'insatiable' ~ out and about, again

Yesterday I delivered and installed 'insatiable' 

at the Natick Public Library, 

as part of the Natick Artists' Open Studios' 

group show, Green.

This exhibit features original pieces by over 40 

Natick Artists Open Studios participants, 

it includes photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture,

 mosaics, ceramic, glass, mixed media and more.

The curator and I perched 'insatiable' in the atrium stairwell 

where she is stretching out her tendrils.  

I am excited about how she is displayed; 

hanging but not hanging, 

up-close for library visitors but not too accessible

to little hands :).  

I am super excited to have her out in the world again!!! 

I hope to do a workshop sometime during the show 

but I am not sure, as my fall is pretty full. 

More about that is another post. :)

Save the Date: 

Natick Artists Open Studios 
October 19 & 20, 2013
 noon - 5 pm 
AND
the opening reception of 
'breaking open'
October 19, 2013
5-7pm
@ Fountain Street Fine Art
Framingham

Bringing Art & Craft into Our Local Community by Creating Spaces where Everyone is Inspired to Thrive! 

Currently on my worktable . . .

 my contribution to

  Helen Klebesadel's Exquisite Uterus Project.

This is a project that I LOVE!!

As I mentioned in a past post, me and uteri, 

this project jump started my creative juices 

and the process has been very gratifying. 

I plan to add more beads along the fallopian tubes 

and stitch the flower/uterus piece of fabric to the lace.  

But otherwise I believe it is near completion, 

which is good as it is due 

at the end of the month.

This post is an example of a newer approach 

I am taking with this blog ~

showing work in progress. 

I want to do this for a few reasons:

first, I love to see other artist's processes.  

Secondly, I am hoping use this blog

 as a way to 'curate' an exhibition ~

In a few months I am part of 

a two person show at Fountain Street Fine Art.  

I am showing with the talented Anne Gilson, 

and I still am not completely 

sure what I am going to show.  

(don't tell anyone :)

So to feign off panic

 I thought I'd post shorter post with 

the work that excites me, 

the work that I am using 

my precious time to create,

the work in all it's glory, 

in all its different states.

 And maybe via the lens of my blog, 

I will see a pattern or a direction to take 

for this show?!?! 

Also I would love to hear what you, 

faithful my readers, 

see or think about the work.

Collaboration is a wonderful 

and powerful tool!

So feel free to email me 

or leave a comment!!

Now back to the worktable ~

thank you & peace

 If you have received this as an email, click here to visit the entire blog

Mural on the move . . .

on main st!!!

Many moons I was commissioned to do a mural for 5 Crows, 

a charming gallery and gift shop in downtown Natick. 

Started in 2002 by five very talent women, this shop is full of gorgeous treasures created by over 150 artists and artisans from the area (yours truly has had work there:). So I was ecstatic when they asked me to do a mural for the outside of their building. 

I loved the way this piece turned out - the colors and feeling!! And I loved working BIG!!

And fortunately we decided to paint it on a panel and not directly on the wall, because 

5 Crows is expanding and moving!! 

I was so happy to see that my mural is making the move, yesterday I saw it on Main st!! :)

5 Crows will be re-opening on september 7th, at their new location: 41 Main St (rt 27)

a new material for dresses: ceramics

this summer I am taking a inspiring class with
Michelle Lougee; sculptor,
ceramist and environmental artist.

I am brushing up on my ceramics skills,
preparing for an upcoming job.

It has been great to get back
in the messy world of clay!!

And even though I wasn't planning to,
dresses started to appear ?!?!

These two are waiting for
their first round in the kiln.

Keeping my fingers
crossed as there can be 'issues'
during the firing.
stay tune for to see if they survive!!

peace
for those who receive this post as an email,
click here to be view the entire blog
thank you!

it all started seven years ago . . . .

wedding dress (brenda's dress) 

the beginning of the dress project

it all began on wells beach, me. in 2006. i had an idea of an image of a dress and while walking on the beach one morning i picked up a stick to see what this 'dress' would look like.  i drew a sleeveless, life sized dress and  filled it in with the beautiful beach rocks & then proceeded to let the high tide take it away ~ giving me a new, clean canvas on which to make another dress.  the process felt so right and so gratifying that for the rest of the vacation i made a dress!  & each day i would walk the beach with no preconceived idea and would just listen to which material i was to use that day... 

