Linda Girardi is an artist and writer living and working outside of Asheville, North Carolina. A climate and environmental communications professional for more than three decades, Linda is inspired by the natural world, but also finds beauty in urban environments.

While Linda studied biology during her undergraduate years and also secured an MFA in creative writing, she has always been inspired by art and has made her own glass art for more than 30 years. She creates mini and micromosaic jewelry using tiles, beads, stained glass, and Italian glass filato, as well as larger scale pieces. She also makes fused glass sculptures and functional pieces as well as silver clay jewelry.

Linda shares her passion and knowledge through classes at the Foundation Studios in Asheville’s River Arts District.

John Finley is an artist and woodworker living and working with his wife, Linda Girardi,  outside of Asheville, North Carolina. John studied art during his undergraduate university years and later partially fulfilled the requirements for an MFA in art. 

He draws his inspiration from his outdoor experiences, including living and travelling in Africa, hiking, climbing, whitewater kayaking, fishing and skiing the mountains inside and out of the U.S., as well as from his time on a small family farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains.

He works in watercolor, oils and uses multiple techniques to create texture in his paintings. His woodwork specialty is large free-form tables and chests using multiple woods. John retired from thirty years as a nutritional biochemistry researcher.