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. [1] Her work addresses the challenging environmental impact brought on by development, primarily to areas of California and other western states. [3]
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. [3] 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. [1] 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. [3] This type of silk accepts dye similar to watercolor paper. The subtly reflective white silk canvas is hand painted with silk dyes, [1] 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. [3]
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. [20] [22] [23]
After the Gold Rush
Gass' first ecological piece, After the Gold Rush [5] 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. [5] 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. [24] [25]
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] [5] [26]
San Joaquin Merced Revival
Gass' work, [San Joaquin Merced Revival, [26] 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. [27] 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. [26] 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. [28] [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. [29] [1] 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. [29] [27] 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. [27]
