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Belsnickle Artist Believes In Giving
Back
By Seth E. BaldwinAll serious, long-time collectors of Linda Lindquist Baldwin’s are surely familiar with how she bought a nickel book at a garage sale (you can read the story below) in the summer of 1986 and was inspired to begin sculpting and painting her own papier-mâché Father Christmases and Belsnickles. Yet that was almost twenty-five years ago, and many of her collectors may not know the stories of her charitable work and other achievements since that time. Linda has always been a lover of animals, from the family dog, George, growing up on Big Sugar Creek to her present dog, Snickles, and the dozen or more dogs or cats she’s taken in and taken care of in between. Snickles has featured prominently in two of her recent sculptures and is due to appear in another this year. He and Percy, the Museum Cat, are featured in these extremely popular pieces – one of last year’s Route 66 vintage car pieces featuring the duo even sits in the Mayor of Bethlehem’s office! Linda has always believed in giving back to the community and giving to charity, and she contributes a portion of all sales of these “Percy and Snickles” pieces to the Joplin Museum Complex and the Joplin Humane Society. Again, many collectors surely know that Linda was working two jobs with developmentally disabled adults and attending night classes at college when she made her nickel book purchase. Her commitment to assisting the developmentally disabled has not tapered; at her annual Holiday Celebration / Open House, she sponsors a fundraiser, which provides scholarships to developmentally disabled students at Crowder College. Linda has also served on the Foundation Board at Crowder College and recently received the Crowder College Foundation Board’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of exceptional and dedicated service to Crowder College and the pursuit of educational excellence in southwest Missouri. She also co-chaired the annual Festival of Wreaths, a major College scholarship fundraiser. Near “I’ll Fly Away” composer, Albert E. Brumley’s, homestead in Powell, Missouri, on the same road that leads to her childhood home on Big Sugar Creek in McDonald County, is a large, historical, iron-clad bridge that was scheduled to be demolished to make way for a new bridge. Linda, a lover of national and local heritage, could not stand to let this happen, and so helped lead a grassroots campaign and created a special “We Love the Powell Bridge” raffle piece to help keep the old bridge open for pedestrians. She now serves on the Board of Directors of the Powell Historical Preservation Society. Not only has she received recognition by traditional news and industry sources such as CNN, NBC Nightly News, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Folk Art, Linda has also recently received celebrity and international recognitions. In the “Holiday 2009” edition of People Extra, Jennie Garth (of “Beverly Hills 90210” fame and wife of Twilight’s Peter Facinelli ) displayed her favorite Christmas decorations, including Linda’s Belsnickles! And in 2008, Linda received international recognition by the Collectors’ Information Bureau when her “Santa with Yule Log and Girl” was nominated by judges for the Collector’s Choice Award, and then voted the winner by collectors. lindalindquistbaldwin.com 417-499-6604 Facebook sosenterprise@sbcglobal.net |
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Everyone who buys one
of
these Haresnickles is put in a drawing for one of our 25th Anniversary
Designer Label Crossroads Candles. |
You can see and purchase Linda's 2011 Haresnickle by going to this page. |
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| Click on the Ghost
to see Linda's Broomsnickles for the fall. They include a Fraidy Cat Container with Tea Light and this Ghost with Magic Wand. |
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| Linda Lindquist Baldwin was recently presented with the Crowder College Foundation’s “Distinguished Service Award”. The Award was given in recognition of her exceptional and dedicated service to Crowder College and the pursuit of educational excellence in Southwest Missouri . Linda served faithfully on the Crowder College Foundation Board from June 2006 until August 2010. The award was presented by Bob Brumley, son of the famous song-writer, Albert E. Brumley who wrote "I"ll Fly Away", one of the most poplar gospel songs of all time. |
| Linda
Lindquist Baldwin
announces the availability of her 2009 exclusive art pieces. Provided here by Linda with Paypal. Click here to go the offering page............... |
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| Learn
how to be included in the monthly drawing... or see who the latest winner is............ |
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"Perfect Pets" .........Santa w/Percy the Museum Cat and Linda's Dog Snickles. Becasue Linda is community minded and believes in giving back a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Joplin Humane Society and the Joplin Museum Complex. This piece is available through this web site. Go here to purchase it with paypal. Read the story in the Joplin globe about Linda, Percy and this beautiful Santa. |
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| See
what this picture has to do with 2008 Open House... it requires a story |
Buy
this piece right here on line.. |
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Open
house pictures from 2008 are here. If you were there, see if you can find yourself. If you missed it, see what it was like so you can come next year. Linda works all year for this event and really tries to make sure everyone has a great time, some great food and some great friendship. It is an opportunity to get some of her original art as well......... |
| Linda
is working to save the Historic Iron Bridge at Powell. See
pictues here. |
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******************** Regarding the award sponsored by Collector Editions, the official magazine of the Collectors’ Information Bureau The competition is over............ LINDA WON! click |
| Read the local BLOG about the
Powell Bridge |
It
is
here!!!!!!!
