DANIEL BLUE: MEET LINDA DESANTIS-LAPPING >>>

Linda DeSantis-Lapping is addicted to tea. This is good since her best friend and compatriot, Maureen, co-owns the Mad Hat Tea Company.

Pictured here at Art on the Ave, Linda is wearing a fancy hat that she found.

A ploy-entrepreneur, Linda owns both a graphic design firm and a yoga studio. 

I met Linda at the 100th Monkey party that took place in Claudia's tile factory. She is kind and remembered my name far faster than I could remember hers. I must have asked her for it every time we met for at least a few years. I hate it when people do that to me, it makes me feel unimportant. Linda, however, didn't seem to mind.

She is mild mannered and patient, and an artist in most every sense of the word. Having been a founding member of Hogbot, an arts collective with greats such as Dave Davidson and Mary Kay Johnson, Linda is accustomed to working in tandem with other artists. Collaboration can be a tricky game to play when artists become emotionally attached to their work. Recently she has helped Maureen with two shows at the tea shop: The Crow Show, which was her idea anyway, and a psychedelic show, which was I'm sure born out of some late night girls only belly dance body paint wine binge after hours.

LINK: The Tacoma Files archive