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

new year, new challenge

So for the few past weeks I have been floundering and flopping around about my work and the direction my art is going.  I have been pouring through many books, magazines and blogs about inspiration and 'living the creative life'.  In fact I have recently put a list of some of these books on this blog's sidebar. > 

matted origami dress with quote

 I am sure much of this insecurity and uncertainty stems from my current personal situation as well as the holidays. Besides both being mentally taxing I had not been in my studio for way too long.  So as I was hanging with my girls, I was also surfing the web, looking for inspiration, and one site I discovered was Creative Every Day Challenge by Leah Piken Kolidas. This site's description spoke directly to that place of longing and yearning that I had been feeling so acutely. I saw in this challenge a very informal and low stress community that speaks to my omnipresent, almost all consuming desire to create. 

In many ways I am doing something creative every day already.  This site just incorporates many of my  'projects'  in one place.  Here would be a place/way to record my daily work which I think is one of the important aspects of this 'site'.  As many of you know, I have some serious inner critics and I am thinking that documenting my daily activities may be a way to appease these critics, when they are berating me for not working.  Also I am hoping that this 'exercise' will help to diminish the 'precious' aspect of my work for me.  Much of the time I see myself getting stuck on the 'end' product, how a piece should look, how finished everything should be  presented.  And these thoughts are contrary to my true nature ~ I love a mess, I love to see process, I want to break down all shoulds;  I really just want to create, put myself out there, excavate my creative soul and see what comes out.

For many of you who follow me on facebook, some things maybe be repetitive ~ like the dresstags.  And I have a few friends wondering why I am even adding to my very long list of daily responsibilities, but for whatever reason I am going to try, I am going to jump in! 

I am still figuring out what this challenge will actually be for me but I am planning to post my daily creative 'acts' on my Daily Dress Project blog.  And I hope just to post them - not photoshop the photos, not write a long essay, just document.  So that is what I am up to, and my first posting is today, January 4th. :)

Below you will find the text from the Creative Every Day Challenge site.  If anyone out there is interested, come join the fun!! what I really love about this 'challenge', is that it is celebrating the act of creating - be it cooking, art, singing in the shower, arranging flowers, you get the idea :) and it is low pressure!!! that is key for me!!! 

So Happy Happy New Year to all and peace, Virginia

The Basics:

I started Creative Every Day Challenge in 2008 to help infuse my life and lives of others with daily creativity.

Creativity is meant in the broadest sense, so it doesn't have to be something art related. Your creative acts could be in cooking, taking pictures, knitting, doodling, writing, dancing, decorating, singing, playing with your kids, brainstorming ideas, gardening, or making art in the form of collage, paint, or clay...or whatever!

You do not have to post every day! I know for myself that having to post every day for a year would be too much. You can post about your creativity in whatever form you like, whether that be once a day, a few times a week, once a week, or once a month. Do what works for you!

This is a low pressure challenge, with the idea of bringing more creativity into our lives. I will not be the creativity police. I hope that we can all find ways, simple and grand to express our creative selves. Have fun with it!

follow up to the late night rant . . .

as some of you know i was quite anxious about my submissions to the juried Fountain Street Fine Art's PAPER exhibit (click here to see the blog post about these anxieties)  I spoke mostly about the painting/drawing that I submitted, being a new direction for me, and which stirred some serious critics in my head.  

Yesterday I received an email with a list of the accepted pieces/artists for the show and I am happy to announce that my name was on the list!!! But my drawing/painting piece wasn't.   
The piece that did get in is one of my favorite mini dresses, Take a Number!!! 

take a number

take a number (back)

I especially love this dress because it contains the contradictory element usually found in my larger dress sculptures. The dress is bright and colorful, yet it has an underlying message. As a mother, wife, cook, soccer mom and working artist I have felt so drained and exhausted by all the demands asked of me, and I am not unique in this feeling.  When I made this dress I was feeling particularly taxed.  

thank u 4 waiting

 I chose to use the deli tickets as I did for the dress, Thank u 4 Waiting, but for this piece I used the tickets to suggest the idea of many people needing many things from this one woman. I used red and pinks thread to sew swirling lines onto the paper mache top.   I left the ends of the sewn threads hanging to give the sense of loose ends or feeling drained or frayed.  

