GIA STRANG
In 2018, after a sixteen-year career in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves, raising three children, and following her husband’s Navy career, Gia and her family settled in Boise. She returned to school to pursue a second degree in visual arts with a focus in sculpture. In December 2021, Gia graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boise State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and opened a studio in her backyard.
Gia’s work explores the intangible, evolving spaces between individuals, focusing on the dynamic and complicated nature of connection and relationship. Primarily working with salvaged steel, Gia is drawn to its permanence, weight, and the beauty found in imperfection. The industrial waste pipes she uses are cut, shaped, and welded into new forms, with flaws highlighted by gold leafing. These imperfections, she believes, symbolize how our pasts, though flawed, shape us into something new and beautiful.
Much like these materials, Gia’s own transformation is significant. A veteran of the US Air Force, her experience as an electronics technician in satellite communications and airborne flight systems reflects a life of constant change. Now working from her backyard studio, Gia continues to explore the power of physical space in her three-dimensional sculptures.
