1945 Born, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1949 Chokes on butterscotch candy and nearly dies. Father, John William Florig inadvertently performs the Heimlich maneuver while rushing to the car.
1951 Enters first grade at Dilworth Public School and immediately becomes acclaimed artist in school.
1959 Enters Peabody High School and studies art with Esther Fineman under whose encouragement receives scholarship for Saturday drawing lessons. Family financial circumstances dictate that she choose a business and not a college preparatory track seemingly sealing her fate as a drone.
1961 Becomes co- art editor of the high school year book.
1963 Graduates in January from Peabody with strong desire to go to college but with little chance of admittance without required high school courses. Arranges to have interview with Lee Goldman head of the department of Art and Design at Carnegie Tech (currently Carnegie Mellon University). On basis of interview and portfolio, receives full scholarship to Carnegie for fall 1963. Puked on lawn of campus after interview because so much was at stake.
1964 Studies with active new artists from New York hired by Lee Goldman to enliven the school.
1965 Marries fellow student and chemical engineer Robert Clarke.
1966 R. Clarke graduates and accepts a job at Bechtel Corp in San Francisco with the encouragement of Linda who wants to leave Pittsburgh.
1967 Leaves San Francisco for New York in early February to live as an artist. Finds a group of like-minded thinkers in the lower Manhattan loft district that later became known as SOHO. Rents 3rd floor walk up raw space studio with sink in hallway on corner of Bleeker and Bowery. Reconnects with freshman Professor Dean Fleming who introduces her to Park Place Gallery the co-operative founded by Fleming and 7 other artists including Mark Di Suvero, Frosty Meyers, Tony Magar, Tamara Melchert, and funded by Patrick Lannon, Virginia Dwan, and Vera List among others. Gives up studio on Bowery and moves in with Dean Fleming in Broome Street loft. Is included in the last exhibition of Park Place Gallery and receives critical acclaim from fellow artists and downtown art world. Goes to Group 212 an artist run summer camp in upstate New York where she works on outdoor pieces in forest and on lake. Other artists include Meridith Monk, and Charles Ross. Goes to Colorado with Dean Fleming and Tony Magar to attempt to set up a rural branch of Park Place Gallery with studios in the Rocky Mountains.
1968 Divorces Robert Clarke and marries Dean Fleming. Finds 360 acres of land in Southern Colorado and donor funding as one of four founding members of a new artist’s community called Libre. Designs and builds 40’ geodesic dome as studio and home. First child Lia Fleming is born in adobe house on adjacent land. Moves into nearly completed dome to spend the first winter.
1969 Gives first public lectures during 20 stop lecture tour with 5 other members of Libre beginning at Alloy a conference created by Stewart Brand, Steve Durkee, and Steve Baer at the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, and including the National Institute of Mental Health in Wash DC, Washington U in St Louis, Cranbrook Academy, Columbia U, School of Visual Arts, the Corcoran, Suny Purchase, and Rochdale Free University in Toronto.
1970 Goes to Japan with Lia to reunite with Dean and travels for 5 months from north to south with one month stay on volcanic island during typhoon and volcanic eruption.
1971 Daughter Lia dies of drowning in Colorado three months shy of her 3rd birthday
1972 Goes to Ecuador where a distraught Dean Fleming has fled after daughter’s death to talk him into returning to Libre.
1973 Travels to Europe for first time and visits Di Suvero at shipyard residency in Chalon sur Soane, France. Returns to Colorado, reunites with Dean Fleming and goes to New York to spend the winter working. Has first one person show at Wilamaro Gallery in Denver. Rents loft on Chambers Street in raw building with Jene Highstein, Susanne Harris, and Richard Mock.
1974 Returns to Libre for birth of son Luz Fleming.
1975 Spends winter in New York staying at loft of singer John Hammond.
1976 Designs and builds park in Gardner, Colorado under a federal beautification grant.
1977 Continues dividing time between New York City and Libre in Colorado. Has the use of Mark di Suvero’s studio in the Fulton Fish Market. Follows sound of chainsaw through lower Manhattan to find lumberjacks removing large public xmas trees and convinces them to deliver the wood to her studio for sculptures.