(from www.virginiafitzgerald.com, 

click HERE for photogallery)

It all started, innocently on 

a family vacation, 

in Wells Beach, ME.

A broken glass, 

a sea of drowning ladybugs 

and a nagging thought 

lead me to create 

the DressProject.  

Follow this link to read 

Helen Prunty Krispien's article: 

Drowning ladybugs lead to fascinating art project, 

(for more about ladybugs and dresses)

Since then I have created hundreds of dresses, 

in a myriad of media and materials.

Some in unique locales:

dress #3 from wells beach, me.

new york diner dress (2006)

I have made LARGE dressese

this installation centered around an 8 foot tall dress of eggshells 

'this comes from within' medicine wheel productions (2009)

and I have made small dresses 

abc dress (2006) about 1 inch square

some dresses have a message:

'in memory of  . . . .' (2008) in private collection

made with plaster tape, dog tags and photos of soldiers 

honoring those who died in Iraq.

'ripple' (2010)

a drawing that I contributed to a charity 

raising money to help the gulf after the BP oil spill.

I have made ephemeral dresses and dress sculptures

 which reside in public and private collections.

'lush' (2009) in private collection

And 7 years later, the desire to make dresses is just as unrelenting as it was in Wells Beach.

The dress continues to inspire me to venture into new realms of expression;  performance, installations and collaborative art.

'metamorphosis' (2013) made with the Dana Hall student body

The dress has lead me to

my dresstagging practice

the world of greeting cards and

my daily dress inspiration blog (dressblog).

one of the first dresstags, portsmouth, NH

dresscard  - soon to be for sale on Etsy

I have made dresses out of plaster, plastic bottles, VCR tape, 

fresh pasta, shells, maps, clothes pins, 

fall leaves, dog hair, ribbons, 

even nail polish . . . Nothing is safe!!!

winding roads (2011) paper-mache, paint, marker 

'cicada' (2012) mixed media painting on panel

'time to take flight' (2012) mixed media collage, part of the 'home sweet home' series

With the dress I discovered my voice,
the dress became my soapbox from 
which I could initiate a dialogue,
engage in political debate, 
question social protocol and
excavate my authentic self.

thank you

And I thank you for your continued interest 

in my dress obsession, 

your company and support has made 

this journey all the more gratifying. 

peace

my long love affair with the ephemeral . . .

summertime

It was almost SEVEN years ago that I fell 

under the spell of the dress form;  

August 2006, on a family vacation at Well Beach, ME. 

It was there that I began to see the possibilities of dress in everything that I saw.

departure (2006) 

I started on the beach, creating dresses, then letting the high tide take them away, 

leaving me with a fresh canvas the next day!

Since then I have a special place in my creative soul for ephemeral dresses. 

huh??? you want to do what????

And with my current state of affairs I am not in my studio much, so I am finding my creativity seizing any opportunity to create and again I am making dresses out of anything that I can find!!! 

Such as Scruffy's fur! 

Für scruffy

What started out as a simple act of relieving Scruffy of some of his abundance of fur in this intense heat,  gave me wondrous clumps of fur (hair, really) that I immediately saw as components for a dress.

I love how the natural curls created swirls and movement in the dress.

'summertime' one day later

Another aspect that I love about process 

of the ephemeral dresses is how the dresses

 disperse back into the elements.

Some of the dresses are small, it all depends on the materials that inspire me.

Like this petite dress on the shores of Lake Sunapee, NH.

I was entranced by these fallen leaves, forecasting the upcoming autumn.

'sizzzzzzzzle'

the deconstruction of 'sizzzzzzle'

Nothing is safe - 

here I was inspired by a the leftover bacon 

grease in my beloved cast iron skillet.

I don't worry, Scruffy didn't get much of the dress ~

I was photographing it and had to run into the house.

