thank you Puffin Foundation!!!!

Last week the mail brought me good news; no, great news, phenomenal news. I received news that The Puffin Foundation is giving me a GRANT to create/finish my piece, ripple ~ Yahoo!!!! This is such exciting news!!! To receive a grant is such validation of one's work and vision, as well as a financial boom. This grant could not have come at a better time!!! My job at Dana Hall has come to an end and I have been dying to get back into the studio, but there is

always that ever-present incomegoblin.... but now I have something to feed him for a month or two :). So instead of looking ahead to a summer of employment uncertainty, I can plan a summer working away in my studio~ guilt-free (what will that feel like?!?)

The Puffin Foundation does great work ~ "continuing the dialogue between art and the lives of ordinary people." Their mission being..“ the Puffin Foundation Ltd. has sought to open the doors of artistic expression by providing grants to artists and art organizations who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their race, gender, or social philosophy.”

And besides providing grants for artists, they also have wonderful exhibition spaceswhere they put on thought- provoking and provaocative shows. Currently at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck, NJ is the traveling exhibit, In the Bag. This show "traces the history of the reusable bag movement and presents creative alternatives to using plastic shopping bags, in cluding beautifully designed reusable bags made from billboards, juice boxes, rice bags, and discarded plastic bags."

I am proud to say, that for the exhibit in NJ the curator, Merri Milwe, invited me to show my Red Alert Cocktail dress, which I was happily did. The exhibit runs from June 3rd - July 21st.

I applied for a Puffin Grant to help me complete my piece 'ripple' (it's working name). 'ripple' is a newer rendition of my large dag tag dress which was called '3,000 and counting'. '3,000 and counting' (made in 2006-2007) was about the dead soldiers in the Iraq conflict - very literal. But I was never happy was the way that dress looked, the shape. So when the dress was finished being in the provocative show, A Call to Art at Gallery 55, Natick, MA, I brought it back to my studio and cut it in half ~ much to the chagrin of many. But I didn't like it and I knew it could be better.

As the pieces of the dress sat in my studio I was struggling with how i wanted to remake it. While in it's deconstructed state, the dress did 'spawn' two smaller and poignant dog tag dresses ~ "in memory of..." and " do they

know its Christmas?". Two dresses that have been shown a multitude of times, evoking much thought and conversation. But still, the large dog tag dress sat in disarray. I would work on it but still wasn't sure where it was going. By this point there were way more than 3,000 dead from this war ... did I get more dog tags to keep up with the death toll? But I realized it was about more than dead soldiers. As the time past I began more aware of how the affects of the war were so far-reaching ~ not just the dead and their families, but so much more ~ the child who has been shuffled around to different care-givers because of parents' military duty and stress of the co-worker of the girlfriend who was murdered by her boyfriend who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The stories are many and I want represent that aspect of this crisis ~ the ripple affect of this conflict. So that is what I proposed to the Puffin Foundation and that is what they decided to fund!! So thank you Puffin Foundation, because this is no small undertaking, and to have your endorsement that you believe in this project enough to fund it it is priceless. below is the description that I included in the grant!

My project is to create a large, sprawling sculptural dress commenting on ripple effect that recent and past military involvement has on everyone ~ the soldiers, their loved ones, their families and children, workplaces and schools, communities and society as a whole. The repercussions are far reaching and the issues are complicated.

My proposed piece, “ripple” is its working title, is important in that it will facilitate dialogue about our continual engagement in military situations, and our dependency on a military economy. With “ripple” my goal is to have people stop, look, think, feel, engage and communicate.

This piece will build off the power and energy of an earlier work, “in memory of...”, which also addresses war. Made out of dog tags ‘decorated’ with photos of soldiers who have already given their lives, “in memory of...” provides a safe and scared arena for consideration of the sacrifices war demands. Its presence quiets many, and even brings some to tears. “ripple” will also consist of dog tags, along with beads, charms and other material to represent the nonmilitary.

