide lecture
* Jersey Shore Calligraphers Guild – Edison, NJ. 1988 – Calendar Design: Space and Time Beyond the Grid, – calligraphy workshop guest instructor
* Rotary Club – Stowe, VT, 1987 – The Artful Letter slide lecture
* Community College of Southern Nevada (formerly Clark County Community College) – Las Vegas, NV. Fall, 1983 – instructor, 8-week calligraphy course
* Charleston Heights Community School – Las Vegas, NV. 1981-1984 – instructor, 8-week calligraphy course, 2 semesters a year
COMMISSIONS
* 10-Year Employee Awards – Impact Unlimited, Dayton, NJ – handmade paper sculptures with gouache, ink, dechirage, shell gold. Annually since 1990.
* Alumnus of the Year Resolution – The Hun School, Princeton, NJ – illuminated manuscript: gouache and 23k gold on paper. Annually 1994-2007.
* Bon Anniversaire resolution – Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ – illuminated manuscript: gouache and 23kl gold on papeJ, 2003.
* Logo Design – National Association for Poetry Therapy Conference, Miami, FL, 2003.
* BirthWrites© conceptual illuminated manuscripts – gouache and 23k gold on paper – private patrons, since 1988.
* Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Resolutions – School of Communication, Information, and Library Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ – illuminated manuscript: gouache, ink, shell gold on paper. Annually 1992-1997.
* Resident Calligrapher – Borders Books & Music, East Brunswick, NJ, 1994-1999.
* Floor Design – Impact Unlimited, Dayton, NJ – Designed and handlettered text on exhibit display floor. First place exhibit-design award, New Orleans, 1993.
* Mission Statement – Champion Paper, Cincinnati, OH – illuminated manuscript: gouache, ink, and shell gold on paper, 1992.
* Mission Statement – Johnson & Johnson Medical, Inc., Arlington, TX – illuminated manuscript: gouache, ink, raised gold leaf on paper, 1992.
* Illuminated Manuscript for Private Office – James Burke, Chairman Emeritus, Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ – ink on paper, 1992.
* Oath of Hippocrates – Physician’s Office, Summit, NJ – illuminated manuscript: gouache, ink and shell gold on paper, 1992.
* Alumnus of the Year Resolution – New Jersey State Council for the Humanities, Trenton, NJ – illuminated manuscript: gouache, ink, shell gold on paper, 1991.
* Theater Scenic Design – Playhouse 22, East Brunswick, NJ – handlettered cloth backdrops and stage floor for production of Hair, 1991.
* Inauguration Invitations – Pace University, New York, NY – handlettered 600 envelope addresses for presidential inauguration, 1990.
* Menu Design – Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV – designed and handlettered four-page menu for Steve Wynn’s Orchid restaurant, 1984.
* Wine List – Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, NV – designed and handlettered 12-page wine list, 1983.
EXHIBITIONS
“Creativity On a Mission: The HOME Project” – series of exhibits by Philadelphia Calligraphers Society in partnership with Project HOME, a nonprofit organization that addresses the needs of homeless people with housing, personal care, educational opportunities, and job training. Medford Leas, NJ; Free Library of Philadelphia; Galleria Deptford, NJ; Main Line Art Center, Haverford PA – exhibiting and contributing artist – November 2022 – October 2023.
” Out of the Silence : A Calligraphic Exhibit Celebrating Diversity, Love and Understanding” – Urban Onion in the Hotel Olympian, Olympia, Washington; Department of Transportation Capital Campus, Olympia, Washington – contributing artist – February-June, 2013.
