Linda Kamille Schmidt’s Ethereal Fabric Collages

Linda Kamille Schmidt ’s work is ethereal, spiritual, and it features beautiful, jewel-toned colors. Schmidt uses fabrics often sourced from a range of places – thrift shops, bargain bin remnants and high end silks, which she then combines to create a harmonious whole. Her work creates a unique effect of light passing through the layers of the fabric, resulting in an optical effect. 

Her newest body of work, unveiled after more than nine months in the studio, is bold. Comprising nine new fabric collages—four large-scale and five smaller pieces—this fresh series is both a return and a turning. Schmidt revisits themes from earlier periods while expanding her sense of space. 

The larger works, each identical in size, are anchored by their vertical format. They each resemble hanging scrolls— meditative. Their verticality doesn’t just elongate space; it invites stillness. These are works that ask for time, for contemplation, for breath.

“Her earlier works hung from the ceiling. She would have 3 or 4 or 5 hanging in unison. So that you would see through all the different layers. And the different colors would change as you saw through with just the natural daylight, describes Liz Garvey in a zoom interview with me. Garvey is the owner of Garvey|Simon Gallery which represents Schmidt.

Now, her pieces are primarily framed. This new body of work ranges in size from 32” x 20” to 10” x 7.5”.

Improvisational Fabric Collages

Throughout this new series, Schmidt’s hallmark layering remains. Translucent swaths of fabric veil denser grounds, stitched lines meander like thought, fragments of repurposed cloth—domestic, familiar—now abstracted. Each work feels as though it’s in motion. There’s a kind of improvisational architecture at play: deliberate, yet open.

The artist states, “I build each piece forward from my past.”

Challenging Expectations Through Stitch

Linda Kamille Schmidt ’s work is not only visual but conceptual. Her work pushes against long-held ideals embedded in both art and gender. Her approach to fabric and form reflects a deeper inquiry into the cultural expectations placed on women and the pursuit of perfection.

“Through my stitching methods and varying degrees of fussiness, I explore and challenge expectations of perfection, the rigidity of traditional rules, and what has historically denoted success for women”, says the artist.

A Meditation in Cloth (Fabric Collages)

Schmidt’s newest body of work—nine thoughtful pieces — is a meditation in cloth—quiet, and resonant with emotional depth. Each fabric collage invites the viewer to slow down, to notice the light, texture, and emotion embedded in the layered fabrics.