Linda Gass Explained

Linda Gass
Birth Place:California
Education:Stanford University
Known For:Environmental Art

Linda Gass is an American environmental activist and artist known for brightly colored quilted silk landscapes, environmental works, and public art sculptures, which reflect her passion for environmental preservation, water conservation and land use.

Early life and education

Gass was born and raised in California. She attended Brandeis University for two years before transferring to Stanford University, graduating with degrees in Mathematics (BS, '81) and Computer Science (MS, '83). She spent 10 years as a software engineer working for Adobe Inc., before transitioning to her full-time professional artistic career in 1993.[1] Gass has worked with fiber since childhood, having been taught to sew and embroider by her grandmother.[2]

Career

Gass addresses environmental issues through her art, such as the destruction of wetlands, water conservation and resource management, habitat restoration, and the need for more sustainable development.[3] Gass is also involved in Acterra and Green Town Los Altos, local environmental organizations. Her work addresses the challenging environmental impact brought on by development, primarily to areas of California and other western states.

Gass began her artistic career with watercolor painting and then began silk painting. Initially painting silk for art-to-wear clothing, she transitioned to painting wall hangings, which she then began to quilt. Her signature style of quilted landscapes brings awareness via the use of vivid stitching used to recreate maps and aerial photographs. Gass researches the sites through historical photographs and in-person visits. Receiving fellowship awards enabled Linda to explore new artistic approaches and mediums such as glass.[4]

While traditional quilts are typically constructed from fabric pieces, Gass' sculptural stitched quilts are made from a single piece of white silk crepe de chine. This type of silk accepts dye similar to watercolor paper. The subtly reflective white silk canvas is hand painted with silk dyes, layered with high-loft batting, and machine stitched. The batting is sculpted by placement of stitches; the stitches compress the batting, yielding varied areas of elevation and valleys to emulate the desired topography. The stitched lines form an additional layer of design in the overall artwork.

Notable works in museums and private collections

Notable works in public spaces

Discussion of specific notable works

Severely Burned: Impact of the Rim Fire on the Tuolumne River Watershed

Gass' 2014 artwork, Severely Burned: Impact of the Rim Fire on the Tuolumne River Watershed,[17] was created as a fire map emulating the destruction caused by the 2013 Megafire, which burned over 250 acres (over 400 square miles) of forest near Yosemite National Park.  The Rim Fire started 20 miles east of Sonora, California, and at the time was the largest recorded fire in the Sierra Nevada. As of 2022, it remains one of the largest recorded wildfires in California history.  Due to weather conditions and drought, the Rim Fire smoldered for over a year before it was declared fully extinguished, profoundly impacting the Tuolumne River Watershed.[18] [19]

The highly textured stitched drawing consists of 12 square, tri-layered, quilted, and stitched textile panels, arranged in a grid pattern, displayed 4 across and 3 down.  The overall artwork, which measures 54"x70", is made of silk fabric, quilted cotton batting and colored threads, to visually demonstrate the impact of the fire by replicating the overall fire map, and delineating areas of the burn zone. Blue thread represents the Tuolumne River and its major tributaries, light grey thread stitched as topographic lines indicate the 40% of the severely burned fire area which was reduced to ash, while lightly and moderately burned areas are depicted by black thread. Black thread is also used in a grid pattern on the black silk top layer to indicate the bordering areas outside of the burn zone.  The work is included in the Fire Transforms exhibit[20] at the Palo Alto Art Center, whose exhibit features the work of science-minded artists using fire biology and data in their work. An audio recording[21] by Gass describing the work is available on the Center website.[22] [23]

After the Gold Rush

Gass' first ecological piece, After the Gold Rush is featured on the book cover for Flightpaths: The Lost Journals of Amelia Earhart, in the book Art Quilts Unfolding and was acquired by the International Quilt Museum for their permanent collection. The work was exhibited at the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, and the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, in addition to several other museums and galleries.

The brightly colored and geometrically quilted work, created in 1998, was inspired by an aerial view of Interstate 5 crossing the California Aqueduct, which diverts water from Oregon and Northern California to Southern California, and is hand painted on silk crepe de chine, filled with polyester batting and stitched with monofilament and rayon thread. It measures 21"x26.25" and visually recreates the unsustainably irrigated farmland and depleted soil topography of the once desert Central Valley (California), representing development-related problems, water resource management issues, and the human impact on the land. The title of the work is a reference to extractive agricultural practices, regarded by Gass as the second major mining of California lands.[24]

San Joaquin Merced Revival

Gass' work, [San Joaquin Merced Revival,''<ref name="Earth Island Journal" /> was part of an art conference exhibition in a series themed "Confluence". Each of the three works in this series consists of a disappearing river confluence paired with an endangered or extinct species as a result of the river's diversions.<ref name="Slatkin" /> This work specifically depicts an aerial view of the [[San Joaquin River]] and Merced River confluence, where the San Joaquin river appears to be dried up.[25] It is paired with the Chinook Salmon that has now been endangered due to the disappearing river confluence and the diversions of water blocked by the Friant Dam which forced the fish out of their original habitats.[26]

Shaped by Water Exhibit

In 2011, Gass curated a traveling exhibition, Shaped by Water, centered around the idea of water conservation, appreciation, and educational aspects of the history and the future of water in the San Francisco Bay Area.[27] This exhibition featured many of her silk paintings of aerial views of the water landscape as well as different interactive displays, films, and installation pieces.[28] Gass explained in a short interview with the Bay Nature organization that her objective is to raise awareness on current water issues and portray the beauty of water to motivate people to face the issues.

