Artist biographies
Linnea Maas
Linnea was born in Minneapolis on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1979 and was carried home during a snowstorm. She grew up in the small town of Mound and always drew. Her attraction to visual drama started early: when she was only 32 inches tall, she stood in the kitchen doorway and was shocked as Grandma removed all her teeth at once. This was the first vivid image that impressed itself on her memory and precluded a lifetime of visual thinking.
Later, leaning on the bark of a thin limb midway up her favorite maple tree, Linnea was touched by the tenderest breeze. It was filled with the sensation of perfection and she could feel it contained all the secrets of the alternate nature of the universe. The sensation of unutterable beauty has caused years of daydreaming and unremitting attempts at translating the elusive feelings into shapes communicating complexities bigger than words, a little picture guide to these unidentifiable but poignant emotions.
Linnea studied illustration at Washington University In St Louis and cultivated her current graphic style after taking a woodcut print class, where under the direction of a spontaneously combusting maniac she developed a penchant for triphop in the wee hours of the morning and putting thick outlines around objects in her drawings.
In 2004 the Robots invaded.
Currently, Linnea spends her time making art at a converted casket factory in Northeast Minneapolis. She just finished drawing her very first coloring book. Her projects include acrylic and oil paintings, murals, commissions, and collaborations; action painting with rock bands, classical saxophonists, and electronic music DJs; freelance illustration, designing furniture, making pictures for children’s books, and staring at the sky through moving branches.
Her thoughts are still all pictures, and she fills pages of sketchbooks with secret nonsense and meandering doodles, out of which evolve series of characters brimming with internal dialogue. Linnea paints them into pictures to nudge you to believe in her imagined reality where colors are twice as bright, love is infinitely more vivid, and the world is condensed into simple, crystallized pleasures, so just a smile ignites a connection to make any distance small.
Linnea was born in Minneapolis on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1979 and was carried home during a snowstorm. She grew up in the small town of Mound and always drew. Her attraction to visual drama started early: when she was only 32 inches tall, she stood in the kitchen doorway and was shocked as Grandma removed all her teeth at once. This was the first vivid image that impressed itself on her memory and precluded a lifetime of visual thinking.
Later, leaning on the bark of a thin limb midway up her favorite maple tree, Linnea was touched by the tenderest breeze. It was filled with the sensation of perfection and she could feel it contained all the secrets of the alternate nature of the universe. The sensation of unutterable beauty has caused years of daydreaming and unremitting attempts at translating the elusive feelings into shapes communicating complexities bigger than words, a little picture guide to these unidentifiable but poignant emotions.
Linnea studied illustration at Washington University In St Louis and cultivated her current graphic style after taking a woodcut print class, where under the direction of a spontaneously combusting maniac she developed a penchant for triphop in the wee hours of the morning and putting thick outlines around objects in her drawings.
In 2004 the Robots invaded.
Currently, Linnea spends her time making art at a converted casket factory in Northeast Minneapolis. She just finished drawing her very first coloring book. Her projects include acrylic and oil paintings, murals, commissions, and collaborations; action painting with rock bands, classical saxophonists, and electronic music DJs; freelance illustration, designing furniture, making pictures for children’s books, and staring at the sky through moving branches.
Her thoughts are still all pictures, and she fills pages of sketchbooks with secret nonsense and meandering doodles, out of which evolve series of characters brimming with internal dialogue. Linnea paints them into pictures to nudge you to believe in her imagined reality where colors are twice as bright, love is infinitely more vivid, and the world is condensed into simple, crystallized pleasures, so just a smile ignites a connection to make any distance small.
Jennifer Bill
A dedicated and multifaceted musician and educator, saxophonist and conductor, Dr. Jennifer Bill, has performed in Asia, throughout Europe and the United States. Her poignant performance style captivates audiences around the globe. She performs solo and chamber music with a variety of groups including BRUSH|REED, Pharos Quartet, J.E.Y., and ēmergere. As a conductor she currently leads the Boston University Concert Band. Dr. Bill is a Selmer Artist.