1978 Returns to Libre and begins to build own house on the first day of 1978. Goes to California in fall and shares studio at Peter Volkous’ Macaroni Factory in Oakland with Dean Fleming. Luz attends Sister Clara Mohamed School.
1979 Spends summer in Colorado, has one person exhibition at University of Colorado at Boulder, is offered first teaching job at Mills College for one semester sabbatical replacement.
1980 Has exhibition at Hansen Fuller Goldeen Gallery in San Francisco. Is invited to participate in Sculpture 80 at Maryland Institute, Baltimore Md. Is asked by student helpers to return and teach at the school.
1981 Teaches at Maryland Institute in the spring semester, has one person exhibitions at Diane Brown in Wash. DC and Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY. and 4 group exhibitions.
1982 Included in 10 exhibitions of large scale sculpture in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Santa Fe, and Baltimore. Is invited to join ConStruct a cooperative organization of 8 sculptors with galleries in Chicago and Miami. Works in studio in Santa Fe, NM.
1983 Has one person exhibitions at Hudson river museum in Yonkers and ConStruct South Sculpture Park in Miami. Receives Athena Foundation Grant. Rents storefront studio in Brooklyn on Columbia St. near Union Street. While resting in back room of gallery on 57th St. sees video of old hero Buckminster Fuller talking about using ones skills and finding what needs to be done and doing it. Begins to look for more intellectual engagement.
1984 Divides time between Brooklyn studio and Libre in Colorado. Exhibits in 5 group exhibitions in New York, Santa Fe, Wash. DC, and California. Is invited to lecture at opening of exhibition Works in Bronze at Sonoma State University. Toilet in Brooklyn studio freezes in winter and California begins to look good. Lectures at San Francisco Art Institute and is invited back to teach in 1985.
1985 Teaches as visiting artist at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and builds “Wave Theory” exhibited at Minneapolis Institute of Art. Resumes work on park in Gardner Colorado. Spends fall in San Francisco teaching at the Art Institute and San Francisco State University. Builds “Grove” of wood and steel exhibited at Fort Mason.
1986 Spends the late spring painting in Brooklyn studio. Returns to MCAD to teach and build “A Journey: a Place” sponsored by and exhibited at General Mills. Works at the newly created Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY and exhibits work in inaugural show. Returns to San Francisco to teach at California College of the Arts. Receives grant from Art Matters.
1987 Decides to leave New York and divide time between San Francisco and Libre in Colorado. Meets painter Michael Moore. Rent warehouse together in the Mission District of San Francisco and begin many years of work.
1988 Has first one person exhibition of large outdoor work at Esprit Sculpture Garden in San Francisco and 4 group exhibitions. Son Luz receives full scholarship to The Urban School in San Francisco for high school. Travels to Europe in winter of 88-89. Sees Roman glass collection in Dusseldorf and begins large depictive drawings.
1989 San Francisco earthquake prompts desire to move archives of work away from San Francisco.
1990 Purchases and renovates small warehouse with Michael Moore in Walsenburg, Colorado near Libre to house archives of work. One person exhibition at University of California at Davis and 4 group exhibitions.
1991 Receives residency from la vie des Formes at a shipyard in Chalon sur Soane, France for 3 months. Begins to work mainly in steel from shipyard scraps creating “Some Models for the Universe”. Sees Caesar’s stone bath being uncovered in France and is haunted by its oculus shape which begins to appear in sculpture. Has one person exhibitions at Rena Bransten Gallery and SF State University in San Francisco. Installs “Vessel” at Andre Emmerich’s sculpture park Top Gallant, Pawling, NY.
1992 Luz graduates from Urban and enters Bennington College in Vermont. Named Associate Dean of 3D studies and Associate Professor of Sculpture at CCAC.
1993 Receives Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and Distinguished Faculty Exhibition award from CCA. Exhibits at Katonah Art Museum “Women in Wood”.
1994 Receives Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation grant. Promoted to Full Professor at CCAC.
1995 One person exhibitions at Oakland Museum Sculpture Court, Oakland, CA, and Refusalon Gallery, San Francisco. Included in group exhibition at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY. Purchases 160 acres in northern Nevada on Smoke Creek Desert with Michael Moore and they begin to reclaim the overgrazed land and create wildlife preserve. Land named Wall Spring on maps from 1850’s.
