An Interview With Linda Lighton

At the end of July, Ericka and I had the pleasure of meeting with Linda Lighton, a Kansas City-based artist and activist. As we entered the small door of her studio and went up the stairs, I had a feeling we were in for a surprise. At the top step, we were met with bright ceramic art, all twisted and sculpted into unique forms, each with its own story to tell, hinted at by their many glazes and finishes. Linda took us on a tour of her pieces, ranging from blossoming flowers with distinctly phallic qualities, to intricately curated sculptures protesting firearms. What surprised me most was the level of texture and detail in each piece. As Linda spoke about her work, I quietly listened and observed, almost feeling invited to run my fingers along the glossy and matte surfaces, admiring their specific colors and shades.

To learn more about Linda’s work, visit her website here: https://www.lindalighton.com

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[Interview: August 26, 2025]

Amanda: I wanted to start off by asking what your studio practice looks like from day to day, or what that structure looks like in general.

Linda: I'm structured. I come up here just about every morning. I spend a good part of the day until I'm too tired.

Ericka: Do you know what piece you want to start with when you walk in? Do you say, like, “today is the day that I'm continuing this particular piece or...”

Linda: Well, sometimes I'm working on 3 or 4 pieces. I mean, after putting together this show, then what? After Covid, then what? Yeah. Do you want to complain, or do you want to look on the brighter side?

Ericka: [Laughing] Both!

Linda: Oh, God. It was a lot to go through all that. Yeah. I'm working on this bird teapot, and I couldn't find any bird teapots that I'd made so long ago. I'm so busy with this book and organizing this show. I can't get a lot done. I started as a painter because that's all I knew. My parents wouldn't let me go to art school. Yeah. I had a meeting with the [art school] president, and he told me, honey, you're just going to get married. You're never going to do art. That was here in Kansas City, in 1966. I just wanted to do art. And I had a love for it. My grandmother had a lot of art. We had a lot of art in our house, and I just wanted to do that. But my parents didn't want me hanging out with those hippies. They wanted me to marry a nice Jewish boy and behave. That didn't work.

Ericka: (Looking around the beautiful gallery) - Not at all.

Linda: So I have that bird piece I'm working on, and I'm just gluing a piece back there that came

undone. I’m just working on some small things right now.

Amanda: That's great!

Ericka: Yeah. Do you usually have ideas in your head of, “I know I want to work on pins and small pieces,” or do you get commissions to do specific projects?

Linda: Yeah, I love commissions. I've sold quite a few lights recently.

Ericka: That’s exciting!

Linda: Yeah. You help me.

Ericka: Good. I’m glad we get to work together!

Linda: That was good. Yeah, I like solving problems. It’s really cerebral. I am hyperactive, so when you're doing ceramics, you’re just running around doing stuff all day, solving problems, figuring out the chemistry, all this stuff. And I think that works for me.

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Amanda: Your work is very centered around feminism and nature. Was there a pivotal moment during your career that made you really want to focus on those topics?

Linda: Well, I think it's important for the artist to reflect what's going on around them.

Amanda: Absolutely.

Linda: And so that you can communicate. You know, I'm not a very good speaker. So (my art is) what I think I'm trying to communicate with people. My folks were in the fashion industry. So, it's really easy for me. For my teapots, I made every kind of farmer, businessmen, and just about everyone, even horseback riders with their outfits all put together into teapots! So, I can see how fashion can define a person.

Ericka: It's how you present yourself. Certainly, makes sense.

Amanda: Can we talk about your inspiration for your Luminous collection? All these pieces of flowers that come together to make your one-of-a- kind stunning light fixtures

Linda: When I was living on the Colville Indian Reservation, the ladies would come and gather plants on our property. At the time I was these young local kids. They did not know how to read, but they knew every plant and whether it was food or medicine. And it was really interesting for me.

Amanda: For sure. Like that type of holistic living, huh?

Linda: Yeah, and also when you think of these things blooming, you think of the individual parts coming together as a whole. And I want to think of us coming together as a whole.

Ericka: parts of us all coming together. It's a great metaphor?

Linda: Yeah.

Amanda: What does your process from concept to end look like? Or how do you personally determine when you feel like a piece is finished, or like when you're satisfied with it?

