My name is Linda Eva Kourkoulis and I am an artist, educator, and researcher, born in New York City. I am 2nd generation on my father’s side and 3rd generation on my mother’s. After graduating with a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a move that broadened my view of the world beyond New York City, gave me opportunities to learn about Native American practices and culture, and become part of the arts community there. Afterward, I lived in Greece where I continued to exhibit my work, ran my own gallery, and maintained our olive farm. I came to understand that being part of a community encompasses more than belonging, it means sharing, being of service and thinking of the collective good above one’s own.
Returning to the United States, I taught art in the New York City Public Schools for many years at an elementary school in the Bronx with a program for children with autism. I quickly embraced the educational practices developed by special education educators as the most democratic way to provide equitable access to learning for all. With NYC Office of Arts and Special Projects I also co-taught workshops for teachers about integrating the use of assessment in their practice. I earned my MA with initial certification, an EdM and EdD in Art and Art Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Currently, I am a student in the Master of Social Justice Program at Union Theological Seminary which has deepened my perspective and helped develop my voice as an activist.
I am especially interested in environmental and social ethics, realizing long term change and sustaining collective action for advancing peace, dignity and equality today through art and art education. For this to happen people must have their hearts and minds engaged in an effort with which they identify and there is no greater channel for identification and association than culture. Images are a means of storytelling and central to human meaning-making for self and others as individuals and as communities. We each have our stories and layers of identities that we examine and design for ourselves, that shape our lives, our thinking and actions, and through which we discover our ‘authentic’ voice. Our stories are how we better understand past catalysts and motivations, connect with each another, our environment, and the world. My perspective is shaped by a multiplicity of stories I have been told, read, and even created. In revisiting these stories, I continue to know myself better through how my awareness changes, how I relate to others, and by how I am received. It is an ongoing and ever-changing process.
My lifelong interests are threaded through my scholarship and artwork. For example, my Ed. M thesis was about applying universal design for learning specifically to the visual art curriculum in schools and providing multimodal opportunities for students to enter into art-making and creative thinking. This approach is an integral part of my teaching practice because not only do I believe in equity, I believe in respect for the gifts we all possess and having the opportunity to contribute from within one’s own center of power and being. Given the understanding that we are all embodied in this living experience, through layered interpretations of interactions with our environment and with every thought and action having influence upon everyone and everything with which we come into relationship with.
*artwork: Yomii Meregildo, portrait of Linda, acrylic on canvas, 2025
