playing a little catch-up!!!

In my head I have at least 5 separate blogs that I was hoping to post but for now I am going to do a quik debriefing and hope to follow up with more detail a little later.

detail from  'ball gown'

As my last post mentioned, this has been a wonderfully full month for my work.  I have pieces in many venues, from Cambridge to Worcester and some places in between.  

Last evening I gallery sat at the Fountain Street Fine Art gallery, Framingham, MA where the show is Present Company. This is a salon show of members' work.   I am exhibiting Treacherous and Do they know it is Christmas??  It is a rich show ~ the owners of FSFA, Marie Craig and Cheri Clinton always hang an exquisite show!!!

I also have delivered more dresscards to Artisans Way in Concord, MA.  I am so excited that my dresscards are finding homes ~ I love the combination of the quotes and the dresses.  And since I can never  make anything the same way! I am now incorporating papers that I make/design as well as the origami paper. I am very happy with how these have turned out and hope to expand on this idea.

 

In Attleboro, Emily, or the Dress of Etiquette, is holding court at the Attleboro Arts Museum, for their member show! The opening reception was quite crowded (always nice to see) and I was pleasantly surprised when Emily receive a merit award.

At the Sprinkler Factory, Worcester, MA there are two other dresses holding court, Provocative & Black Widow for the No Theme, No Limit show.  Love the gallery space!!!

And the other main project that has been demanding my time is a commissioned dress, made for the interior design store, Shafer O'Neil, in Wellesley, MA.  They asked for the holiday dress that highlighted their collection of vintage Christmas ornaments.  This is the first full-sized sculptural dress that I have happily completed in a long time, so there many aspects of this piece to celebrate.  

'ball gown' (working title?!?!)

I hope to elaborate further about 'ball gown' in a later post, but for now my studio is beckoning so  . . .

peace

'tis the season . . . & thank U!!!

To add to all the craziness of the season, I have pieces in four wonderful shows this month!! 

 I am truly honored and pleased to be included in them all.  Listed below are the show venues, dates and opening information. If you click on the gallery's name you will be sent to the gallery's own website for further information.   I am planning to make it to most of the openings - always a good time!

November 22nd - January 11th 2012

Cambridge Art Association's, Cambridge, MA

RED 

It's more than a color;

metaphor, feeling, idea or hue...

**RED Receptions at both galleries: 

Friday December 2nd, 5:30-7:30pm

Awards at 6:30pm at University Place 

124 Mount Auburn Street

December 2, 2011 - January 14, 2012.

​Sprinkler Factory's, Worcester, MA

2011 Winter Exhibition, No Theme - No Limits  

**Opening and Reception, December 3, 2011; 5:00-8:00 PM.

The reception is open to the public

December 10, 2011 – February 2, 2012

Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA

2011 Members’ Exhibition

**Opening Awards Reception: 

Saturday, December 10, 2011; 2pm-4pm. 

Reception is free and open to all.

Live music at the reception by JAZZ SET with Tony Anzivino on piano, & Rich Balest on bass – alumni of Boston Conservatory & Berklee College of Music.

November 18th - December 18th 2011

Fountain Street Fine Art's, Framingham, MA

Present Company

member show and holiday sale

see website for extended hours

Lastly - this all could not happen without my many amazing friends who help me by ~ delivering work or taking care of girls or bringing a desperately needed cup of coffee or safely driving a sleepy me and so much more!! 

So a BIG thanks goes out to 'team fitzgerald'!!! U know who U r!!

( I am thinking of making a team t.shirt :)

So . . .

Thank you!!

Hope to see you at one of the Openings!!

& 

Peace!!! 

Heading South!!

I am very so excited because I am packing up to head down south to Mystic, CT to lead an all day workshop tomorrow!!! The workshop is in conjunction to the Mystic Art Center's exhibit, Form & Fantasy: A Contemporary Twist on Fiber Art, in which I have a piece ~ 'insatiable'.

The day is split into two sessions ~ organic crocheting in the morning, based on my creatures and wraps, and collaging, based on my daily dress project, in the afternoon.  The broad focus of the workshop is creating while focusing on process over product. 

Both of the bodies of work that have inspired these workshops are produced in a very organic way.  I am more interested in the process and getting my thinking-mind out of the way, than the product!!  Secondly, reusing materials is a main theme in both these works so i am planning to high light the wonders of reclaiming the materials that surrounds us ~ most of the daily dress pages are based on some piece of detritus that inspired me during that day!! 