  So that is the story behind this piece, which will be part of this exciting exhibit at Fountain Street Fine Art.  Below is the list of all the accepted artists and their pieces along with some other information about the jurying and the dates of the show.  And what about the drawing/painting?!?! well it will head back to the studio to be judged another day.


peace

James Welu selected 47 pieces by 41 artists from the more than 190 pieces submitted by 85 artists, 

The following pieces were accepted:

First Name Last name Title Ann Barbato Frau Finnegan Lisa Barthelson f-sorted family debris series Meg Black Storm Coming Suzanne Booth Escape Arlene Chaplin Wandering Away Brenda Cirioni Rock Nest Cheryl Clinton Summer Shadows I Jane Coder Hydrangeas Patricia Crotty Red, White, and Black 10 Lynne Damianos Pakm Leaf I Bob Evans Visual Eyes, Water Street, Boston Nan Hass Feldman The Rooster in the Kitchen Virginia Fitzgerald Take a Number Amy Furman String Things Milisa Galazzi Waggle Dance 5 Diptych Steve Gatter Columbia Farm Afternoon Ania Gilmore & Bob Hesse Fleurs du Mal Wilson Hunt Jr. Wild Thing J.B. Jones Blue Clip Linda Kimerling Square #1 David A. Lang Wing Walker Randy LeSage Figure I/Figure II Madeleine Lord Hello From Queens Hello From Boston Stephen G. Maka Winter Stone Wall From Series "Medusa" Row Boats Ginger McEachern The Shoe Box All the Colors Robert Meszaros Trunk 1002 Karen Nunley Indian Summer Jeanette O'Connor Initiation Joan Onofrey An American Lobster Roy Perkinson Daybreak, Columbia River Robin Reynolds November Glow II Karen Rothman Papier-mâché mask models posing for still life Mahala Sacra Dominicana in Pieces Dale Savit Untitled Joyce Utting Schutter A Cut Beneath Twining Flask Suzanne Stumpf Egg Shell Nest Susan Swinand Lunar Force Falling Moon Amy Waltch Rust Lillies Timothy Wilson Portrait of Packing Paper Cynthia Winika Firecracker

The show will run from 

Friday, January 13, 2012 through Sunday, February 5, 2012.

the opening reception, which will be held on 

Saturday, January 21, from 5:00 – 7:00 PM.

wishing you . . .

a joyful, enchanting, magical & heavenly holiday!! 

Hope all your dreams and desires come true during this festive season!!! 

Please know that I am so grateful for your witness of my thoughts and works, and for your cyber support ~ thank you & peace, Virginia

late-night ramblings after a long day

Today I was possessed, as I have been for the past 4 days, by my driving desire to enter a 'new' work to the Fountain Street Fine Art's PAPER exhibit.  So even though it has been a long day, my heart and head are still spinning, and I felt that I might 'talk out' my thoughts here on my blog.  Today has brought up some fundamental questions that I feel many artists face now and then. 

the piece that I left @ FSFA

Fountain Street Fine Art is celebrating its first anniversary with a Paper Show (paper being the traditional first anniversary gift).  Besides wanting to be part of any show that this wonderful gallery puts on, James Welu, Director Emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum, is the juror.  

I have known about this call for weeks and I had SOOOOO many ideas.  But, as is usually the way my creative life unfolds, other life needs kept me away from focusing on this call, until this weekend, which was a little late.  

I mean - what a wonderful call - PAPER, anything to do with paper - my head was exploding with ideas -  

"Media may include, but is not limited to paper, oil, pastel, acrylic, watercolor, collage, photography, video, ceramics, metal, fiber, glass, wood, and stone. '

~i wanted to create an interactive piece with my little dresstag dresses, pinning these dresses on a wall (each with a fortune) to create a dress and encourage the gallery visitors to take a dress/fortune.  

Ever since I started the Dress Project I wanted to set up a situation where participants would disassemble a dress.  I always wondered how would the dress 'decompose', would there be areas of the dress that people would not remove?!??  But alas, couldn't fold enough dresses construct a dress.