Linda: I'm usually too exhausted to go any further. It's like, okay, enough already. I'm not really a minimalist. Sometimes I draw some pictures, mostly to figure out the color schemes. I have synesthesia, so I can taste or smell colors. Everybody who has synesthesia is different. Sometimes I make scents for my shows. Do you know what Petrichor is? It smells like the salt of the ocean and the wet rain on rocks and seaweed.

Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting how you mentioned synesthesia because when I listen to music, I start to see colors and shades.

Linda: Yeah, yeah.

Amanda: I was really interested in the way that you mentioned how you're able to smell color. What role does sensory experience play in your decision-making?

Linda: That's a good question. I'll read you something. I'd done this show with flowers called ‘Sensuality Is Its Own Reward’, so that I could quit talking about these figures that were all about misery and trying to get over the misery of my father.

Linda: (Reading an excerpt from a lecture she had given back in 2020) - “I've lived in the world, and I feel the need to laugh and reveal some of the vulgarity in life. I want to make my art gorgeous and well-crafted. So, sensuality is its own reward. I need to live in the world and feel the need to laugh and reveal some of the vulgarity in life. I know that sex is a driving force and must be acknowledged as such. So, my focus has been on desire.

Linda: I can just say desire, and smell that right now. Can you?

Ericka: (Laughing) - maybe if I try really hard.

Linda: (Continuing to read) - How would I visualize desire? It's the life force. A dangerous beauty entailing seduction, sexual prowess, and moaning hormones. I want to celebrate the spirit of life, the work two-stepping towards figuration, beckoning the viewer to come closer. Come hither. Oh my God. Am I gone over the line? Is this baroque-a-go-go?

Ericka: I'm into it.

Linda: I've tried to make my work smell of oysters, seaweed, the salty, metallic, taste of blood and rusted iron. So, I have sensations of softness, creaminess, and dryness just from the colors. Color has great meaning for me. I must shovel to my core to include female imagery to be honest and sincere. I'm trying to be earnest and without cynicism. I want my works to tell their story cogently and clearly, which can only be done by picking the right color and layering it into existence. The depth of a plum red, the languid pulsing of purple, the lustful heat and dank smell, smell of moldering red, pulsing blood and muscle underneath, the satin quilted, lofted softness of a creamy peach with just a bit of darkness.

Ericka: These descriptions are so captivating. Do you write those for the colors? I love your color descriptions. They're just so inviting and luscious and, like, gooey.

Linda: Yeah, I sit around and do some drawings. Yeah.

Ericka: And the words just come to you.

Linda: Well, you have to present yourself. I've had to give a lecture in front of a few thousand people, and you want to think about what you're saying.

Ericka: Thank you for sharing it.

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On Linda’s piece titled “Luminosity”:

Linda: Here's the text about the lights. Or one of them. I have so many on each one.

Linda: (Reading part of her lecture) - “I have had the privilege of focusing on luminosity. Luminosity is light from within. I believe it's the perfect antidote to this environment where we are consumed with recession and the heaviness of war. It's the opportunity to explore the light within each of us. I'm imagining this light as a moment without aggression. It emanates calmness and a quiet goodness. Not hot, but the last moment before sleep or death. These clay fuchsias are a limpid kind of flower. They hang in the air, facing downward, ready to kiss the earth. They appear ready to drop their petals, blown out at the end of their time. This is a conversation about a tipping point in life, not birth or sex or middle age. It's about the fragility of life. The beginning of the last chapter. This is a world that needs to be recognized, a conversation that needs to ensue. I hope the viewing will transport the audience to a contemplative and dreamy place to escape the mundane and consider the ethereal and the ephemeral.”

Amanda: You mentioned a contemplative, dreamy place to escape the mundane and to consider the ethereal and ephemeral. What does that place look like for you personally?

Linda: It's where my friend died. My friend, who used to come up here and help me name everything. Absolutely. I've been working on these things, and I'm thinking about sex and having orgasms. And how do you have more? Can you get more? And then what happens? You're dead, and you're in the vapors. The energy still lasts. Energy never goes away. Death is about the absence of color, your light. So, I started thinking about those kinds of thoughts.

Ericka: Thank you so much for your time!

Amanda: Yes, thank you for taking us through your studio!