Princeton Artist Linda Zacks Celebrates Nature with Visual Journal

By Laurie Pellichero | Art by Linda Zacks

“The world is a treasure hunt, and a box of 64 crayons is like a 24-carat diamond.”

—Linda Zacks

The moment you enter the Princeton home of Linda Zacks, you are surrounded by brightly colored art, eclectic treasures, and creative energy.

Spreads from “Dear Tree, I Love You.”

A contemporary artist, author, and award-winning art director, Zacks is a graduate of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her visual storytelling style — part photography, part paint, and part poetry — leads to the creation of mixed media works that have been featured in exhibitions and art installations worldwide, including “The Greatest City on Earth” public art project in lower Manhattan; the Paris Murals Collaboration in Gare Montparnasse Station, Paris; the Sony Style flagship store in New York City; and the INQ Mobile booth at MWC in Barcelona.

A lifelong love affair with words and letters makes its way into every painting and handmade book she creates, some of which have been featured at New York’s MoMA Design Store and the International Center of Photography Museum Shop. Her numerous art and brand commissions include large works for One Vanderbilt in New York City and projects for Broadway, Sony, Adobe, Viacom, the band Sneaker Pimps, Target, and the Sundance Film Festival, among others.

Her recent book, Dear Tree, I Love You — A Visual Journal About Trees, celebrates area trees that she photographed on her travels around town — including those on the Greenway Meadows Poetry Trail, at the Institute for Advanced Study, and in Marquand Park — and then collaged with her own singular style.

“The original physical book is filled with real photos collaged into a blank journal, so it is bursting at the seams with all of the paper and paint packed into it,” says Zacks.

“My husband and I moved to Princeton in 2015 from Williamsburg, Brooklyn,” she says, “and from the moment we came to the Garden State, I have been bowled over by nature and especially the beauty of the trees and the stories of the seasons. I love seeing these tree giants every day and how they make me feel with their many outfits, stances, and expressions.”

Dear Tree, I Love You is available on amazon.com. Visit lindazacks.com and follow @lindazacksart to watch her process and works in progress.

(Photo courtesy of Linda Zacks)