Lastly,  both of these bodies of work thrill me ~ my creatures and daily dresses are a huge passion for me so I am hoping that it will be easy for me to share.

 

So I am filling my car with my endless collections of stuff - vcr tape, electrical cords, candy wrappers, and so much more!!! I so enjoy teaching and leading workshops as they allow allow me to share my passions, and they also give me the time and excuse to make art!  Getting the time and 'band width' to be creative during the day is usually quite difficult when trying to make a living as an artist:(  But tomorrow I will be sharing some of my skills to a group of teachers who, hopefully,  will teach to their classes, so the tradition & passion will continue!! 

 xxx & peace!!

happy to announce . . .

I am happy to announce that 'womb wrap' was accepted into

Cambridge Art Association's

RED

Its more than a color;

metaphor, feeling, idea or hue...

womb wrap - organic knitting

November 22 2011 - January 11 2012 Reception: Friday December 2, 5:30-7:30pm

Juried by Howard Yezerski Howard Yezerski Gallery

Day of the Dead dress

As so often happens with me, I started doing one thing and ended up making a dress.  Suddenly this afternoon I discovered I had a free moment so I thought I'd start to take down the Halloween decorations!?! When I was removing some of the creepy spiderwebs from one of our trees,  I found that they were quite stubbornly stuck. While wrestling with them I realized that instead of removing them (since they clearly did NOT want to come off) I should really just make a dress out of them. 

I loved this idea for many reasons ~ the first reason being that lately I have really been hankering to make a dress outside ~ it is such a joy to be creating in the elements.  Another reason is ever since my daughter had wrapped the tree with these cottony webs I wanted to make a 'webby' dress.  Lastly, this year I had yet to make a Halloween dress, so I thought this will be my Halloween dress, just one day late.  But as I pushed and pulled the strands around I realized that this was not a wispy, cobwebby dress, it had more of a ghostly feel, a spirit dress, a perfect  Day of the Dead dress. 

So here is a dress for the spirit world.  And when the wind blew, the skirt of the dress would start to float as if she had a place to go.  But then, when the breeze ceased, this dress seemed to have changed her mind and would settle back into the bark.  

I wonder if she will stay the night or if she will drift off into this clear, cold night?!? A teacher of mine pointed out, as I was saying I didn't like the shorter days, that this is the time of year when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest.  This is a time to dream, to be quiet and listen to our muses.  As the time of darkness grows we have more time for reverie (if we can walk away from our computers, TVs and other eletronics).  So on that note  . . .

Good Night, Sweet Dreams & Peace

dresscards

As I mentioned in my last post, I introduced my dresscards during my open studios and now I will officially introduce them here. My dresscards are my newest note cards, each with a hand~picked quote and a hand~folded origami dress ~ which is attached with a brad. 

With these note cards I am happy to be incorporating two of my loves ~ my origami dresses and words & quotes.  I am constantly searching for the quotes that move me. 

I hope to highlight the wise words of women (like my heroines ~ Anais Nin, Mary Oliver & so many others)  but i will mix it up (not being a big fan of any kind of discrimination :)

The cards are white and 4x6; blank inside and signed on the back.  

They can be sent or framed or both. 

 At this point you can get them at Artisans Way, 18 Walden Street, Concord, MA ~ 978-369-4400 

and in a new store in Natick, Renew!, 19 South Main St. ~ 

 

or you can order via me just email me or comment below.  

The cards are $8. ea. ~ you can request a quote but the dress paper will vary.

 So that is the story of my dresscards!!! I have also been trying to post a new quote each weekday on Twitter (@virginiafitzart) and on facebook!! so you can see new cards there!!

 Happy Halloween & Peace!!

what a month!!!!

Upon reflection , I must say that this has been quite an exciting and full month ~ 

‘insatiable’ won an award at the show Form and Fantasy, at Mystic Arts Center in Mystic, CT; I am the artist of the month at the Attleboro Arts Museum; I have a dress at the BCM (as my daughter calls it); I hosted a terrific open studios where I successfully introduced my new dress~cards (which I just dropped off at the new Artisans Way Fine Arts and Craft Gallery, Concord, MA)  & now there is a wonderful interview of ME, on the web!!! 

