'holy trinity', juried into 'Three'

'holy trinity ...' (2010)

I am happy to announce that my fiber piece, 'holy trinity ...' was accepted into Attleboro Arts Museum's National Juried Exhibition, "Three", which opens this Thursday and runs through to July 13th.  I am honored to be included in this group of artists from all over the country.  And as always it is such a joy to participate in anything that Mim Fawcett and the incredible AAM staff are doing with their lovely museum.

'holy trinity ...' is part of my 'creatures' series.  The series consisted of fiber pieces that I crochet in an intuitive and organic manner.  I usually start with a certain color and a variety of yarn, once I begin crocheting I just follow the piece's lead.

Many of my 'creatures ...' have beads.  Each piece in 'holy trinity ...' has a word bead, 'strength', 'wisdom' and 'trust', along with other beads.  When exhibiting my 'creatures ...' I prefer to let the curator decide how to display the piece, adding another organic element to the 'creature ...' I wonder how 'holy trinity ...' will be exhibited in this exhibit?!?!

opening this thursday atthe Attleboro Arts Museum.

I am also pleased to announce that the Attleboro Arts Museum's gift shop is carrying some of my merchandise.  Last week I delivered dressproject notecards, tote bags, mugs and a wonderful collection of my mini buttons.  Below are the pictures that Attleboro posted on their Instagram account.

So if you can make a trip to Attleboro and stop by the museum.  If possible, come by this Thursday evening, June 14th, 7-9pm, and join in the fun of the opening reception.  For all information about the exhibit and reception, the details are listed below or click on this link here: the AAM's website

attleboro arts on instagram

attleboro arts on instagram

Three A National Juried Exhibition 
June 14th - July 13th, 2018Opening Reception: Thursday, June 14th, 7-9pm

Reception Includes:
Presentation of juror’s awards
The announcement of the 2019 national juried exhibition theme
Live music from Debbie Barshay, Joan Lawton and Noriko
Whitaker – a flute trio from the Lafayette Band of North Kingstown, RI

THREE Juror – Juror Alexander Castro is a writer and journalist. He regularly contributes arts reporting and criticism to Art New England, Big Red & Shiny, Mercury, and GLASS Quarterly. His writing has also appeared or is forthcoming in untethered, Don’t Take Pictures and Lost Balloon. In 2018, Castro was a runner-up for the inaugural Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing.
.

attleboro arts on instagram

thank you and peace,  

Today, just breathe!!!

Let go of all that serves you no more ...

craftivism: is a form of activism that is centered on practices of craft/art

my contribution to @whatchidid's project  

Craftivism:  a form of activism, typically incorporating elements of anti-capitalism, environmentalism or third-wave feminism, that is centered on practices of craft - or what can traditionally be referred to as "domestic arts". Craftivism includes, but is not limited to, various forms of needlework. Craftivism is a social process of collective empowerment, action, expression and negotiation. In craftivism, engaging in the social, performative and critical discourse around the work is central to its production and dissemination. ^[1] Practitioners are known as craftivists. (definition from wikipedia.org)

I love the concept: craftivism, as it embodies two ideas that I feel passionate about: making my voice heard and making things.  So when I saw this project, "Draw the Line" by @Whatchidid I just HAD to participate ~ Embroidery and Women's rights.

photo: @whatchidid

photo: @whatchidid

Artist Chi Nguyen (@Whatchidid )—in partnership with the Textile Arts Center and the Center for Reproductive Rights—put a call out to anyone who wanted to participate:

The public is invited to Draw the Line by joining the embroidery process at the stitch-ins, or by sending in their own 10x10” swatches with as many tally marks (卌) as they would like to embroider. All swatches will be patched onto a larger quilt to be used at the Supreme Court rally on March 2nd, 2016. ** (she is continuing to add swatches after today so don't despair)

Many stitch-ins were hosted and swatches were sent from all over the world; as of yesterday @whatchidid stated that the quilt now represented 300,000 embroidered lines with submissions from 34 states and 6 countries and the project is still going.  Today the quilt stood outside the Supreme Court of the United States but @whatchidid is still collecting swatches, her aim is to have 

5.4 million lines to represent the 5.4 million women of reproductive age from accessing the healthcare they need. So if you are interested grab your needle and hoop.