1996 Marries Michael Moore at Wall Spring in January. Exhibits at 10th Anniversary exhibition at Socrates Sculpture Park. Luz graduates from Bennington College and moves to New York.
1997 Invited to join Board of International Sculpture Center. Exhibits “Transformer” at Navy Pier, Chicago.
1998 “Space Lace” acquired by Stanford University. Tangible Mind, an exhibition of 6 large works installed around capital building in Santa Fe, NM.
1999 One person exhibition at Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Gallisteo, NM. Exhibits “Arcangela” at Chicago Navy Pier.
2000 Installs 1 year long exhibition “Perishable Industry” at Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO. Purchases bar/restaurant in Benicia, CA and converts to studios and living space.
2001 Installs “Phosphene” one person exhibition at Nevada Art Museum in Reno and “Tracery” at the Wood Street Gallery in Chicago.
2002 Exhibits 3 large outdoor works in “Sculpture on the Grounds” at Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Galisteo, NM. Installs “The Conjuror’s Cloak” and “The Conjuror’s Chart” a commissioned permanent installation at Neiman Marcus Department Store, San Francisco, CA.
2003 One person exhibition “Parallel Universe” at Linda Durham Contemporary Art, New York, NY. and “Protracted Meditations, Graphite Drawings” at Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
2004 One person exhibition “Dis Integrated Ingredients” at Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Galisteo, NM.
2005 One person exhibitions “Ex-Halations”, Lemmons Contemporary, New York, NY. and “Brainstorm” at Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA. Work transforms as straight lines turn to curves and industrial forms morph to lace. Begins to work more extensively with laser cut panels cut from scanned drawings. .
2006 Installs “Dona Benicia’s Mantilla (Envelops the General’s Chair)” a commissioned permanent work at Harbor Walk in Benicia, CA. and a one person exhibition “Nebula/Ether/Wisp” at Brian Gross, San Francisco, CA
2007 Begins year with work in two group exhibitions: “Marks, Scratches, Doodles” in Palos Verdes, CA and “Visual Alchemy”, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA. Embarks on full year sabbatical from teaching in May but her dreams of sitting on a rock in the forest are quickly dashed by multiple projects including: installation of “Ex-Halations” at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, installation of solo exhibition “Refugium: Works from 1980 to 2007,” Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA. August 30 through October 21 accompanied by a catalogue; “Celebrating CCA at 100”, Brian Gross, San Francisco, CA., “Artists of Invention, A Century of CCA”, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA, October 13, 2007 through March 16, 2008, Catalogue. Receives grant from the Peter S. Reed Foundation, NY.
Installs commissioned wall sculpture at the Westin Monache, Mammoth Lakes, Ca. in the winter of 2007.
2008 Builds “Reverie” for the International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE. in winter and spring of 2008 spending a week in January in an unheated, un-insulated warehouse in minus 6 degree temperatures with 3 union welders. It is her largest sculpture to date measuring 11 feet high, 26 feet long, and 20 feet wide.
Solo exhibition at Lemmons Contemporary in Tribeca, New York titled “Peripheral Vision” where she explores her past as a counterpoint to the galactic forms she creates. Includes model of the two geodesic domes she built at Libre 40 years before as well as books and drawings referring to that era. Exhibits first chrome wall sculpture. She is featured in an article in Sculpture Magazine, November issue. Installs “Refugium” at the University of Wyoming in Laramie for “Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational.”
2009 Begins working in earnest toward a comprehensive exhibition of over 30 years of maquettes from 1978 to the present. Attends College Art Association conference including a panel on the counterculture of the 60’s along with a presentation on Libre. Finds that numerous young scholars are becoming curious about those magical times. Takes a break from exhibitions to focus on drawings and renewing ideas. Builds numerous new small cut paper works and small scale laser cut plywood pieces. Continues to make chrome wall sculptures in editions. Renews relationship with Robischon Gallery in Denver. Co. where she showed until the mid 1980’s. Builds new workshop at Libre and has mini symposium on how to frame a building with 3 bright, strong artists, writers, curators from NY and San Francisco.
