Happy Birthday Bro!!! xxx

Today is my baby brother's birthday!!

So Happy Birthday Bob!!!

I am having so much fun making these men's origami shirts!!! I figured I'd make Bob a shirt/tie birthday card but when I found this quote by Picasso - which is perfect for my brother who is a wonderful father to FOUR boys -  I didn't think that I tie would be appropriate!! So in comes the sewn on pocket, flower and butterfly :). 

Happy Happy day bro!!! Hope it is full of fun and laughs and loads of smiles!!!

p.s. the card will be in the mail tomorrow :)

So much going on . . .

This is one packed full day of art !!! with openings and workshops and more.

I will be at Attleboro helping make Birds of Poetry at Attleboro’s Expo for the Senses which runs from 12-5pm today.  I am planning to be there more on the later side because I need to head west first.

First I am dropping off a new set of dresscards  at Artisans Way in Concord, MA.

the addition of a man's shirt/tie :)

I am very excited about these cards.  I have been experimenting with making my own paper for the origami. This feeds my love of collage and scraps!! I can use all the bits and pieces of wrapping paper, packing and other visual treasures that I have stockpiled all these years :). 

I also have fun finding quotes that resonate and matching it with a fun dress, or now dress or shirt and tie!!! I have posted a few here but here is a link to the entire collection.

  Then after Concord I will head to ArtSpace in Maynard, MA for the closing reception of Michael Frassinelli's Exhibit ~ "The Last of the Pianistas: Piano Sculptures and Artifacts by Michael Frassinelli" (May 30-June 29th) I had planned to make it to the opening, but life got in the way, but I will be there today.

    My daughter would SOO agree!!

Last year I substituted for Michael at Dana Hall while he was on sabbatical, creating much of the work that is being shown in Maynard.  He works with old pianos, he has created an entire culture and history about  people called the Pianistas.  The closing reception is 1-4pm today and the show runs thru the 29th.

From Maynard I will then head to Attleboro to make some Birds of Poetry and then end my day in Framingham, with the opening reception of Fountain Street Fine Art's latest show - Internal Combustion**. This is their 2012 summer open juried show, juried by Joseph Carroll.  the reception is 5-7pm. And if I have any energy left I hope to make it to my studio!!!

**The theme for this exhibit, INTERNAL COMBUSTION, celebrates the Gallery’s industrial roots and speaks to the transformative power of imagination.

Juried by Joseph Carroll, of Carroll and Sons Gallery in Boston. Carroll and Sons supports contemporary artists, and focuses on building the careers of lesser-known artists and promoting ones who are under recognized.

So as I said ~ a packed full day!! 

So what am I doing sitting here writing my blog?!?!

 Off to the highways and byways! 

Wishing all a great weekend!! peace

my life's motto

Happy Hollow: part 1; Carbon Footprint Dress

Happy Hollow Elementary School Art Room Carbon Footprint Dress,
May 24th - June 5th

This Spring I was happy and honored to be hired by the Happy Hollow Elementary School in Wayland, MA as their artist-in-residence.  They received a grant to have an artist come and talk to the students about using recycled materials in art, a topic that I am quite familiar with :).  

One of the many signs that greeted me at Happy Hollow

This was such an incredible experience that it will not fit into just one blog post ~ so there be a few and here is part 1.

I met with art teacher Christine Soeltz in March to discuss my 'residency'.  As usual my brain was buzzing with millions of ideas of things I could do :)

We decided that I would give a slide presentation to the grades about art that uses unique, recycled and non-traditional materials.  I also wanted to create an interactive sculpture with which the students could help me and a memento that would stay at the school - (more about this is the next blog :). 

 

I also felt that it would be a great occasion to install a carbon footprint dress (click here to read more about this series). During this 'residency' I had a specific place and a certain amount of time and the kids would be 'involved' in creating the dress. So after my first morning of lectures, with the help of MANY eager art students I installed a carbon footprint dress in the art room.

It was awesome how much all the students wanted to help!! and how excited they were about the project. I always like to add some details so we tried to put on an "H" for Happy Hollow.  Of course Chris and I wondered how the 'dress' would survive in an elementary school's art room but it did and in fact it looks GREAT!!

We figured over a thousand people walked over, on top of the dress! When I finally took the dress back to my studio to take off the tape stencil - the dress was a wonderful color, showing the pattern of the floor as well as a few random marks from art supplies. The small tape details had not lasted long but as Chris and I told the students - this is an 'experiment'.  That is what I love about the carbon footprint dress - it is a visual representation of the activity of the place and time that the dress is installed. 

Great detail at the edge of tape

wonderful color

the pattern of the floor as well as a few random marks from art supplies

Stay tune for more from my marvelous residency @ Happy Hollow!

Happy weekend and stay cool!!!

PEACE

Happy, Happy Father's Day!!!!

To my wonderful dad!!

 Happy Father's Day!!! 

thanks for being so special!!!

with much love, 

your daughter, 

Virginia

p.s. sorry this was a bit 'late' ~ had to learn how to make an origami shirt!!!! xxx :) 

quote for the day!!

peace

I 'heart' Attleboro!!