~I also started a small paper mache dress - on which I was going to 'collage' letters and images of internal organs.  

This dress was going to reflect how I have been feeling during my divorce process - exposed and raw.  The initial dress form turned out very successfully, a nicely defined figure, but I didn't have enough 'quiet' or reflective time to be able to take the next step.

~I fantasized about expanding on my Daily Dress collages.  I wanted to push the possibilities of working with paper - collage, sewing, burning, transfers, . . . 

~I also have been working on a series of works on subscriptions cards ~ yes those pesky cards that are always falling out when you are trying to curl up to read Oprah.  And last time I checked subscription cards are paper.

But as the due date approached and the days/hours/minutes ticked away I was drawn to a piece that I started in March at the Vermont Studio Center.  It is a painting on paper, inspired by the wall paintings in my 2009 installation, 'this comes from within'.  

although I exhibited this dress
I didn't think it was finished

I started with a simple drawing which I then reworked and repainted, adding and embellishing with creatures and hands and insects and bodies.  I have started MANY projects using this painting technique - a mostly monochromatic line painting/drawing.  But with all these starts I have hardly finished one of them.  Even with the walls of 'this comes from within' I only stopped painting the walls because I needed to build an 8ft dress out of eggshells. 

So for the FSFA's Paper show I 'finished' my line painting on paper, which has churned up many doubts/questions in my creative soul.  

First, for the longest time many people felt like the painting was finished when I brought it back from Vermont.  But I didn't, I liked parts of it but I felt it needed more.  So off and on I have been adding and subtracting to the painting.  Then, in the past week I tacked it back on the wall and went at it.  Again I had some colleagues suggesting that it was done, but alas I kept seeing areas that I felt was weak, lines that I wanted to strengthen, so I kept on working.

the piece that I left @ FSFA

the 'start' of painting (VSC)

And I LOVED it - I LOVE this technique!!! It is very intuitive, I just start working on an area and I start to see new images emerging or morphing into something else.  I am drawn to creatures and internal organs; these painting seem to just unfold.  I think i could paint like this for hours and days (which I did @ VSC)

So why the questioning - I don't think there is any artist out there who hasn't struggled with the concept of 'over working'??!?!  Also as the 'last call' for entries was approaching I still kept seeing one more area to tweak, one more line to clean up.  And then when I delivered the piece and hung it with the other work I REALLY started to question the work?? I wanted to take it down and rip it up.

So I am struggling with questions ~ who knows when a piece is done?? How does one know?? If the work feels so authentic does that make it your real art, no matter what the end result is or the reception??

I am in the process of re-reading Art & fear: observations on the perils (and rewards) of art making by David Bayles & Ted Orland.  It is a good book about the obstacles that we artists deal with and even create for ourselves.  It addresses the numerous ways that fear can affect, alter and at times sabotage our art.  

Entering this painting to the jurying process has stirred up some emotions for me, one prominent emotion is insecurity?!? I surprised my daughters as I questioned if I should really leave the painting in the gallery.  It is hung by T-pins, so one of my daughters thought it might need a frame but then pointed out that a frame would obscure the surface texture!! 

I am thinking that these emotions are stemming from exhibiting something that is truly personal and new for me.  Besides the installation walls, this is a unfamiliar 'work' for me.  I wondered if I would have felt like a 'fish out of water' if I had submitted a dress?!? A few years ago it was a little out there to submit a sculptural dress but now I think of it as normal.

So why the whirling brain - the endless questioning of myself and my choices.  Was this the right piece to put into this show?? Now with my divorce I need to analyze which projects I spend time on - i need to consider the financial benefits and this makes my head spin.  

So thank you for indulging me in my ramblings and if you have any thoughts or suggestions I would be to hear them.  And even though I have more to say on this subjest, the clock is appoaching 2am and I am driving the carpool at 7:20 am.  (wish I wasn't such a night owl :)

So ~ नमस्ते, Buenas noches, Buonanotte, Bonne nuit, Slap Lekker, Gute Nacht & 

Happy Winter Solstice & peace

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