In 1967 the world experienced its first commercial satellite TV broadcast, The Doors released their self-titled album and Linda Bush began her art career at the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University.
Satellite television has since fallen out of favor and The Doors broke up in 1973, but Linda returned to school in 2020 to finish her degree at Boise State’s School of the Arts. She graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and she’s more artistically engaged than ever.
“I started my art career back in 1967,” Linda explained. “But, you know, life happens and I dropped out of school and eventually went back and changed my major to journalism.”
Linda’s career plans changed, but that creative spark never left her. Over 50 years later, when she retired to the Boise area, she decided to return to her passion.
Her unique path to a Boise State degree has developed her creativity in ways she didn’t consider 50 years ago at Indiana University. “I’m obviously a non-traditional student and I found that a lot of my life experiences have transferred over and really helped me develop my art.”
That path has led to a novel experience at Boise State. “On the first day of classes every semester, there’s a freshman student that’s lost, and as soon as they see me, they go ‘are you a professor?’” she recalled. “But actually, I feel like I’ve seamlessly returned to school. The other students have been welcoming, the instructors have been welcoming. I have never felt out of place at all.”
That seamless transition was thanks in part to the Office of the Registrar, which helped Linda transfer some of her credits from her Herron days to Boise State. With those transfer credits, she jumped straight into more advanced art classes and picked up where she left off.
Linda has come into her own as an artist here in the School of the Arts. Her senior BFA show melded her rich life experiences with the artistic techniques she learned here at Boise State. “All of the pieces in my BFA show are from life experiences,” she said.
There’s one piece called Memories that features old furniture from her house: the rocking chair that she held her children in and a chest she received as a wedding gift. Another captures a difficult moment with her aging dog. All of these works represent life experiences that Linda picked up in the long intermission between starting and finishing her art degree.
As a non-traditional student, Linda’s post-graduation plans are a little different from her peers. “I’m definitely not going to find a job,” she joked. “But I am going to try to stay connected with the art.”
That includes continuing to display her art—she’s already been featured in several shows throughout Boise—and learning how she can best contribute to the art world.
What advice does Linda have for other non-traditional students? “Do not think twice about going back to school,” she said. “It’s been such a rewarding experience. The older I get, the better things get. I thought that being retired would be a depressing, sad time, but I’m having the time of my life right now.”