Go to 2007 "UN"event (SOLD OUT)
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 Linda Lindquist Baldwin is not only an internationally recognized award-winning artist, she is also the "Queen of Green". She was recycling long before it was "cool". For 25 years Linda has sculpted all of her original Belsnickle Santas, Snowsnickles, Broomsnickles, etc. from various types of paper which she has recycled. |
Little did Linda Lindquist Baldwin know that when, on a
whim, Despite the fact that she had never taken an art class nor had any artistic ability that she knew of, this perky little redhead decided to make one of these unique Santas for herself. She mixed up newspaper, glue and water, and, with untrained hands, tackled her first sculpture.---Thus began her new career.
After being featured on CNN, the NBC nightly news and
numerous
national
publications, Linda's original papier-mache Santas became so
popular
that she could not keep up with the demand and was years behind on
orders. Therefore from 1992 through 1995 her Belsnickles were
reproduced in resin by the prestigious gift and collectible company,
Schmid. A nickel, symbolic of the
nickel garage sale purchase that launched her art career, was
placed in the base of each Santa. These Schmid pieces are highly
collectible and enthusiastically sought after by collectors
today.
In 2003, Linda terminated her contract with Enesco and took a bold step to protect and greatly enhance the collectibility of her Snickles by forming her own collectible art company, Seasons of Snickles. This venture surpassed all her expections and her retail stores and collectors were very excited and thrilled. However, as manufacturing costs escalated, Linda realized that she would have to make some changes. After considering every possible option, she knew there was only one workable solution. In an effort to protect her collectors from the huge increase in manufacturing costs (up nearly 200%), begining in 2009, Linda began selling her pieces directly to her valued collectors. This enabled her to absorb most of the cost increases and not pass them on. She regrets that she can no longer sell to stores but their retail prices would be unafordable for many and Linda's decisions are always based on what is best for her collectors. Thanks to Linda, you can enjoy a Snickle for every Season , and the trademark nickel in each piece will remind you of her incredible story. Each December, on the first Sunday afternoon, Linda hosts a Holiday Celebration in her hometown, Joplin, Missouri, which is located on Historic Route 66. This is an event you won't want to miss. You will meet Linda, a warm and friendly, award-winning artist, whose creations are well known around the world. (She will gladly sign a few of your Snickles, too). And you will have a rare "chance" to purchase her original, one-of-a-kind, papier-mache artwork and her Exclusive Edition pieces. These "must have" collectibles are available only at Linda's annual Open House. |
Linda's
awarding winning
"Santa w/Yule Log & Girl" figurine |
0901 - Route 66 Santa in Vintage
Car
9 7/8 inches long
4 inches wide
5 inches high
Boxed $60.00
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Get
on the
mailing list:
Sign up to be on Linda's mailing
list to receive her "Open House Newsletter" and notification of new
products and offerings. Signing up qualifies you for "Door Prizes" that
Linda will be giving away. Click on the candle and be sure
to include your name and address.
Once
again, Linda
is the cover story
of an Ozarks magazine. Click here to see the cover
and then click on the link "current
issue" and then 'cover story' if you want to read the story about our
beloved Linda.
Linda
inspires so many with her works, her life and her talks.
Click to
see Linda
giving one of her many
INSPIRATIONAL TALKS. Bookings are available.
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*** Linda's
"un"official work on her "UN"Event has been successful with her
"un"deterred approach. Click here to go and see what she has done
for 2008
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