Land Art: Ancient Lake Lahontan
Temporary Land Art Installations made at four different sites. Each is described below.
These temporary land artworks were created during a group land art trip in 2001 - we visited different sites in ancient Lake Lahontan, a vast system of interconnected lakes that filled the central Great Basin of Nevada during the last ice age. All works were done on site; they were temporary installations documented by these photographs.
This series of land artworks uses stitching as a metaphor. I made long strips of fabric to represent thread in the landscape. In each work I stitch together the present landscape with the ancient landscape by placing giant fabric strip threads into the landscape. I am embroidering a narrative of place in the land art context and each work uses a different kind of embroidery stitch.
You may also want to view my other series of temporary land artworks created during another group land art trip in 2001 that focuses on waterway that flowed from Mono Lake to Death Valley during the last ice age.
Copyright ©2001 Linda Gass.
Title: Cross Stitch at Wadsworth Amphitheater
Date: May 2001
Statement: Wadsworth Amphitheater is a floodplain of the lower Truckee River and ephemeral streams flow into it. I used the strips of fabric to make cross stitches in cool colors (purples, blues and greens) across a dry drainage to mark where water once flowed during the Pleistocene era. Ephemeral streams still flow here today as evidenced by the erosion and plants near the drainage.
Title: Running Stitch at Pyramid Lake
Date: May 2001
Statement: Pyramid Lake is one of the remnant lakes of ancient Lake Lahontan. The giant tufa formations near the lake are evidence of the higher water is level of the ancient lake. I used the strips of fabric to create a running stitch to connect the present level of Pyramid Lake with the past level by placing a line of fabric strips from the lake shore up to a previously submerged giant tufa tower. The water level of Pyramid Lake is dropping at the rate of one foot per year due to diversion of the Truckee River to provide water for new developments outside of Reno, Nevada. At this rate, the lake will go dry within our lifetime.
The colors of the strips are symbolic: blues and greens represent a time in the ancient past when the climate was relatively cool. Reds, oranges and yellows symbolize hotter times. The occasional return to blue and purple represent times of heavy snow melt that once again filled the lake to capacity. Now it's always hot and the water level keeps decreasing.
Copyright ©2001 Linda Gass.
Title: Zig Zag Stitch in the Black Rock Desert
Date: May 2001
Statement: Water once filled this playa (dry lake bed). I used a zigzag stitch to suggest water on the cracked surface of this dry lake bed. The zigzag evokes the pattern reflected light makes on wind-blown water. As the stitch recedes into the distance, it breaks apart, as things appear when viewing them under water.
Title: Suturing the Mine
Date: May 2001
Statement: This site is an abandoned quicksilver mine near Fallon, NV. Suture-like stitches symbolically heal this heavily mined landscape. The "mountains" behind the sutures are tailings from the pit mine (shown at left).
This series of images is available as framed c-prints