Catching up with artist Linda Ikeda

Courtesy photo Linda Ikeda is pictured receiving her ribbon for Best in Show at the recent Catalina Festival of Art.

Recent ‘Best in Show’ winner at Catalina Festival of Art

By Ted Apodaca

It was a chance encounter that eventually led to Linda Ikeda’s “Best in Show” win at the recent Catalina Island Festival of Art. Ikeda, a frequent visitor to the Island, is a Long Beach based artist, photographer and former nurse. The Islander recently caught up with Linda to find out more about her and her work.

The winning art piece combines photography and painting, two of the many mediums with which Linda likes to work. She was a graphic designer and commercial photographer early in her career. Now retired, she focuses more on her creative art works. It is what she calls the third act of her life, having graduated college with a nursing degree and working in that field in her 20s.

In terms of the award winning piece at this year’s festival, it was actually a piece she shot in 2010. She was swimming regularly at a Long Beach pool for exercise. The woman in the piece was also there regularly. Linda said she was a beautiful woman, whom she found out was swimming to try and lose some weight.

Linda thought she’d make a good photography model and convinced her to let her take some photos. Linda had worked in underwater photography during her commercial work. She was using film, so she wouldn’t know what she had until it was developed.

“I was amazed at how it turned out, I wasn’t expecting much out of it,” Linda said.

The pool was indoor, but had a large skylight with plenty of light pouring onto the water, so she opted not to use a flash. The photo itself was published in a photography magazine at the time, she said. Now, combined with painting, it has also been recognized by the Catalina Art Association.

Linda lives in Long Beach with her husband, James Hickey, and their cat, Pickle. They visit Catalina about five times a year. Sometimes James will sail his boat over, but Linda gets seasick on sail boats. She can handle the ferry boats, so she meets him on the island.

“We love Catalina,” she said.