Linda Stein has grown into international prominence in the 20 years since her work first appeared at Boca's Gallery Camino Real and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

However, no article, critique, lecture or television appearance has had the impact of a small role Stein played in the hit movie comedy "Borat," which is still in theaters.

"They call me `The woman who stood up to Borat' now," Stein said recently from her New York City studio. "People recognize me on the street. That never happened before. I've been interviewed by CBS, CNN, ABC, Fox, BBC and Reuters, and that's just a few of the recent ones."

"The Power to Protect: Sculpture of Linda Stein" opens Sunday, Jan. 7 at the Nathan D. Rosen Museum Gallery of the Adolph and Rose Levis Jewish Community Center of West Boca Raton. An opening reception with the artist present is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. The exhibit runs through Feb. 18 and admission is free.

"The Power to Protect" says a lot about the sculpture Stein has created in the past couple of years, and it hints at why she had a tangle with British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as the boorish, bigoted and misogynist "journalist" from the Central European country of Kazakhstan.

In "Borat," Cohen interviews Stein, who tried to earnestly refute the actor's claims of male superiority. Stein angrily stormed off the set and much of her interview was cut, but she has since become a hero to feminists, not unlike the warrior goddesses she has been creating recently.

"I had 140,000 hits on my web site in just the first three weeks in October," Stein marvels. "I've given power point presentations on warrior women with Dr. Helen Hardacre, a professor at from Harvard, in Japan and Germany. Many came to the Flomenhaft Gallery in Chelsea because of the movie, but they stayed to appreciate the work."

Stein's "warriors" are powerful, but not violent. It is their role to protect rather than destroy, and nurture rather than kill.

"I was profoundly affected by the tragedy of 9/11, and for about a year I did not create much art at all," she reveals.

"Then I began to realize that my previous work: the totems and the machete series, were symbols of protection. My sculpture all of a sudden began to take the form of a torso; an androgynous figure with the feeling of Wonder Woman, Princess Mononoke and the Buddhist goddess Kannon: all strong feminine figures who protect humanity."

The result is the torso series, created out of a variety of materials. Stein is currently a finalist in a $4 million outdoor art project in Portland, Oregon.

"My larger-than-life knight warrior women would be in the central position," she reveals.

Even if it weren't for her art, Stein would visit Boca Raton regularly. Her sister is Carole Siemens, who with developer Richard Siemens are longtime Boca residents and philanthropists.

"I think our mother was a warrior woman," muses Stein, who grew up in The Bronx. "She was strong, protective, compassionate and smart- all the things Borat thinks women are not. I'm very pleased to be returning to Boca Raton."

For more information, call 652-3276 or visit www.lindastein.com.