SHOW AND TELL
“the information is expressed directly with the words Ms. Litteral uses but even more powerfully in the emotions expressed in her art.”
Robert L. Bray, PhD., LCSW
Calle Lily, 16” x 24”, oil on canvas
Litteral’s book is by far the best healing from trauma book I’ve ever read.”
LEAH YONKERS
It was like my hands knew the clay already, somehow. I had never had an art class before in my life, and I was just doing stuff I had no idea I had the capacity for. It was very magical.
LINDA LITTERAL
“WHERE DO I HIDE? THE BLACKNESS WITHIN IS A PLACE OF PEACE, SERENTIY, AND TERROR. WHEN I HAD TO ESCAPE, THE DOORS WOULD OPEN AND ENVELOPE ME WITH SAFE-NESS.”
If I were threatened and abused, I could run and hide in the darkness of my mind. Nothing could touch me; nothing could hurt me. The blackness was safe, a secure place that never changed. The abuse could not reach me there.
Self Portrait #9: oil on canvas, 24” x 24”, 2018
HER ROAD TO THE BETTER PLACE SHE’S IN NOW WAS BUILT ON CLAY AND WOOD; OIL AND ACRYLICS; AND PEN, PENCIL AND PAPER.
KARLA PETERSON, SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
Chapter 8 excerpt from page 59
The armor series is about trust: how I trusted my psychological constructs to protect me. How the process on between putting this perceived armor was a place that was safe within the abuse... the woods felt like a safe place. The leaves represent that feeling I had when walking through the woods, a beautiful place separate from the abuse.
Chapter 7 excerpt from pages 51 and 52
It was a difficult project in that I had to look at my face over and over....they convey the guilt by hiding what is within. The glaze itself is like another mask, you cannot see the emotions or thoughts behind them. It is hiding what happened on one side and trying to expose it on the other.
Chapter 5 pg 38
The glass domes denote an important thing. The glass gives the feelings a sense of reverence in that they were very important when they were happening during my childhood...as I look back it is important to honor that little girl and the feelings she had.
From clockwise:
Faces (detail), slip-cast faces, underglaze images, 72” x 90” x 1”, 2022
Armor: Protection Series #8, porcelain, 12” x 14” x 23”, 2015
Armor: Protections Series #6, porcelain, 13” x 15” x 24”, 2005
Remembrance #1, blown glass domes, paper, graphite, porcelain, 5” diameter, 5” height, 2021