*Wind Words – Exhibition of calligraphed poetry in the trees, Cologna of the Bora celebration, contributing artist, Museum of the Bora, Trieste, Italy, September 2004
*Words of Peace – International exhibition of calligraphy and concrete poetry, contributing artist, San Francisco Public Library, July 2003
* Words of the Spirit, Spirit of the Word – Exhibition of calligraphy and concrete poetry, contributing artist – Donnell Library, New York City, 1998
* The Up Side of Screwing Up – National traveling slide lecture of calligraphy and concrete poetry, contributing artist, 1998
* Ancient Whispers/Modern Markings – two-person exhibition of concrete poetry, calligraphy, and lettering art – Highland Park Public Library, Highland Park, NJ, May 1997
* Calligraphia – Invitational international traveling group exhibition of lettering art, concrete poetry, and calligraphy co-sponsored by International Typeface Corporation, Artists Union of Moscow and UNESCO, toured 1991-1995 and exhibited in the lobby of the United Nations, NYC, January 1991.
* Kalligraphia VII – group exhibition, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA, June – August 1994, contributing artist
* Richard E. Beasley National Invitational Tribute Exhibition ’93 – Invitational international group exhibition of original calligraphy, Northern Arizona University Creative Arts Complex, Flagstaff, AZ, September 1993, contributing artist
* Alphabetics: East to West, An Exhibit of Multi-Cultural Lettering Art – invitational group exhibition of original calligraphy and lettering art, Pratt Institute, President’s Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, September, 1993, contributing artist
* Penmarks/Brushmarks – two-person exhibition of original calligraphy, concrete poetry, and lettering art, Mahoney Library, College of St. Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ, May 1993
* Spirited Eyes – Invitational group exhibition of multi-media fine art, St. John’s Church, Newark, NJ, November 1992. Awarded honorable mention, original concrete poetry
* Kalligraphia VI – group exhibition, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA, June – August 1991, contributing artist
* Lettering As Art – two-person exhibition, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, Manalapan, NJ, April 1991
* Lettering As Art – two-person exhibition, Playhouse 22 Lobby, East Brunswick, NJ, October – November 1990
* Quotation Marks – solo exhibition of original calligraphy, concrete poetry, and lettering art, Monmouth County Library, Howell, NJ, July 1990
* Love & Letters – group exhibition of original calligraphy, Gaithersburg City Hall, Gaithersburg, MD, February 1990, contributing artist
* Beyond The Alphabet – group exhibition of calligraphy, concrete poetry, and lettering art, Barnsdall Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA, Autumn 1988, contributing artist
* For Art’s Sake – group exhibition of multi-media fine art, Helen Day Arts Center, Stowe, VT, September 1987, contributing artist
* Dreams & Visions – group exhibition of original calligraphy, concrete poetry, and lettering art, Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV 1984, curator and contributing artist.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT AND AWARDS
* MEMBER: Society of Scribes, New York; Philadelphia Calligraphers Society; Chicago Calligraphy Collective; Portland Calligraphy Society, Portland OR; Friends of Calligraphy, San Francisco; Cyberscribes online calligraphy network since 1999.
* National Association for Poetry Therapy, elected board member 1999-2002
* National Association for Poetry Therapy – managing editor, The Museletter, a 24-page, tri-annual publication, November 1997-March 2002
* Distinguished Service Award – National Association for Poetry Therapy – May 2000
* Character & Context in Chinese Calligraphy – Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. One-day international symposium tracing calligraphy’s evolution and highlighting how calligraphy, as physical embodiment, is an external manifestation of powerful inner states, March 1999.
* Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival – Waterloo Village, Stanhope, NJ. 4-day festival of poetry readings, lectures, workshops, panels, and evening poetry performances, September 1998
* Poetry in the Public Sphere – A Conference on Contemporary Poetry, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. 4-day conference of lectures, plenary sessions, poetry readings, panel discussions, and evening poetry performances, April 1997.
* Trenton State College Writers Conference – one-day conference of workshops, panel discussions, and readings, April 1996; faculty
* Trenton State College Writers Conference – one-day conference of workshops, panel discussions, and readings, April 1994
* Winston Churchill Memorial Trust – private tutor to Visiting Fellow from Devon, England, Summer, 1992,
* The Alphabet as a Technology in the West – two-day symposium and series of historic, linguistic, semiotic, anthropologic, sociologic, classic, and archaeologic lectures on writing systems and the roots of Western civilization, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, April 1989