back from the dead and taking 'flight'

Hello all and hope you are all well.  I don't think I have ever gone this long between blog posts but it seemed as if mother nature and life had a different plan about my past 6 weeks.

As many of you may know I am in the process of getting divorced, which is taxing on many levels in itself.  And the plan was to move into a new apartment on February 1st, but instead of packing I ended up sick in bed!! I seemed to have contracted a new, 'trendy' and wicked virus that can take people out for weeks - and that is what happened.

I was down, but not out & luckily I am slowly getting back to normal.  In the past few days I have made way too many trips to Ikea to count - but boy is that a great place to outfit an entire apartment. Last week they delivered 33 boxes to my new abode!!! allen wrench, anyone.  So hopefully before April 1st I may have my apt. assembled and my girls and me settled (fingers crossed)

I have also been trying to get back to my art. ( I don't think I have darkened my studio door in weeks, but I digress)   To help get me back into this wonderful state of mind - I had a show which opened on March 1st ~ Flight of Fancy at Amazing Things, Framingham, MA.

'insatiable'

'womb wrap' seen thru the doorway

my 'creatures' !!!

For those who follow my facebook artist page you might have seen the announcement.  For those not on facebook, I apologize. Facebook updates were about all I could do that opening week.

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook (well I am questioning social media in general - but that may be for another post).  However it offers an easy way to announcements out there in the whole.  So if you want to, you can 'like' my artist page, and all that means that you will get my art news, but no pressure!

The opening of Flight of Fancy was well attended, even with the snow storm!!! And the show looks great!! It is a three person show ~ David Lang, Carl Staley and moi! and all of our pieces compliment each other's wonderfully.

When we were granted this exhibit opportunity we decided to have our theme be play!!! We all recognize the importance of the journey and the process as much, if not more, than the end product.  I was pleased to exhibit mostly fiber works and I even performed 'insatiable' during the opening. And to add to the fun, some of the people who came to the opening (such loyal followers :) had come to my 2010 Open Studio when I was just introducing  'insatiable'.  At the opening they marveled at how much the piece has grown and changed!!  I hope to go to the gallery at last once more to work on the piece ~ that would be between all my box opening and furniture building.

This 'moving' has presented me with an interesting conundrum. With all this unpacking, I have been swamped with endless packing material, much that I think would be great to crochet into 'insatiable'!!!  In fact I was thinking of starting an entirely new piece, made solely from all the plastic packing material from my move ~ the plastic from the new mattresses (so wonderfully thick), the thin white plastic wrap that was protecting some of the furniture and the endless plastic bags that carried all the smaller purchases. This is a challenge as I can't throw anything out - much to the chagrin of my eldest.  But I can guarantee that at least some of these fine material will make it into 'insatiable' and hopefully during 'Flights of Fancy'!!!

So stop by if you can - the show runs thru March 29th.  If I do go 'preform' I will post it :).

Also there was a marvelous write up in the MetroWest Daily News:

March 1, 2012
'Flights of Fancy' in Framingham

Three artists making "sexy" woodworks, crocheted "creatures" and moving sculptures that broadcast old baseball games are quoting Socrates' observation "Wisdom begins in wonder" to describe their show at Amazing Things Arts Center in Framingham. Carl "Chip" Staley, Virginia Fitzgerald and David Lang are showing varied works that seem to fit together in "Flights of Fancy: The Importance of Play" which runs through March 29.

Chip off the block A cabinetmaker and artist, Staley creates sculpted woodworks shaped to suggest the flow of music and imagination. The Natick resident is showing a dozen sculptures he called "graceful, sexy 3-D doodles." A carpenter whose business is named "Wooden Wisdom," Staley said, "My work is mysterious and spiritual. It takes you places."

Tangled up in blue Departing from prior work, Fitzgerald is crocheting semi-abstract pieces she called "creatures" that seem to take on lives of their own. The work named "Medusa" might be a knit orange hula skirt for a mermaid. Beside its tactile appeal, a three-part piece, "Trinity (Trust, Strength and Wisdom)" seems to subvert the Greek myth of the Fates who measured out men's lives in yarn.
Her most ambitious piece, "Insatiable," has "grown" to be 8 feet tall like hanging moss. "It's turned into a monster that doesn't want to stop," said Fitzgerald. "It's become a performance."

Clockwork orange Part tinkerer, part conjurer, Lang transforms gears and feathers, sprockets and copper tubing into automatons that shake, rattle and roll out the whimsy. They enact mini-mechanical pantomimes that might be jokes, nostalgic skits or even moral tales. Featuring clam shells and pictures of Renaissance nudes, "The Day the Castinetti Sisters First Learned to Fly" is an elaborate sight gag. Resembling an old buggy built the Unabomber, "Play By Play" will emit radio recordings of vintage baseball games.

"This show embodies the idea the best art is serendipitous," said Lang, of Wayland. "When you work, unexpected stuff comes out."

A reception will be held Thursday, March 1 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Amazing Things is located at 160 Hollis St., Framingham. For information, call 508-405-2787 or visit www.amazingthings.org.

well, thanks for reading, happy to be 'back' & peace