Linda Carleton moved to Chebeague Island, Maine after spending most of her life in Guilford, Connecticut.  She taught history and comparative religions at Guilford High School for 27 years.  In 1997 she retired from teaching to attend Bangor Seminary and Yale Divinity School. Linda was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 2001 to a ministry of refugee resettlement as the founder and resident director of Melita Welcome House. 

Linda began painting almost twenty years ago with Joan Downey at the Guilford Art Center and with BJ Abrahamson on Chebebeague.  Her work has been inspired by the beauty of the Connecticut Shoreline and Chebeague Island, her study of religious questions, the spiritual practice of mandala meditation, and her work with refugees.