My truth is simple. My voice is gentle, yet compelling. The ideas that I deal with are complex. I offer an alternative to fear-based thinking or even lack of thinking. My work elicits fresh thinking, engaging people to generate their own thoughts and opinions. With your funding I will have the means to bring “ripple” to fruition, a piece that fulfills the mission of the Puffin Foundation; “...continuing the dialogue between art and the lives of ordinary people.”

peace

Rui Rocks!!!

I found this awesome image in my email yesterday. One of my design students took photos of my work from my blog and web site and created this!! I love it!!! It is so exhilarating to see ME made up out of all my work!! it is all there ~ dresses, paintings, fiber, photographs and more! Thank you Rui!!!

How Virginia got her groove back

For anyone who has children, they know that June has a momentum all its own ~ school, sports, after school classes all are finishing and there are numerous end of the year fetes and events that can suffocate one's calendar. For me these past few weeks have had even more poignant events ~ besides my girl's schools winding down (including a 'promotion' from elementary school to middle school), a 13th birthday (hello teenager!!) and some other family affairs; I finished up a wonderful and intense semester of substituting at the Dana Hall School. The past five months at Dana have been such an amazing learning experience for me, with wonderful teachers - my Dana Hall students. I believe it is safe to say that we all, students and teacher, grew and stretched ourselves ~ and I hope we all continue to challenge ourselves. But as wonderful that this experience has been, I have been painfully aware that I have been a stranger in my studio (only so many hours in the day to be teacher, mom, cook...). & I have SO missed making art and being in that arty mindset. So now the time has come to get myself back into the studio; to re-immerse myself in that heady drug of creative thought!! One way that I get those juices flowing is by applying to shows and that is what i did.

For a few years I have been aware of the A.I.R. Gallery's yearly benefit postcard show, but I have always missed the due date. This year that changed!! I successfully got a postcard in the mail (thanks to next day air). BUT for me, in the midst of everything - I see this as a victory!! And I am very happy with my submission ~ I had planned to make a collage piece with an origami dress (like my daily dress project pieces) but, as is so true so many times, the muses has a different idea. This card is a perfect snapshot of my life at this moment of time and what a perfect way to begin this new creative journey.

Here is some of the 411 of the show :

A.I.R. Gallery's yearly benefit postcard show, Wish You Were Here 10 from June 22 – July 16, 2011. Last year’s exhibit had work by over 400 artists including Kiki Smith and Mary Frank. This year we hope you will join us in our mission to provide leadership and community to women in the arts by exhibiting your work in Wish Your Were Here 10.

The postcards, made and donated by artists nationwide—both men and women—will be shown in our Gallery III space. Each will be signed, titled and dated and may include a message from the artist. The cards will be labeled and a list of participating artists will be made available to gallery visitors. All postcards will be priced at $45 including New York State sales tax.

We hope that you will be part of Wish You Were Here 10 and we look forward to seeing you at the special Postcard Show opening on Wednesday, June 22, from 6pm to 8:30 pm, for the reception on Thursday June 23 from 6pm to 8:30pm for all three exhibits we will have on view or for the DUMBO 1st Thursdays Gallery Walk on Thursday, July 7 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

111 Front Street #228. Brooklyn, NY 11201 . phone 212-255-6651

peace

illustration friday ~ asleep

Once again I feel that it has been too long since I have lasted blogged, which is true. One reason is since I have been away soooooo long there is soooooooo much I want to say so I get stymied. But then I saw today's Illustration Friday's prompt: asleep, and knew I couldn't pass this up...

In fact this is a wonderful prompt for me... so much that I couldn't pick because all three if these are some of my favorite illustrations - from way back, so i'm posting all three.