Lynette Haggard, artist and blogger, has this fantastic blog where she posts her interviews with artists from all over and currently you can read about my career as an artist ~ inspirations, beginnings, projects and many other interesting facts.  Here is a little peek and here is the link to the entire interview.  http://lynettehaggard.blogspot.com/2011/10/virginia-fitzgerald-natick-mass.html

I must confess it was a great experience to do this interview, her questions made me really think about the hows and why of my work.  

Also this Saturday I am going to experience another side of Lynette, as a teacher, because I am going to take her Encaustic Workshop at the Fountain Street Fine Art Gallery, Framingham, MA ( can't wait to add another technique to my repertoire!! And then I will be back at  Fountain Street Fine Art  on Sunday to gallery sit during their new show, Beyond the Surface: biological explorations in wax. This is a group show of encaustic work, stop by to say hi.  Another arty event that runs the entire weekend is the Grand Opening Celebration Events at Artisans Way, Concord, MA: October 28th: Opening Reception: (4pm-8pm), October 29th: Artist talks and demonstrations (10am-6pm), October 30th: Cake Cutting & Raffle Drawing (12pm-5pm) 

So ~ Thank you Lynette for this awesome experience and hopefully I will see some of you at one of these arty events!!! Peace!!!

  

Virginia Fitzgerald: Natick, Mass.

Virginia Fitzgerald and  Lush

2009
57 x 24 x 24"

sculpture: fabric remnants, discarded clothing,
scrap wood, chicken wire, copper spool,
buttons, beads, embroidery floss;
100% found and discarded material used in the piece 

Please share a little about yourself. Where did you grow up and what were the early influences on your work?

I was born in 1964 and grew up in Chicago, IL. When I was 11, we moved to a suburb of Chicago.  I was fortunate because my grandmother loved to take me to the Art Institute of Chicago so I was exposed to magnificent art at a young age. I remember studying the Impressionists, having their bright colors and mark making pointed out to me.  I have vivid memories of standing mystified in front of Seurat’sSunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and wanting to dive into Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sky Above Clouds IV; this 8ft x 24ft painting of endless clouds.  Lastly I remember searching out the plaster sculptures of George Segal.  As I got older I became a huge fan of Henri Matisse and the Fauves.  And in the past years I have become a contemporary art junkie, making many pilgrimages to NYC to see cutting edge shows in Chelsea galleries.  I have also lived in numerous cities with wonderful museums, L.A.; New York and now Boston.  I presently live in Natick, Massachusetts, with my two daughters. 

a week has past. . .

. . . since this year's Natick Artist's Open Studios, and I think I may be recovered enough to share the experience!! (if ever so briefly)

Provocative (Rope Dress) held court in the hall

After much muttering and procrastinating (anyone who reads my facebook artist's page may have seen some griping about needing to clean my studio) ~ I had a wonderful open studio!!!! Many familiar faces came by to see what I was doing and to get some peanut M&M's!! A great success even though I really didn't get my studio very clean!!! I know the chaos did 'scare'' a few folks off, but those who were brave enough to enter, LOVED what they saw ~ a real working studio!!!

creatures in their different states of display

 I had many interesting conversations and fabulous comments on my newer work - my creatures and my wall painting that I began at the Vermont Studio Center. 

I had my creatures greet visitors as they entered my studio.

Art talk by the peanut M&M's

a bit of an idea of how messy most of the studio was!!

There was much positive feedback about my wall painting that I started at VSC this past March. It was fascinating to watch visitors stand in front of this piece and just get lost in it's magical world.  there was some discussion about me painting a wall in a house like this, which I would LOVE to do!!! 

series of Carbon Footprint Dresses with Poetry Dress

And I also was able to show all my carbon footprint dresses that I have done this past year.  These too got a lot of attention.  And, of course, I created a NAOS 2011 carbon footprint dress! 

after one day

NAOS 2011 carbon footprint dress

And I also rolled out my newest greeting card to much, much success!!! Still working out all the details but I hope to be able to offer these on Etsy or my web site, soon!!

 So, all in all, it was an exhausting yet exhilarating weekend ~ full of insightful conversation ( where is the creativity in the carbon footprint dresses?), joking, 'footprint'ing, exploring the mess and lots of fun.

 I thank everyone who stopped by during such a beautiful Fall weekend & for those who didn't, there is always next year?!? :) peace