Upon entering Linda DePalma’s studio in Woodbury, one of the first pieces to catch the eye is a graceful, lilting and leafy branch, a powder-coated aluminum cut out representing the foliage of a ginkgo tree. There are other pieces like this, the main feature of a large-scale public art piece, “Ginkgo Canopy,” installed at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton. The piece provides both shade and aesthetic interest within the garden’s natural landscape.
This is the type of work that has made a name for DePalma and has won her multiple commissions for outdoor, site-specific and utilitarian pieces that are anything but simply utilitarian, such as bright and decorative gates and benches for public spaces. One large piece that readers might know is the Redwood Arch in downtown Baltimore. The piece references industries that used to be prominent on Redwood Street: garment factories and hatmakers. Her goal was to capture the spirit of the place and honor its history.
Residing in Bolton Hill since her graduate school at MICA in the 1970s, DePalma and her husband Paul Daniel, an artist previously featured in this column, have built their artistic lives around large-scale public art. At times they have worked together; for example, on the nearby Franklin Street Garage, “Double Gamut” is installed on the facade. It is an exquisitely patterned aluminum grate with elements of pop art, a simple chair and a red ball projecting out over the street. But one need go no further than our own neighborhood to see an example of DePalma’s work. Take a walk down Jenkins Alley, between Lanvale and Lafayette, and you will find the Van Buren Gate. I invite readers to take a look.
Not all of DePalma’s work can be seen with the eye. As the founding education director at Creative Alliance, DePalma developed an after-school arts program for Baltimore City children. She speaks fondly of this work and her former students, one of whom introduced her at the Creative Alliance earlier this year, when she was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award. About the Creative Alliance, DePalma says, “It’s a very special organization. They offer so many options, and I’ve made many good friends there.”
DePalma’s current public art project is an intricately designed fence for the Riggs Road Station of the future Purple Line, near Hyattsville. The patterns and images in the plans for this project reference the cultures of people who live and work in the area. This idea, that art reflects the people, is a thread that runs through her work. Within her designs, the lines, shapes and colors, pulled together with expertise, are pleasing to the eye but also are symbolic. They are meaningful in a manner that honors our humanity.
DePalma has said that working with large-scale public art is not for the faint of heart. That is but one facet of her body of work. The walls of her studio are covered with dozens of smaller scale, mixed media pieces: bas reliefs, layered with materials such as cut-out paper, metal and mylar. They are both bold and delicate: unapologetic color, strong shapes, dominated by curves and layers with intentional transparency. Inspired by nature, particularly botanical themes, her designs reference foliage and garden insects. They are graceful, bright, positive and full of life. Inspired by the greenery in the yards of her home on Bolton Street, DePalma says, “I look carefully at how things evolve, grow, open up and change. I’m all about the garden.”
Artists have found inspiration in nature during times of strife and were still able to create beauty. We are privileged today to have such an artist living and working among us. DePalma’s work reminds us that beauty is all around us, if we open ourselves up to it. If we can see beauty, then there is hope for the future.
To learn more about DePalma’s work you can view her Baker Portfolio and check out BHCA’s Instagram post for more images. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for the November issue of BmoreArt. This would be the Icon Issue, and Gurlz of Baltimore, a distinguished group of women artists, of which DePalma was a founding member, will be featured.
–Francine Marchese
Download PDF