And I do hope to be posting a bit more regularly because there is just so much to share, to ponder & to post. (also my teaching position is ending so i will have a bit more time on my hands, well at least until my girlies get out of school :)

peace & happy memorial weekend!!

artistic existential angst

so .... I feel like it has been years since I have posted on this blog!! I have been working on my daily dress project blog ~ which I wonder what is the purpose of doing it, but then I still do. But now here I am!!! And I feel like sharing what I have been experiencing lately. As I think about it, it is yet another roller coaster ride, ups and downs (more the downs) ~ and there are many legit reasons for this ride, but every time I speed into the loopty-loop I feel scared and lost, and maybe sharing will help me and others!!

So in the past month, give or take, I have had a mind blowing experience at Vermont Studio Center, as well as set up and took down 2 significant gallery shows. The latter alone can send me into a minor tailspin but I think the combination has taken its toll. Also I returned from a time of living and breathing art to a schedule that doesn't allow for much studio time ~ teaching (with extracurricular activities) and a family that really missed me and wants their due!! Add to that the revelation from VSC to take better care of myself!!! whew!! In fact today was an 'old Virginia' day, which means high energy, get in as much as I can!! It was a great day but this falls under the category of burning the candle at both ends ~ up @ 6ish to get girls ready & off to school, teach from 8-2:30, then pickup girls and friends for an artistic field trip, dinner and some much needed flip-flop shopping!! I love these days and the artistic field trip was to ArtSpace in Maynard for Catherine Evans' show, Struggling with Entropy. It is a wonderful show - so inventive and talk about a woman who knows her way with materials - 14. 2 miles of gimp, Clementine boxes, yoplait cups and sharpies on medium-density fibreboard (MDF). It is an spirited show, sadly ending on Friday. The wall of gimp is breath-taking, viewed up close it is one thing: a study of gesture and color combinations and technique. Viewed from a distance it is another: a study of color and movement. Catherine is an inspiring soul ~ full of ideas with the courage to develop them!! Talking with her this afternoon was stimulating, it helped me to feel like the artist that I am. She had also set up an interactive work station with squares of MDF and sharpies of every color ~ so I sat down and drew a dress!! Working with the sharpies on the MDF is dreamy ~ she has created a large wall piece called, "too many markers to count" which I have admired for awhile, so it was delightful to make my own design. And I am happy with it, although I am thinking about putting some text behind the words.

I have been doing a few thing with text lately. I love to work with words, legible and illegible. I like to think that the essence of the word is in the work, even if it can't be read. I started this diptych about my VSC experience and both sides have words. The background of the piece on the left is filled with words about my experience and I am thinking of putting words behind my sharpie/MDF dress. Words that convey strength, knowing, courage and spirit!! to note finding my artist self again!!

The idea for the diptych pieces came from my daily dress project/journal. Both of the visiting artists @ VSC were drawn to my daily dress book. Both were fascinated and suggested that i create the pages in a larger format & this is what I did for the VSC diptych. I don't think they are as successful as the pages in the book which are intimate and manageable ~ but it is a good experiment. It is interesting once the first ddp (daily dress project) book was done I was a bit at sea on how to continue. I loved the idea of making some days bigger and some small. But as with so many things - reality trumps idea. So I have a new moleskin book, but even with that I am struggling ~ saving many materials from each day but not being able to create the pages :(. Time is the culprit!! and I must remember that ~ not that I have lost my 'touch'. All those artists out there know what I am talking about - any blip is your work and immediately you question you place in this world as an artist.

So I am struggling with that question and how much does one alter their life to accommodate this desire, or does one even have a choice?!? I am believing more and more that I don't have a choice ~ if I am not creating I implode. So, voila ~ artistic existential angst. More on the issue, but now pillows beckon, haven't seen them for around 18 hours. peace

announcing....yet, another obsession

Now how to begin.....

I was given a moleskin notebook for a project called The Sketchbook Project (more about that project later, but for now.... ) I became quite enamored with my moleskin notebook with the kraft paper cover and when I finished that book I wanted more!! & ever since beginning The Dress Project I have toyed with the idea of a daily dress. Also during this time my studio time has become shorter because I am spending many of the daylight hours in a classroom, so there has been some pent~up dress creativity. So I got myself another moleskin notebook and suddenly the pieces fell together.... introducing the Daily Dress Project or journal.

