Linda Mickens is a sculptor and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores memory, resilience, and collective healing. A primarily self-taught artist, she began concentrating on her art practice after retiring from a 30-year career as a neonatal intensive care nurse. That experience—grounded in care, precision, and reverence for life—continues to shape the way she handles materials and the stories they carry. Working with reclaimed wood, paper, metal, washboards, and other found materials, Mickens creates layered sculptures that give form to overlooked histories and everyday acts of strength. Her pieces serve as vessels for reflection—honoring the past, confronting the present, and offering space for connection and quiet recognition. Since devoting herself to her art, Mickens’ work has been exhibited nationally at City Gallery in New Haven, Open Studios Hamden, Martha’s Vineyard, the Southhampton African American Museum, Branford Arts & Cultural Alliance, Norwalk Artists Studios, and the Black Girl Art Show in Brooklyn. Her sculptures are also held in the permanent collection of the River Road African American Museum in Louisiana. Recognized for creating “deeply moving” and “community-rooted” work, Mickens is a 2024 Bitsie Clark Fund and Mellon Foundation grantee and a 2025 MOCA Fellowship recipient. She lives and works in Connecticut, where her studio practice continues to honor the power of art to hold memory, give voice, and inspire presence.