The Divine Powers of "Chicken Linda"

Linda Mary Montano welcomed a visitor into her home in Saugerties, New York, presenting it as a living shrine filled with sacred altars, experimental sculptures, and religious iconography. She moved through the space while preparing her “Chicken Linda” costume, a persona she uses to connect with the Holy Spirit. Montano views chickens as divine in disguise and names herself “Chicken Linda” to embody that relationship. Her practice spans about 60 years and dissolves boundaries between art and daily life. Born in 1942, she trained in Catholic sculpture in Italy and earned an MFA in sculpture (live chickens) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She began performance art in the early 1970s in San Francisco during the First Wave feminist art movement and coined the term “art/life,” influenced by Allan Kaprow and artists associated with Los Angeles’s Woman’s Building.

"When I entered, I was transported into a living shrine, and the octogenarian artist gracefully hovered about as if she were the resident angel. After a warm welcome, she floated upstairs to put on her “Chicken Linda” outfit, which allowed me a moment to take in the scene. Montano views chickens as divine in disguise, and she gave herself the name “Chicken Linda” as a way to connect with the Holy Spirit."

"Filled with sacred altars, experimental sculptures, and religious iconography at every turn, Montano's abode - the same family home she grew up in - reflects her 60-year journey as a devoted spiritual seeker and consummate creator whose practice obliterates the boundaries between art and life."

"Born in 1942, Montano is a pioneering endurance performance artist. A unique category in our collective understanding of art, “endurance performance art” is a practice in which artists employ their bodies in extreme ways for creative purposes, and Montano's practice is groundbreaking among them. She did her master's degree in Catholic sculpture in Italy and her MFA in sculpture (live chickens) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as one of only two women in the sculpture department from 1967-69."

"In the early 1970s, Montano began her adventure in performance art in San Francisco during the First Wave feminist art movement. She coined the term “art/life” during this time, influenced by Allan Kaprow, the artists from Los Angeles's Woman's Building, "

Read at Hyperallergic