For this journal I create a page from some detritus that comes to me during the course of the day ~ a receipt, a paper bag, packing material, whatever catches my fancy; that is be the starting point. Then I build the page around that element and eventually I add an origami dress. Sometime the dress is large, sometimes small; one time the dress isn't even there, you get the idea.

This project has become a wonderful addiction as well as an exhilarating experience. To the left is a photo of a new notebook - a plain paper, 5.25 X 8.25 inch, 80 page Moleskin Cahier Sketchbook. Below you see images of what my Daily Dress Journal looks like NOW ~ I need a rubber-band to keep it closed!!! I am truly smitten ~ everyday a new puzzle to work out, a new challenge, a new opportunity to create. On these pages I am experimenting with different media and new techniques. And of course there is the nostalgic side of this ~ each journal page encapsulates a moment in my life, a diary of images.

As this journal is almost done, and I am playing with some ideas about how to continue. But as I ponder how to go forward with this project, I realized that I wanted to share this 'idee fixe', so voila the Daily Dress Project blog!

Yes, I know.... another blog?!?! but after much thought it only seemed appropriate ~ the daily dress project needed its own space where each day will have its own spotlight! not squeezed in between shows announcements and creatures and larger dresses.

To begin I have posted 6 dresses on the site, and a little story about that day's collage, if need be. I am going to try and keep the text to a minimum, have it be more about the image. So I hope you have a moment to go share in my latest all~consuming passion & I'd love to hear what you think!!

that address again ~ www.dailydressproject.blogspot.com

& peace

fundraiser for Rosie's Place ~ tonight

I am participating in a fund raiser for Rosie's Place in Boston, a wonderful place......

Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women, offers emergency and long-term assistance to women who have nowhere else to turn. Founded in 1974, Rosie’s Place welcomes each guest with respect and unconditional love. Rosie’s Place accepts no government funds, and relies instead on committed volunteers and private supporters to accomplish its effective and innovative work.

The fundraiser is this evening in Framingham ~ below is the announcement

from the organizer, Cheryl Perreault. Hope to see u there!!

ToNIGHT ~ LA CARRETA MEXICAN RESTAURANT

WOMEN MUSICIANS and ARTISTS TO RAISE MONEY FOR ROSIE'S PLACE

I would also like to announce a special fundraiser that I am involved with taking place tomorrow between the hours of 4:00 and 10:00.

This event will be an open-house style ...come when you can for a few hours or stay the entire time! This special event of partaking of Mexican food, listening to a non-stop line-up of talented female performers and viewing beautiful art...all for a donation of your choice for Rosie's Place is the vision

and creation of singer-songwriter Ruthann Baler who is founder of Strike A Chord

There will be ongoing music performed by a line-up of 30 talented women and I look forward to emceeing the whole event with my dear friend Ellen Schmidt! There will also be a number of artists exhibiting artwork including previous guest features of the Women's Art Forum such as Jeanine Vitale, Kris Waldman, Lynne Damianos and Virginia Fitzgerald. In fact, Virginia will be exhibiting a wall piece in addition to one of her special dress art pieces! All artwork will be available for purchase and each artist has kindly agreed to donate a portion or all of their sales to Rosie's Place!

A line-up of the performers and a listing of the artists can be found in the attachment.

.

I'm really looking forward to this special event of women artists sharing their art for women of Rosie's Place.

This event is open to the public. We would love to see you there in support of this special cause.

--

return from Brigadoon

I CAME......

(an empty, clean studio, full of possibilities and potential)

I SAW......

(soon pink and red was popping up EVERYWHERE)

I CONQUERED...... ( & CLEANED)

(an empty, clean studio ~ ready for the next lucky artist)

I am back from my few days in paradise, Vermont!! As I am transitioning back to reality I am powerfully aware of how fortunate I was to be able to have this experience and that I will be living and learning the lessons that i got in Vermont for days, weeks, months and years! There is so much I want to share and to explore about my time that it can be a bit paralyzing ~ so I am going to take the advice from one of my favorite books by Anne Lamott, "Bird by Bird", translation one step at a time.