I learned of the project while taking my daughter on a college tour via Amtrak, but luckily for me I always travel with a needle and embroidery hoop and floss (I always think I would do really well on the Monty Hall version of 'Let's make a Deal' (Monty) "Let's see what you have in your purse" , (me) "well I have a paint brush, glue stick, pliers, ... ) 

It has been really interesting to see the different swatches and different interpretations on these swatches while just using tally marks!! Below is more information, links to articles about the project and photos,  along with the link to Artist Chi Nguyen (@Whatchidid )'s web site where you can find all the information about how to participate.  

from Artist Chi Nguyen (@Whatchidid )'s website:

photo: @whatchidid

"On March 2nd, 2016, the United States Supreme Court will hear the most important reproductive rights case in almost 25 years. The decision will determine whether Texas can shut down nearly all abortion care providers in the state and prevent 5.4 million women of reproductive age from accessing the healthcare they need."

DrawtheLine.org where you can see pictures of many of the beautiful swatches.

from the article on MS.blog.com:

“Because this is a very public and collaborative project,” Nguyen says, “some might want to embroider one line and others might want to embroider all 5.4 million. I think that’s the beauty of it. When we surpass the original number, we ourselves become ‘and Counting.'”

from the article about the project on VICE.com:

This Artist Is Making a Giant Quilt to Represent 

the 5.4 Million Women Affected by Texas's Abortion Laws

How will the quilt function at the rally? 

I really wanted to use a quilt because it represents comfort, safety, and security, and the lack of access to abortion care and reproductive health care in general is anything but that. The quilt represents those things for me and also creates a sense of unity from supporters across the US who can send in swatches, which we will sew together. Right now, I have no idea how many swatches we will get by March 2. If we don't get enough, we will hold stitch-ins at the rally, but if we finish, we will use it as a banner. However, it won't just be a banner. It will also provide warmth.

where to find : CHI NGUYEN

website

twitter : @whatchidid

instagram : whatchidid

peace 

patterns on a post-it

photo by Francisca Nunes of some of our posts for her #30daysofpatternstudies 

One of the perks of Instagram, besides finding awesome artists and beautiful art, is discovering interesting projects/challenges.

Last year I contributed to the coloring book 'Breathing to a new Beat, "the Breathing to a New Beat Technicolour Dream Book is a collaborative fundraising colouring book to support the Heart and Lung Transplant Trust Vic (HLTTV)" and the brain child of CurlyPops .  

This month I stumbled upon Francisca Nunes' #30daysofpatternstudies and knew it was perfect for me ... I love pattern and a post-it is the perfect size so that I can't spend all day working on it (need to be on the watch for anything that may be a #productiveprocastination possibility)

pattern 11/30

And it has been a perfect project, post-it are always available, and perfect for when you are on 'hold' on the phone, waiting for a carpool pick-up and lately they have been quite handy while traveling on the train and during the 'lovely, yet repetitive' college informational sessions.  This week Francisca posted about her reasons for starting her #30daysofpatternstudies and has posted some of our patterns (make sure to click on the link at the bottom of this post to be taken to her blog!)  and I figured I would share how this has been such a terrific experience for me on my blog.

pattern 10/30 'lovebirds' for Valentine's Day

First I have really enjoyed getting to 'know' Francisca and her work via Instagram! 

another photo by Francisca Nunes of some of our posts for her #30daysofpatternstudies 

Secondly, any of these daily or monthly projects/challenges are a great way to hone a certain interest or talent. Doing a certain assignment every day for an allotted time takes away the sense of the work being 'precious' or the need for it to be 'perfect', two words that can kill any creativity!! 

one of the rooms at Charleston, Sussex, England

Creating these 3x3 pieces of pattern has reminded me about how much I LOVE to create pattern, how I used to envision living in a home that I covered with pattern.  This explains my obsession with the Bloomsbury Group and the country home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the Charleston Farmhouse, where the artists decorated the walls, doors and furniture! 

pattern 13/30 

pattern 14/30 

Also this project got me to pull out my gouache paints, an opaque watercolor, which I used to use when I was creating illustrations and art for greeting cards (way back when).  Via these post-it, I am thoroughly enjoying rediscovering the wonders of gouache, which is so timely as I am reestablishing my freelance illustration and design business this year!! 

