Textiles have been an important part of Linda Gass’ life since her grandmother taught her to sew and embroider as a child. In her early adult years, she took a detour through technology after graduating from Stanford University with a BS in Mathematics and an MS in Computer Science and worked in the software industry for 10 years. Linda returned to making textiles 17 years ago and now exhibits her work internationally in galleries and museums. Her work is published in numerous books and magazines including 500 Art Quilts, The Map As Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, Art Quilts: A Celebration, Fiberarts Design Book 7, American Style, American Craft, and Art Papers. Linda’s awards include the prestigious Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship and the Arts Council Silicon Valley Artist Fellowship. She was featured in two episodes of Simply Quilts on Home & Garden Television and has taught workshops at Arrowmont and the Mendocino Art Center. She travels extensively in the wilderness areas of the West where she finds much of the inspiration for her work. Linda is an artist in residence in the Palo Alto Cubberley Artist Studio program and is a master member of the Baulines Craft Guild. She currently serves on the advisory board of the Black Rock Arts Foundation and has served on the boards of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles and the Textile Arts Council of the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
What did the Fellowship or Laureate mean to you at the time you received it?
The Fellowship I received meant three main things to me: recognition, support and opportunity. The grant I received allowed me to set aside time to explore new forms of artistic expression and inspired me to give back to the community in new ways.
What do you do now? Has your art evolved or changed?
I have a studio practice making visual art inspired by the connections between humans and the water and land that sustain them. In my work, I visually juxtapose vulnerability and resilience, past memory and future possibilities. I continue to make stitched paintings on silk and my art has evolved to include a new medium, glass. I am exploring glass sculpture as well as architectural glass and I am pursuing public art commissions.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?
Stay true to yourself and your unique artistic expression ? don?t succumb to the pressures to do what?s trendy at the moment unless it happens to be what you love doing anyway.
Briefly, how would you describe the state of the arts locally, as well as national and beyond?
Innovative, participatory, socially relevant