So along with a quick peek at the stages of my studio space, here are the most wonderful artists that were in the firehouse studio building with me. We had a unique experience because our walls did not go all the way to the ceiling so we had more of a communal feeling with much cross pollination ..... click on their names to see their websites ~

Emilee Lord

Sophia Narrett

Emily Bowser

Jon Geiger

and lastly,

my signature on the door frame of my studio ~ a tradition for all departing artists.

peace

carbon footprint series

the idea:

having the public create the contrast needed to make the image.

I tape off a dress form on paper then remove the tape after a certain period during which the paper has been walked on.

Speaks to the accumulative effects of human presence on Mother Earth,

as well as the feelings that some people may experience in certain situations and/or relationships.*

* thanks to my dear friend and awesome illustrator/artist Jeffrey Decoster for some of the above verbiage

The first carbon footprint dress was set up at Fountain Street Fine Art, and was walked on for the duration of my two person show with Lisa Barthelson ~ March 4th - March 27th.

Today I unmasked the dress and hung it in the gallery. There is a short video at the bottom of this post.

At Vermont Studio Center I set-up two carbon footprint dresses ~ one small one outside my studio door. The other one I set up for a very short period & put it right inside the studio building's door. I set it up for the 'open studio' evening when all the artists tramp around the VSC campus to see what everyone else has been doing. So although it was a brief time for the dress to be exposed, there was intense traffic. My studio building buddies were happy to be the first to put on their prints.

...after a few hours of being walked on by shoes and boots tramping through the Vermont snow and mud!!

I am very excited about this series. i am trying out different things each time - different tapes, different papers (I want to find one that will REALLY pick up the dirt!!!!! any suggestions???) and I like experimenting with the dress ~ with the VSC open studio dress I put in some 'pleats' in the dress's skirt. So here are the first two, hopefully to be joined by many more!!!

video of the final unmasking of the Fountain Street Fine Art Carbon Footprint dress

peace

update from the SNOWY hinterlands

Ok it is officially Spring here and today it snowed ALL day!! Really snowed ~ big fat beautiful flakes!! & I couldn't believe how happy I was to see it!! One would think that I have had enough of this white stuff this year, but no. But charm of this place seems to work on everything!

So the roller coaster ride continues, although I think I have gotten through the extreme ups and downs, now the ups and downs are not so drastic, thank goodness!!. I have been on a productive high for the past few days!! I started a 8ft x 15 ft painting (why not?? I am only here for about 8 days) and it has been an exhilarating experience but also exhausting ~ physically and emotionally. This 'wall' is similar to the walls I painted for my installation 'this comes from within' ( I LOVED those walls!!) So when I was thinking how was I going to spend this nugget of creative time I realized I wanted to paint another 'wall'. But I didn't want to paint it over

again - that was the hardest part of 'this comes from within', having my walls painted over!! So I was perplexed ~ wanting to do a big mural like painting that i could take home. But since I am surrounded by creative, innovative folks, someone suggested painting on Tyvek!! So I headed out to the hardware store, stapled the tyvek to the wall and primed it!! Voila, a moveable wall. I did end up running the panel through my sewing machine so that the pieces are really connected (that was a experience in itself).So my wall has been my obsession here in Vermont; literally ~ paint, eat, paint, eat, paint, sleep, paint (u get to idea) however, i am not ready to show it, just yet!!

But I have been doing some other creative endeavors ~ first after YEARS of trying

to figure out how I was going to work with my pink foam .... dress or installation or ??? Well, here, with a lovely blank, white wall i realized that some of these pieces are pieces in their own right!! I put them on the wall and I love them! How they sit off the wall, how they curve and the shadows that they cast!! So that is exciting for me!! And I have some much of this foam that there still maybe a foam sponge dress, but not with these pieces!!