pattern 12/30 (pen and gouache)

Lastly this has been an awesome project to take on the road ... post-its are perfect for traveling as I taking my daughter on an eastern seaboard college visit via Amtrak.  And it turned out to be a lovely mother/daughter bonding moment!!! Below is my post-it pattern which was inspired by Maya's beautiful mandala!!!

pattern 15/30 

To see all of my post-it patterns you can check out my instagram feed and to see see the work of Francisca Nunes and read her thoughts about her project, #30daysofpatternstudies check out her blog: 

http://heartmakes.blogspot.pt

And lastly, as Francisca noted in her blog, JOIN the FUN!!!

"If you join us post your patterns with the #30daysofpatternstudies and #heartmakespostit, so every patterns will be in the same palace and we all can see the creations of each others!"

pattern 1/30, felt tip marker and gouache
hope to post this on spoon flower as a repeat
©virginiafitzgerald2016

peace

spreading the love (art)!!!! in natick, attleboro and (wait for it ..... ) Sunny California!!!!

this past week i have been spreading the love ...

new cards at Renew in downtown Natick.
note the cards featuring their great merchandise

print of illustrated quote

First I replenished the stock of cards and prints at Uni-T at the Natick Collection. I brought new cards as well as many new prints, which included some of my illustrations. 

I introduced these illustrated prints at my open studio 

and they were received very well!! And at 

the owner, Eujin Kim Neilan, displays them so well.

one of the 'renew' notecards

Then on to Renew Arts & Industry, where not only did I restock their origami dresscards, but I added some of the new dress notecards, such as 'sizzzle...'  

AND also added some notecards featuring some of my photographs of their beautiful merchandise!!

new dresscard image, 'sizzzzle ...'

' #kitchentableseries V ...'  pen and ink.
 inspired by an instagram posting by another 'dress' artist, Karen Arp-Sandel.

In Attleboro, MA, you can find one of my #kitchentableseries drawings at the Attleboro Arts Museum as part of their Benefit Art Auction.  

Today is the last day that you can bid online so make sure to click this link to bid and to see all the beautiful offerings.  

click here to see online auction

And now for the big news!!! the California news!!
I am happy to announce that I made my first sale via/thanks to the internet!!

mixed media dress collage,  is now in CA!!! 

Thank you instagram's 'randomartist222', who saw my dress collage 

that I had shared on instagram and inquired if it was for sale!!!

YES!!! but .... she was in CA and I in MA?!?!

Well she made some suggestions and she waited patiently as I set up my paypal account and investigated shipping and then voila, she still wanted it!! the USPS got it there safely, she liked it in person ....

SO

 I successfully made my first online sale!!!!!!!

(the crowd goes wild!!!)

And with that under my belt ... there will be more!!! 

Oh yes there will be more!!! 

so til later!! 

peace, va

today on #fromthelandofdragons and more . . .

#fromthelandofdragons: It's all about looking . . .: 

"where do you find all these awesome flowers" "... it's all about looking :D"

“How we spend our days, of course, is how we spend our lives,”  Annie Dillard 

click here to see entire post

AND 

Happy St. Patty's day:

May you always have walls for the winds,

a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,

laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,

and all your heart might desire.

~Irish Blessing

click here to see today's dailydress inspiration

PEACE & LOVE,

va

dresses on the move and #fromthelandofdragons' blog . . . .

I am not one for letting a few feet of snow stop me! 

I grew up in the windy city and boy do we do weather there!!! 

So between forecasted snow storms got some my my art out into the world!!

 First, I delivered 'torqued and tethered . . . ' and 'dear jeff . . . '

to the South Shore Art Center.  They are part of a group show, curated by 

Bill Houser, called "Forever & After". (more info and link below)

Then after having some motivation issues I framed and delivered some 

#fromthelandofdragons photos to the Wellesley Starbucks, on rt 135.

Reminding us all what a few months will bring . . . 