Awards, honors and artist residencies

Solo and 2 person exhibitions

Selected invitational exhibits

Selected juried exhibits

Curatorial projects

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Three Left Coast Artists: Linda Gass, Gyongy Laky, Linda MacDonald Curated by Barbara Shapiro . 2022-10-28 . textilesocietyofamerica.org.
  2. Web site: Linda Gass – U.S. Department of State . 2022-10-28 . en-US.
  3. News: Hall . Kim . April 2010 . Linda Gass Protecting the Planet, One Artwork at a Time . 24–26 . Art Calendar.
  4. Web site: Linda Gass . 2022-12-14 . Silicon Valley Laureates . en-US.
  5. Web site: After the Gold Rush International Quilt Museum - Lincoln, NE . 2022-10-26 . www.internationalquiltmuseum.org.
  6. Web site: Healing Arts Program . 2022-10-26 . www.uchicagomedicine.org . en.
  7. Web site: On The Edge II . 2022-12-14 . San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles . en-US.
  8. Web site: Search the Collection . 2022-10-26 . San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles . en-US.
  9. Web site: Wrubel . Hayley . 2022-06-03 . Artist Feature: Linda Gass - Art about Water, Land Use and Climate Change . 2022-10-26 . Van Meter Williams Pollack LLP . en.
  10. Web site: Fligor . Neysa . From the Mayor's Desk: Reflections on a new Los Altos Community Center . 2022-10-28 . Los Altos Town Crier . 5 October 2021 . en.
  11. Web site: 2016-01-13 . East Palo Alto: Life in Cooley Landing mud, water inspires artist . 2022-10-28 . The Mercury News . en-US.
  12. Web site: Treatment? . 2022-10-28 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  13. Web site: San Francisco Arts Commission . 2022-11-16 . kiosk.sfartscommission.org.
  14. Web site: » Linda Gass . 2022-11-16 . www.craftinamerica.org.
  15. Web site: Wetlands Musings . 2022-10-28 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  16. Web site: Love Lafayette Org Published Doc . CITY OF LAFAYETTE PUBLIC ART COLLECTION AT THE LAFAYETTE LIBRARY AND LEARNING CENTER.
  17. Web site: Severely Burned: Impact of the Rim Fire on the Tuolumne River Watershed . 2022-12-14 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  18. Web site: USDA Forest Service Rim Fire Website . November 16, 2022 . USDA Forest Service.
  19. Web site: All Firefighters go Home to their Families After their Shift . November 16, 2022 . USDA Forest Service.
  20. Web site: Fire Transforms . 2022-12-14 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  21. Web site: Audio recording about Severely Burned . 2022-12-14 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  22. Web site: Magazine . Smithsonian . Enking . Molly . See How California Artists Process Wildfires Through Their Work . 2022-11-16 . Smithsonian Magazine . en.
  23. Web site: Linda Gass . 2022-11-16 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  24. August 2006 . Fabric of Life . American Style Magazine . August 2006 . 112.
  25. Web site: Beauty in Truth . 2022-11-16 . Earth Island Journal.
  26. . Watered Silk . Stanford Magazine . Stanford, CA . Stanford Alumni Association . January–February 2013 . 2022-12-15 . en.
  27. Web site: ABC7 News Star: Linda Gass, Conservation Artist . 2022-11-15 . ABC7 San Francisco . en.
  28. Web site: Slatkin . Beth . The Unnatural Beauty of Salt Ponds - . 2022-11-15 . Bay Nature . en-US.
  29. Web site: GRANTEES – Belle Foundation . 2022-10-26 . en-US.
  30. Web site: 2015-12-19 . Cooley Landing – Linda Gass . 2022-10-26 . SF Art News . en.
  31. Web site: Writer/ellievh@latc.com . Ellie Van Houtte-Staff . Locally designed water exhibition wins conservation education award . 2022-10-26 . Los Altos Town Crier . 20 March 2013 . en.
  32. Web site: Linda Gass . 2022-11-15 . Fleishhacker Foundation . en-US.
  33. Web site: Artists Silicon Valley Artist Laureates . 2022-10-26 . en-US.
  34. Web site: Cubberley Artist Studio Program . 2022-12-14 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  35. Web site: Quilt National Archive . 2022-12-14 . The Dairy Barn Arts Center . en-US.
  36. Web site: LINDA GASS: AND THEN THIS HAPPENED... – MCD . 2022-10-26 . Museum of Craft and Design . en-US.
  37. Web site: RETICULATION @ BULLSEYE RESOURCE CENTER BAY AREA . 2022-12-14 . www.bullseyeprojects.com.