Also I have been working in my daily dress journal ~ it has gotten so thick that I can hardly close it!!! And then, before the snow, I took a walk up to see the mountains and finally took the time to make this little dress out of these small white pebbles that have been begging for my attention ever since I got here!! So the journey continues and I am soaking it all in!! (there is definitely a sponge dress in my future!!!)

Also THANK YOU to all of you wonderful folks who commented, email, contacted me about my last post!!! I now totally realized why I posted that post ~ moral support!!! it is PRICELESS!!!! so I thank you and thank you again & peace!!!

notes from the front......

"when does carpe diem become a death march??" this was the thought running through my head as I stumbled out of bed this morning. Being here at Vermont Studio Center is one of the most exciting experiences of my life and i don't want to squander a second of it!!!! I have a beautiful studio space, inspiring people around me & nary a responsibility: they are even feeding me here, and it's great food!!! This is a spectacular experience and I want to take FULL advantage of ~ carpe diem!! but I also must sleep & not return home a wreck...which is the direction I have been heading. And also I know the good stuff does not come from a exhausted, harried and manic place. So I am trying to make peace with this time that I have been given and release myself from this self imposed, suffocating emotion called guilt!!!

If you follow my blog you might get the sense that this time here has been an exhilarating and terrifying roller coaster ~ wildly, inspiring highs and intense, self-doubting lows .... all part of the process i figure. Last night as I felt myself slipping into the abyss I called a friend, a wonderfully wise friend. She posed the question to me ~ "what if one goal for this trip was to come back refreshed?!?" WOW, what a concept!! I am coming off an intense couple of months ~ starting a teaching job, negotiating what it is like to be a working mom with a schedule that is not my own, trying to help the household adjust to this situation, preparing and installing gallery shows, so I arrived here a bit depleted (to say the least). I arrived here in a manic state of exhaustion, determined to create magic to warrant the sacrifices that I have asked of my loved ones, not a good set-up. When I heard my friend's question my work ethic brain was protesting yet my core was saying a resounding YES!!. So today I am trying to walk this new path, a path of self preservation. It is an interesting path... I took a nap today!!! and I am thinking that I am not going to work until 3AM tonight (even though I took the nap).

Now why am I sharing this? I have wondered that myself... one reason could be to assuage my work crazy internal critic; another could be a sort of 'get out of jail free' card ( let everyone know that I am struggling up here:). Or maybe because this is a HUGE lesson for me ~ and one that I think many artists/moms & moms struggle with, taking care of ourselves. An idea that I have been kicking around for many years is a 'dress' using the oxygen masks from airplanes. These masks embody a life lesson that i am trying to learn:put your mask on FIRST before assisting others, such as children. Translation ~ take care of yourself first, so you can take care of others (if you so choose:).

Another reason I maybe writing this blog post could be for support, like the AA model, putting my intention to take better care of myself out into the cosmos so that I can have support in this endeavor ~ who knows, I am sure it is a little of all the reasons. But it did seem important for me to share. But now to the other things going on here ~the wonders!!

Here are shots from my studio - as one can see I am making myself at home!!! Also I had my first studio visit from one of the visiting artists ~ Xenobia Bailey. I wanted to come this week so that I could be here while she was here. She is an amazing fiber artist, a master crocheter!! She came to my studio this morning and we had a wonderful talk!! She is also friends with another artist that I so admire, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson. I saw her show Symphonic Poem at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and it blew my mind!! I saw it right before I start the Dress Project and I know that her work was a powerful influence. The show moved me so that I bought the show's book and I brought it with me to VSC, as a talisman. When Xenobia saw the book she ask me if I would like to talk to Aminah!! OMG, of course!! So not only did I have an awe-inspiring conversation with Xenobia Bailey today I got to speak with Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson. Have I mentioned that this is an amazing experience?!?!?

So there is a little from my life up here in the north!! Thank you to all who read this entire post ~ I know it got a little long; hope it was worth the read & peace from the green mountains!!