And this installation prompted me to finally

create and publish a dedicated blog page for my

#fromthelandofdragons series!! (yay)

(link to blog below AND in dashboard) 

now these photos will be 

all in one place, more easily found,

 especially for those of you

who are not on FB or Instagram. 

show card for "Forever & After"

show catalogue 

Description and information about "Forever & After"
"Forever & After" at the South Shore Art Center

click here to view show catalogue

A dedicated home for my #fromthelandofdragons photos:
#fromthelandofdragons has its own blog!!!!! 

Since Starbucks doesn't want artists to post prices I have created this page with all $$ info:
link to pricing information for the work at starbucks

so much to discover in this cyber-world in which we play . . .

today i am bring back my series:

dOse oF TaLenT

"dOse oF TaLenT"
which started a few years ago on my artist's page on Facebook.
i shared the works and links of artists that inspired me,
that i thought was doing something new,
artists that caught my attention.

i stopped this 'practice' because other life events needed my time and attention, but i have been itching to start up again.  now even more, thanks to instagram and pinterest, i have discovered amazing artists that more people need to know about!!!

so i have started a "dOse oF TaLenT" blog which can be found in the above dashboard of this blog. this way if you are interested in my "dOse oF TaLenT" then you can click through or just follow that blog, and this blog can stay more information about what is happening in my art world (although, i DO have some fun ideas for this blog) 

instagram

as i have written numerous times, i miss this blog. i love doing the dailydress inspiration blog, but i miss the deeper exploration that i was doing here . . . i honestly get a lot of insight when i read past posts and remember what i was doing and thinking at that time.

so introducing the addition of my  "dOse oF TaLenT" blog into my cyber-world.

here is the link to today's post (clickhere) but as I mentioned you can get there by clicking "dOse oF TaLenT" in this blog's dashboard (look up ^).  

happy clicking and please leave a comment if you are having trouble, or if you have a comment about the new format, or if you just have a comment or idea to share.

FB artist page

400 followers ?!?!?!

as anyone who has read my blogs know I have a love/hate relationship with all things social media!!!  

I understand it's perks but I am very suspicious of the black hole of time is can be and how social media fans the flames of comparison and create even more internal strive.

'studio light . . . ' vlf©2015

However, that said, I love my Instagram!! (the place where #fromthelandofdragons began) ! 

and I am totally addicted to Pinterest (I swear it is my crack cocaine)!!! 

just a fraction of my boards . . .  click here to see them all

I have always LOVED blogging, this blog was my first foray into the 'social' cyber-world!!  

And now I see that my Art & Inspiration page on FaceBook has almost 400 followers!!! 

'guppy . . . ' #fromthelandofdragons ©2014

That is cool!!! 

So thank you all for the 'likes'!! That is one of the perks of social media, these venues bring like minded people together.  The people who like my FB page are interested in the going-ons of my studio and my work. That is a wonderful, wonderful gift to an artist!!! 

thank you and peace . . . .

xxx 

from the atelier, week #47 (aka a week in review)

This week i finished my latest #wellnesswrap,

finished for a friend who is fighting breast cancer.

this has been my response to the news 

of a friend battling cancer, 

i crochet . . .

 i start with a color and then the shawl grows  

organically  . . .

i am never quite sure 

where it will go. 

this one surprised me with a button and a collar.

 

below is a link about the first #wellnesswrap and the thoughts behind this practice:

virginia fitzgerald . . art . . inspiration . . ink: a day of thanks...: 

also this week i received this picture of a card that i designed for a friend 

who lost her husband earlier this year. 

she has been a long time fan of my dailydress inspirations 

but we felt that a dress wouldn't be appropriate 

so i learned how to make an origami star. 

since she needed a good number of cards, 

i got them printed. 

i am so happy with the way the origami still has some of the 3D quality, 

i'm consider creating 

a set of quote and origami notecards . . .

any suggestions for which quotes to print?!?!?

'casted sun rise . . . .'

and to wrap up this w.i.r. 
here are some of this 
week's photos from my
 #fromthelandofdragons series
(especially for those of you not on FB and/or instagram . . . :) 

'one if these things is not like the others . . . ' 

'top of the morning' . . . '

thank you for visiting and peace . . .


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click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click below to visit my FB art page:
virginia fitzgerald . . .art . . . inspiration . . . ink