Featured: Lindy Burnett

Portfolio Center illustration instructor and alum Lindy Burnett lives in beautiful, historic Madison, Georgia, in a big barn on twenty-seven acres that she says will someday be an artists’ retreat—a place where both fledgling and accomplished artists can come to draw and paint, read and write, talk and listen.

Because she has seen and experienced so much of the world, it’s especially interesting that she chose to settle in what’s called “The Town Sherman Refused to Burn�—to totally embrace the South, to become a regional artist. One thing she learned, though, from all of her travels, is that the South is one of the few places left that still has edges and lore, the things that most inspire her.

Lindy was raised in Europe, the oldest of four daughters of a pacifist army chaplain and his pacifict, scholarly wife. They were immersed in the hippie movement, which was especially strong in Germany and Czechoslovakia, a movement that she characterizes as enlightening, highly intelligent, and environmentally progressive.

The family lived mostly in Bavaria but traveled to every imaginable museum, pitching tents to camp in those cities. Thus began her extensive art education, one undiluted (unpolluted?) by television or mass media. While teens in the U.S. were glued to American Bandstand, Lindy was taking in the Great Masters. She laughs when she recalls returning to the States at 19 and being exposed to Motown for the first time. She’d never even heard of Diana Ross.

Back in the U.S., Lindy attended all-girl, Methodist, Weslyan College, where she suffered the culture shock of being in provincial Macon, Georgia, surrounded by Farrah Fawcett hairdos. (She didn’t even know who Farrah Fawcett was.) Being something of an oddball—what with her foreign upbringing, not to mention the crew cut, she took further refuge in art and was fortunate to have had excellent teachers.

She graduated with a BFA in 1976. After college, she married her childhood sweetheart, who was as adventurous and idealistic as she was. Fresh out of college and penniless, the couple drove the 4500 miles to Alaska in a beat-up old Vega, which she claims was literally held together with duct tape by the time they abandoned it at the dump in Anchorage. They taught art in an orphanage for a year and felt abundantly rich in their poverty.

When the year was over, they moved back to Georgia, where her husband attended seminary. Lindy continued to paint and the couple had two sons. When she was 31, her artist friends Bill Mayer and Gary Weiss convinced her to return to school, this time to Portfolio Center. Too broke to afford a sitter, she dragged her small boys to class, where they slept on mats at her feet. Despite the obstacles that came with being a “non-traditional� student, she managed to graduate with “Best Book.�

After PC, Lindy’s life turned upside down. She hired an agent, Kiki Pollard (who still represents her), and immediately went from broke to six figures. The family moved to Buckhead to be in the center of Atlanta’s art world. Unfortunately, as unions made young so often do, the marriage eventually dissolved, but she and her ex remained friends.

Lindy found herself alone, raising her two boys, yet having a fabulous life, filled with parties, travel, and awards. Still, success and money didn’t change who she is at the core; she’s managed to hold onto her simple values, her love and respect for the environment, and her generous spirit. In fact, she attributes much of her success to the friendships she establishes and nurtures with her clients.

In the span of her career, she has illustrated campaigns for such notable companies as Villeroy & Boch, Quaker Oats, Coors, Delta, Kelloggs, and Nestles. What she really loves, though, is illustrating children’s books, because she feels that there’s a desperate need for books that respect children’s intelligence and desire to learn about the world.

She’s pretty strong in her opinion that the majority of children’s books are phony, manifestations of the writers’ obsessions with their own cleverness. Most of the books she illustrates, on the other hand, teach kids about natural life, feeding their innate curiosity. You can find her books in your local library or bookstore: The Book of Wizard Craft, The Book of Wizard Magic, I Live Here, The Sunset Switch, and, soon to be released, The Seaside Switch.