Linwood K. (Lin) Berry
lin@semillero.org
Lin was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1951. He comes from an artistic family. His great grandfather Linwood Berry was a maker of figureheads for sailing ships in the late 19th Century. His son, Lin’s grandfather, was the accomplished watercolorist Bert Berry. Lin’s father Ken was a jazz musician (tenor sax) and his uncle Bert Berry Jr. is a nationally recognized master builder of dulcimers and other musical instruments.
Lin’s parents moved several times in his youth and he lived at different times on both the East and West coast. He left home the day after his high school graduation at age 17 and for a time he was the prototypical 1960’s hippie. He worked at jobs as diverse as in a lumber camp in the Sierra Nevada of California, to on a commercial fishing boat on the Outer Banks of NC and Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. Eventually he gravitated to construction and became a master electrician. Uncle Sam had other plans for his life so he took time off to fulfill his military obligation.
At age 21 he settled in NC and built a house. The “back to the land” movement was popular at that time and Lin and later with his wife Nancy grew most of their own food and “lived off the land.” He also started an electrical construction business.
Two events around that time would change his life. He came to faith in Christ. He also began to paint seriously.
Lin had been painting since he was a teenager, often with his grandfather in the latter’s studio. Now in his twenties Lin began to show his paintings in various venues in NC including the NC Wildlife Federation’s annual show.
Simultaneously, a growing desire to serve the Lord led Lin and Nancy to sell out their business and move to SC. Lin served on the staff of a church and studied at Columbia International University graduating magna cum laude with a BA in Intercultural Studies and Theology. They moved to London, England and did post-graduate studies at the Centre for International Christian Ministries. After completion they moved to Madrid, Spain and began to pioneer an evangelical church.
That work grew and they started other churches throughout Spain. In 1993 they started the Mustard Seed Institute to train pastors and church leaders to incarnate the message of Christ in post-modern and “post-Christian” Europe. Graduates from the MSI went on to start a number of churches.
One of these was undergoing a great financial need. Lin, who had continued to paint, was thinking about how they might help their friend in his personal financial crisis. Sensing the answer to be, “what do you have in your hand?” He realized he was holding a paintbrush. He made a painting that he reproduced into 300 limited edition prints. When he had sold these, they were able to provide a year’s salary for their young pastor friend.
This also provoked Lin to paint more and to pursue formal training in art. He studied in Paris with Jean Pierre Merat and the French Society of Pastel Artists, joined the Circulo de Bellas Artes de Madrid and took several workshops on his trips to the USA.
In 2002 he set up a studio in the historic heart of Toledo, Spain and later founded the Síntesis Art Gallery and Cultural Center.
He began to receive recognition for his unique approach to painting and good reviews in the Spanish art press. Lin’s work can be found in private and corporate collections in Europe, the USA, South America and China.
Lin is a sought after speaker and workshop teacher. He has given workshops in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, France, England, Malta, Hungary and the United States. He often speaks on theology, leadership, art technique and the “art of living”.
He is currently working on a book based on his latest workshops titled, “Jazz Technique for Visual Artists”.
Lin and his wife of 39 years Nancy have 2 adult children and 3 grandchildren. They have lived in Spain for nearly 27 years. In recent years they are trying to spend more time in the USA at their home and second studio on the Outer Banks of NC.
Spanish TV recently interviewed Lin. To see the interview click the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =CcZO_LAWOvg.
Recent and Upcoming Exhibitions and Workshops:
July 2013: Burning Bush II, Dallas, Texas (pending confirmation)
July 2013: Jazz Technique for Visual Artists; (workshop) Debrecen, Hungary
June 2013: Urban Sketchbook; Sintesis Gallery; Toledo, Spain
May 2013: Jam Session Visual, CReA Gallery, Madrid, Spain
February 2013: Fundamentals of Visual Expression, (workshop)Madrid, Spain
December 2012: Lead with the Heart; Treffpunkt Gallery, Berlin, Germany
December 2012: Jazz Technique for Visual Artists, (workshop) Berlin, Germany
November 2012: Jazz Technique for visual Artists, (workshop) Madrid, Spain
September 2012: Jazz Technique for Prophetic Painting, (workshop)Franklin Springs, Georgia
July 2012: Art with a Mission, Franklin Springs, Georgia
July 2012:Jazz Technique for Prophetic Painting, (workshop) Debrecen, Hungary
July 2012: Entre Amigos, CReA Gallery, Madrid, Spain
March 2012: Minature show; Seaside Gallery, Kill Devil Hills, NC
July 2011: Jazz Technique for Prophetic Painting, (workshop) Debrecen, Hungary
May 2011: 59 Laps Around the Sun, Síntesis Gallery, Toledo, Spain
May 2011: The Art of Living: vision; (workshop) CLN; Cergy-Pontoise; (Paris) France.
November 2009: Unlocking Creativity, (workshop), Debrecen, Hungary
October 2009: Logos Collective Show, Lisbon, Portugal
September 2009: Beauty for Ashes, Sintesis Gallery, Toledo, Spain
July 2009: Art Room show, Greensboro, NC
June 2009: Beauty for Ashes, Front Porch Café and Gallery, Manteo, NC
April-May 2008: Homage-The Face of Genius, Sintesis Gallery, Toledo, Spain.
February-March 2008: A Dissonant Society, Sintesis Gallery, Toledo, Spain.
July 2007: A Dissonant Landscape, Sintesis Gallery, Toledo, Spain.
February 2007: Frank Stick Memorial Show, Ghost Fleet Gallery, Nags Head, NC.
May 2006: Molly Fearing Show, OBX Art League, Manteo, NC
April 2006: Cooperative Show, Red Rabbit Gallery, Elizabeth City, NC.
October 2005: Cooperative Show, Rincón del Arte, Granada, Spain.
May 2005: Cooperative Show, Sintesis Gallery, Toledo.