2010 Solo exhibition at Robischon Gallery in Denver titled “Lingering” comprised of chrome wall sculptures and large openwork structures creating shadows and reflections that fill the spaces in between. Robischon features her work in their booth at the Aspen Art Fair. Exhibits at The Museum of Friends in Walsenburg, Co. in show titled “Linda Fleming: Wood Sculptures from 1988 to 1992”. Musician son Luz marries sculptor Christine Howard Sandoval. They bring their friends from their hometown of Brooklyn, NY. as well as San Francisco, Paris, London, Africa, and New Mexico up to the Rocky Mountains to witness the ceremony which took place at Libre just yards from where Luz was born.
2011 Experiments with two layers of color on powder coated sculptures to allow an interior color and exterior color that requires making double layers for each panel. Has solo exhibition at Brian Gross Fine Art in San Francisco in March and April. First duo toned sculpture Storm is shown along with new editions of chrome wall sculptures. Installs Storm in Bloomfield Hills, MI in a beautiful setting that greatly enhances the light, shadow, and color as the sun moves throughout the day. Works with Nevada Museum of Art to select the pieces for an extensive exhibition of maquettes and produce a book of the exhibition. Flies to Albuquerque, NM for a panel discussion of Women in the Counterculture at 516 Fine Arts as well as radio interview at KUNM. An adventuresome semi truck driver delivers Necklace, 2000 from Laumeier Sculpture Park in St Louis where it was on loan for 10 years. Reassembled Necklace beside one of the ponds at Wall Spring, the oasis in the Nevada desert, with the help of cowboys with cranes. Installs 39 maquettes at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, NV on shelves built in front of glass windows overlooking rooftop sculpture garden where Gray Matter is installed. From certain points of view, Gray Matter looks as if it is a maquette sitting on the shelf along with the others. Exhibition is titled Modeling the Universe which is also the title of the book which was published in late July. Spends summer at Libre and is interviewed once again for an upcoming video about those amazing years. Begins work on upcoming drawing exhibitions. Was granted one semester sabbatical for fall 2011 and works and reads and walks.
2012 “Modeling the Universe” travels from Reno to the University of Wyoming Art Museum in Laramie Wyoming where a video interview is made and posted online. The show also travels to Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, Missouri. Fleming excavates 45 years of drawings for an exhibition at the Oats Park Arts Center in Fallon, Nevada titled Drawn to/ Drawn From. Begins work on “Making Places”, first collaborative exhibition with Michael Moore, to be shown in the 6,000 sq foot Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2013. Works on two videos for installations in the show, one video combining her three studios and locations into one morphing space and the other celebrates a walk taken every morning for the past 45 years up Dry Creek at Libre in Colorado. Collaborates with son Luz Fleming on the sound for both videos who also edits the audio work “All my Studios” in which Fleming describes the 26 studios she has inhabited and hints at the history of the art world over time.
2013 Continues to work on “Making Places” full force, designing the space with Michael, completing videos and audio pieces, installing and then opening this elaborate life-based extravaganza of work and ephemera in July.
2014 Is awarded commission to build wall sculpture for Michigan State University. In October re-unites with 3 friends from the early commune days along with Michael and another spouse for an archeological cruise of the Turkish Lycian coast accompanied by an archeologist and Turkish guide. Visits and photographs numerous Greek and Roman ruins as well as extraordinary mosques in Istanbul filled with ceramic tiles. These works have long been inspirations for Fleming’s sculptures. With Michael begins construction on 2000 sq foot building in Wall Spring, Nevada to be used as a repository for their works. On December 1 grandson Izel is born in Brooklyn New York to son Luz Fleming and daughter-in-law Christine H. Sandoval.
2015 “Northern Lights”, the wall sculpture commission for Michigan State University is completed and installed in May. The Nevada repository is completed in early summer along with a redesigned solar electric system. First truckload of art works moved from Colorado storage into the building in early September. This begins to transform the Colorado building from indiscernible density into sufficient space for exhibitions of the remaining. Receives a commission to build an outdoor sculpture for the Oakland Museum collection to be installed in late April 2016.