  38. Web site: 2014 Exhibitions Main Gallery: September 5 to October 30 "Bird's Eye View: Aerial Art" . Nov 16, 2022 . Gallery at 48 Natoma.
  39. Web site: HOME Triton Museum of Art . 2022-11-16 . Triton Museum of Art . en.
  40. Web site: Upcoming Exhibitions . 2022-10-27 . www.cityofpaloalto.org . en-US.
  41. Web site: Dissolve – UCI Langson IMCA . 2022-10-27 . imca.uci.edu.
  42. Web site: Purnell . Jean . 2022-09-02 . 35 by 35 . 2022-11-16 . Arts Benicia . en-US.
  43. Web site: Art on the Edge: from Extraction to Restoration and Regeneration 2 Peninsula Museum of Art . 2022-11-16 . www.peninsulamuseum.org.
  44. Web site: » Making Waves: Ocean Ecology & Craft . 2022-11-16 . www.craftinamerica.org.
  45. Web site: Euphrat Museum of Art . 2022-11-16 . Euphrat Museum of Art . en.
  46. Web site: Artik - Linda Gass . 2022-11-16 . www.artika3.com.
  47. Web site: Our Community Prepares - Exhibits . 2022-11-16 . Los Altos History Museum . en-US.
  48. Web site: Home . 2022-11-17 . Art Responds . en.
  49. Web site: Sheehan Gallery 2018/19 . 2022-11-17 . www.whitman.edu.
  50. Web site: WaterlinesExhibitions, Education, Art, Innovation, History, Bay Area, Los Gatos . 2022-11-17 . NUMU . 6 October 2017 . en-US.
  51. Web site: Detritus – Institute of Contemporary Art San José . 11 December 2019 . 2022-11-17 . en-US.
  52. Web site: Past Exhibitions 2017 . 2022-11-17 . San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles . en-US.
  53. Web site: 2017-03-01 . RISE UP! Art As Action . 2022-11-17 . Minnesota Street Project . en.
  54. Web site: Past Exhibitions 2016 . 2022-11-17 . San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles . en-US.
  55. Web site: February 2, 2016 . Demarcate: Territorial shift in personal and societal mapping . November 16, 2022 . San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.
  56. Web site: Above and Below: Stories From Our Changing Bay . 2022-11-17 . Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) . en-US.
  57. Web site: Chaos . Synchronized . Christopher Bernard – review of San Francisco's Meridian Gallery's current show, 'By Mainly Unexpected Means – ' . 2022-11-17 . SYNCHRONIZED CHAOS . December 2013 . en-US.
  58. Web site: August 2012 by Make It Better - Issuu page 74 . 2022-11-17 . issuu.com . August 2012 . en.
  59. Web site: Delta Waters Artists address the San Joaquin Delta . November 16, 2022 . Delta College Center for the Arts LH Horton Jr Gallery.
  60. Web site: SDA conference – gallery day, part III – Deidre Adams – Artist . 2022-11-17 . en-US.
  61. Web site: Past Exhibitions The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum The George Washington University . 2022-11-17 . museum.gwu.edu.
  62. Web site: Gallery . Dalton . 2019-11-21 . Past Exhibitions . 2022-11-17 . The Dalton Gallery . en.
  63. Web site: Vanessa . Previous Exhibits . 2022-11-17 . Visions Museum of Textile Art . en-US.
  64. Web site: 2009-07-15 . Linda Gass: Seeing Green . 2022-11-17 . Astrid Hilger Bennett . en-US.
  65. Dorsey . Frances . Spring 2006 . TSA Symposium Highlights Oct 11-14, 2006 . Textile Society of North America . 18 . 2 . 6 . Digital Commons @University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
  66. Web site: Beyond Tradition . 2022-11-17 . Carl Solway Gallery . en-US.
  67. Web site: Emerge 2016 e-merge . 2022-10-26 . www.bullseyeglass.com.
  68. Web site: Security Question . 2022-10-26 . David Brower Center . en-US.
  69. Web site: Quilt National 1999 . 2022-10-26 . oac.ohio.gov.
  70. Web site: Shaped by Water - Exhibits . 2022-10-26 . Los Altos History Museum . en-US.
  71. Web site: 2012-07-24 . Shaped by Water: Past, Present and Future . 2022-10-27 . Los Gatos, CA Patch . en.
  72. Web site: . 2015-10-28 . History San José Presents 'Shaped by Water: Past, Present, Future' . 2022-10-27 . History San Jose . en-US.
  73. Web site: Covered Seed . 2022-10-27 . Strongfelt . en-US.
  74. Web site: Erickson . Crystal . VISUAL ARTS Textile Center delves into the "danger" zone with a show of crotch-covering artwork . 2022-10-27 . Twin Cities Daily Planet . 27 September 2009 . en-US.
  75. Web site: IntimateApparel . 2022-10-27 . www.elinnoble.com.