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| Copyright ©2005 Linda Gass. Photograph by James Dewrance. |
| Title: Puzzle of Salt |
| Dimensions: 29.5" w x 28.5" h |
| Artist Statement: Over the past 150 years the wetlands of the San Francisco Bay have been converted into salt ponds for industrial salt production. By the 1950’s, 85 percent of the San Francisco Bay’s wetlands had been filled, dried out, or converted to salt ponds, leaving the bay ecosystem in a seriously unhealthy state. And it gets worse: today, 95 percent of the Bay's wetlands have been converted. Luckily help is on its way: in 2002, the largest wetlands restoration effort in the west was initiated when 16,500 acres (25 square miles) of Salt Ponds owned by Cargill Incorporated were put into permanent protection as a result of a unique public-private partnership. And this is where the puzzle of what to do begins. The restoration effort is a complex task that may take more than 50 years - it's not as simple as bulldozing the dikes of the ponds. The challenges span technical, environmental, financial, and political issues. The landscape of the salt ponds reminds me of jigsaw puzzle pieces and these shapes remind me of the puzzle to be solved in restoring these ponds to tidal wetlands. |
| Materials and Techniques: Silk crepe de chine hand painted using acid dyes and gutta-serti with some salt effects. Silk broadcloth backing and polyester batting; machine quilted with nylon monofilament thread. |
| Detail: Click here for a detail image |
| Exhibition History: November 4 - December 11, 2010 OSilas Gallery, Bronxville, NY May 18 - June 20, 2010 Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA March 25 - April 29, 2007 Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, CT December 1, 2006 - February 2, 2007 Herndon Gallery, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH October 27 - November 4, 2007 at the Houston International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX. June 8 - September 3, 2006 at the Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA. August 6 - October 22, 2005 at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY. |
| Status: Available for sale. |
Additional Info: This artwork appears in the books The Map As Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography and Contemporary Color: Theory & Use also appears on the cover and inside the catalog for the Sense of Place exhibition. To order catalog click here.    |
| Related Links: The particular area of San Francisco Bay shown in this quilt is Bair Island in Redwood City. An initial restoration project was undertaken in the fall of 2000. The project was coordinated by Life Science! Inc. You can learn more about the restoration they did by clicking on the links for Bair Island Restoration and Bair Island Monitoring from their home page. |