A versatile saxophonist, Dr. Bill performs as a soloist and a chamber musician with a diverse group of artists including vocalists, clarinetists, cellists, flutists, violinists, taped media, percussionists, wind quintet, and dancers. For over a decade she has worked with visual artist Linnea Maas in the experimentation of the auralvisual in a collaboration named BRUSH|REED. BRUSH|REED has performed in Hong Kong, Scotland, and the USA. Dr. Bill has participated in numerous world premieres for saxophone including most recently Thinking in Four Places by Justin Casinghino, Faustus: a SaxOpera by John Plant as part of World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, Greenwich Village Portraits by David Amram as part of World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, Canciones Andinas by Michael C. Kregler, A deep clear breath of life by John Plant, Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossom by Shih-Hui Chen as part of World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, and Two Reflections on Poems by Anne Sexton by Michael C. Kregler. She has been a guest soloist with the Boston University Wind Ensemble, the BUTI Wind Ensemble, the Hong Kong Wind Ensemble, the Rhode Island College Wind Ensemble, and the Northeastern University Wind Ensemble. She has performed at national and world conferences including the World Saxophone Congress, the North American Saxophone Alliance national conference, and the North American Saxophone Alliance regional conference. Her debut album, Divergent Reflections, was released in 2019.
As a conductor Dr. Bill currently leads the Boston University Concert Band and is an active clinician throughout New England. She previously led the Providence College Symphonic Winds from 2009-2017. Dr. Bill led the BU Concert Band in a tour of Ireland in 2015 with performances in Dublin, Galway, Killarney and Macroom, was a guest conductor with the Hong Kong Wind Ensemble in 2014, and in 2011 led the PC Symphonic Winds in a tour of Italy with performances in Napoli, Maiori, and Monte Porzio Cantone (Roma).
Dr. Bill is currently faculty at Boston University, performance faculty at Boston College, applied faculty at Rhode Island College, applied faculty at Stonehill College, and adjunct professor at Fitchburg State University. She is the saxophone instructor, wind ensemble program director, and assistant director of the saxophone workshop for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She serves on the Board of Directors for World-Wide Concurrent Premiers and Commissioning Funds, Inc.
Dr. Bill is also the sole organizer, director and officer of Music Performance & Education, Inc.
A dedicated and multifaceted musician and educator, saxophonist and conductor, Dr. Jennifer Bill, has performed in Asia, throughout Europe and the United States. Her poignant performance style captivates audiences around the globe. She performs solo and chamber music with a variety of groups including BRUSH|REED, Pharos Quartet, J.E.Y., and ēmergere. As a conductor she currently leads the Boston University Concert Band. Dr. Bill is a Selmer Artist.
A versatile saxophonist, Dr. Bill performs as a soloist and a chamber musician with a diverse group of artists including vocalists, clarinetists, cellists, flutists, violinists, taped media, percussionists, wind quintet, and dancers. For over a decade she has worked with visual artist Linnea Maas in the experimentation of the auralvisual in a collaboration named BRUSH|REED. BRUSH|REED has performed in Hong Kong, Scotland, and the USA. Dr. Bill has participated in numerous world premieres for saxophone including most recently Thinking in Four Places by Justin Casinghino, Faustus: a SaxOpera by John Plant as part of World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, Greenwich Village Portraits by David Amram as part of World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, Canciones Andinas by Michael C. Kregler, A deep clear breath of life by John Plant, Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossom by Shih-Hui Chen as part of World-Wide Concurrent Premieres, and Two Reflections on Poems by Anne Sexton by Michael C. Kregler. She has been a guest soloist with the Boston University Wind Ensemble, the BUTI Wind Ensemble, the Hong Kong Wind Ensemble, the Rhode Island College Wind Ensemble, and the Northeastern University Wind Ensemble. She has performed at national and world conferences including the World Saxophone Congress, the North American Saxophone Alliance national conference, and the North American Saxophone Alliance regional conference. Her debut album, Divergent Reflections, was released in 2019.
As a conductor Dr. Bill currently leads the Boston University Concert Band and is an active clinician throughout New England. She previously led the Providence College Symphonic Winds from 2009-2017. Dr. Bill led the BU Concert Band in a tour of Ireland in 2015 with performances in Dublin, Galway, Killarney and Macroom, was a guest conductor with the Hong Kong Wind Ensemble in 2014, and in 2011 led the PC Symphonic Winds in a tour of Italy with performances in Napoli, Maiori, and Monte Porzio Cantone (Roma).
Dr. Bill is currently faculty at Boston University, performance faculty at Boston College, applied faculty at Rhode Island College, applied faculty at Stonehill College, and adjunct professor at Fitchburg State University. She is the saxophone instructor, wind ensemble program director, and assistant director of the saxophone workshop for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She serves on the Board of Directors for World-Wide Concurrent Premiers and Commissioning Funds, Inc.
Dr. Bill is also the sole organizer, director and officer of Music Performance & Education, Inc.