At this point Scruffy saw his opportunity, but it was brief

(although I did need to capture the moment on film)

'Nothing is permanent but change'.HERACLITUS

me and uteri . . .

these past weeks I have been struggling ~ for one of the first times that i can remember i didn't have that delicious and overwhelming desire to make art, nor did i have direction?? or vision; i had more of a dread.  and i missed my inner idea machine whirling in my soul, and i worried that i had lost "it" ~ (not a feeling i would wish on anyone)

knitted wire uterus

but then,  thanks to the wonders of the universe/serendipity, i have rediscovered that happy whirling dervish was back. and why?? most likely because of a number of factors, but I believe the main reason was a 'fat quarter' of fabric that i received in the mail, a 'fat quarter printed with uteri, which is part of the Exquisite Uterus project,  started by artists and educators Alison Gates and Helen Klebesadel.

What is the Exquisite Uterus Project?  It is a fabulous collection of fiber based artworks that have been created to give voice to shared outrage at ongoing attacks on access to good and affordable reproductive healthcare for all women.  Started in early 2012 in reaction to the what is still being called the most current ‘War on Women,’ two artists, known notorious Feminists, and sometime curators Helen Klebesadel and Alison Gates decided to facilitate a collaborative art project to channel their shared outrage at the attacks on women's ready access to quality general and reproductive health care of their choice.

womb wrap, 2009 - 2011

A fellow artist, the lovely Jeanne Williamson,  sent me the link to the call for artist's and before i could even think i ordered my quarter.  this also got me on the spoonflower website which is quite exciting in itsself - and i even created gift wrap with my dresstags and other products, always inspiring!!

Yet it was the arrival of the faric that seems to have jumpstarted my muses.  suddenly my brain is flooded with different images, techniques and methods with which to create my contribution to this project.  I vacillated between an angry uterus and an over the top beautiful uterus, in fact I could do an entire show with all the ides I have for this project! And I am proud and happy to say that my sweetie, Harriet,  may  also be contributing a uterus!!!

frida, 2010

You can view many of the beautiful and creative uteri that other artists from all over have already contributed on pinterest, here is the link to the boards.  And I will post my finished uterus soon!!!

But as i sketched and pondered how to fashion and construct my uterus I was struck by the realization that uteri have been an consistent element in my body of work for many years, and they still are.  the uterus is a symbol of the wonders of creation, of mystery and pain, and the uterus is a serious political minefield. No wonder I am so inspired and attracted to it! This is our core, our strength and i am proud to celebrate this organ and be part of this tremendous project!

Thank you Alison Gates and Helen Klebesadel.

peace

wire dress, 2008

When despair for the world grows in me . . .

hot rock dress, dover, ma

The Peace of Wild Things

BY WENDELL BERRY

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

 

Wendell Berry's poem is one of my favorites ~ 

one that stays near in my memory banks, one that has inspired me.  

This past week I found myself hampered by a gray cloud. Be it from an unbearable heat wave, unfathomable craziness in the news, personal and financial stress; I don't know. 

I do know that I was feeling lost and overwhelmed.  

So one morning after dropping the car pool off at camp I stopped at a pond near the camp.  

I have driven by this pond for the past four years, always thinking that i wanted to stop there, it looked so lovely and peaceful.  

Well last week I did.  I didn't have a job to go to until later, I had some free time, 

so I turned my car into the drive.

 

When I got out of my car I saw the blue heron, so beautiful, so peaceful & quiet. It was then that Berry's words sprung into my mind,  suddenly I was living the poem.

i found a peace by the still water, even in the blazing sun. Suddenly the pressures and stresses of my life diminished a bit in my mind.  

 

As i walked the perimeters of the pond, noting the beauty of the lily pads and the flight of the dragonflies, i found this parched picnic table in a sea of hot pebbles and was inspired.  

Making an ephemeral dress is always therapeutic for me.  I get lost in the act of creating with little thought of the finished product, just finding the right material to create the dress. 

The dress that emerged i am calling, my 'hot rock' dress, 

sitting in the blazing hot sun, in the presence of still water, in the grace of world.

Here, i found a peace! and for that I am sooooo thankful!!!

peace