I have been heading down to Attleboro a lot lately, so much so that I have been considering renting an apartment there :).  

All the trips have been for exciting activities - jurying the High Art exhibit at the Attleboro Arts Museum and leading workshops for my Birds of Poetry installation for the Attleboro Public Library.  And recently I learned there are more wonderful reasons for me to visit Attleboro.  

 

First, this summer I will be installing my Birds of Poetry in the atrium of the Attleboro library.  With all my workshops we have over 100+ birds, all awaiting to take flight.

I recently lead a workshop with the VERY well behaved fifth graders from Robert J. Coelho Middle School.  We all had a lot of fun!! and made MANY birds, and these birds have some special gold accents!!! & there are still more workshops to come :)

Then this weekend I learned that "womb wrap" (Uterus) got into the Attleboro Arts Museum's National Juried Exhibition, On the Threshold!!! This show was juried by Michele L'Heureux, whose work I have always admired ~ check out her work on her website.

This exhibit runs from July 14th - August 10th, with the opening reception on July 18th.

Then following On the Threshold is the Attleboro Arts Museum's  8 Visions 2012, and I am very honored to say that I am one of the 8 visions!!! 

This is an extremely exciting opportunity!! It is a very competitive exhibit with three different jurying processes.  I am happy to announce that I will be exhibiting with these 7 other very talented artists : 

Patricia Berube – Cohasset, MA

Brenda Cirioni – Stow, MA

Susan Denniston – Scituate, MA

Sand T Kalloch – Malden, MA

Niva Shrestha – Franklin, MA

Mary L. Taylor – Marshfield Hills, MA

Felicia Touhey – Portsmouth, RI

(this is the first year that all women artist were chosen:)

We have already had our first meeting to meet each other and to learn about each other's work.  Also during this meeting the director of the museum, Mim Fawcett, encouraged us to look to this show as an opportunity to experiment and really stretch ourselves!! I can't wait!!! I am already thinking about how I can 'play' with my scale of the dress form?!?!? 

Just wish I didn't need to sleep :)

And on that note I must hit the sheets because tomorrow bring another day!

More to come about all these events, but for now good night 

& 

peace!!!

A few shout outs for artist friends in Beantown

This particular weekend there are many openings and arty events in the Boston Area and some of them are by friends and artists that I admire ~ so I thought I'd share!! 

The first is the opening reception for Judy Kramer in Cambridge!  I have always loved Judy's work. And she has even more a place in my art heart because I modeled for her a few years back!!! 

Her opening is Saturday night in Cambridge!!! info below.

Me!!

Judy Kramer @ Gallery 263

263 Pearl Street

Cambridge, MA 02139

Exhibition dates:                   Thursday, May 31^st through Sunday, June 17^th 2012

Opening reception:               Saturday June 2^nd  6 to 9 pm

Gallery hours:                        Thursday and Friday  1 to 6

                                                Saturday and Sunday 12 to 5

Questions:                              call Judy at 617 661 7175 or judykramer@judykramer.net

Then tonight ~ there is SOWA's First Friday celebration where the area galleries stay open late.  Always a good time!!! and it should be an awesome night, if the weather holds!!! :) Below are two receptions that are worth a stop!

Peter Lipsitt's, Natured and Nurtured,  

at Boston Sculptors Gallery. Reception 5-8pm.

Jodi Colella @ NK Gallery

PHYLA Solo Exhibition of Work by Jodi Colella June 1 - 22, 2012 Reception June 1, 5-8 pm Transformations of material and found objects into whimsical organic objects  NK Gallery 450 Harrison Ave #61 (located below Samson) Boston, MA Gallery Hours: W - Sa 11am - 4pm

And then Sunday ~ at Fountain Street Fine Art in Framingham is Poetry and Art!!! @ 4pm Joel Moskowitz an Helen Marie Casey will be reading poetry - not to be missed!!!

So that is a splattering of the art happenings here in Boston!!

But for an even larger list of Arty things to do there are two Facebook pages that are managed by artist  J Rebecca Trueblood where you can find tons of information about the Boston area art world, Boston Area Artists and Boston Area Artist - Events, News and Opportunities.

Boston Area Artists and Boston Area Artist - Events, News and Opportunities are two FaceBook pages  started/ managed by artist  J Rebecca Trueblood

Happy Friday & peace

"in memory of . . ."

For all the men, women and children who have served, sacrificed and died in the name of freedom ~ Thank you!!

peace

Taking Wings Westward . . .

"winged victory"

"insatiable"

 Happy to announce that 'insatiable' and 'winged victory' were accepted into "The Art of Fiber": 

Rediscover this ancient art form through the unique vision of more than 20 contemporary artists. From appliqué and cross stich to basketry and mixed media, the artists in this exhibit represent a wide range of techniques, materials, and subject matter. Expect the unexpected as traditional meets contemporary in this juried exhibit.

Davis Art Gallery

44 Portland Street, Worcester, MA  01609, 3rd Floor, 

Opening Reception:  May 24, 2012, 5-7 p.m.

Featuring:

Bayda Asbridge
Ani Baronian
Kerry Bart-Raber
Jennifer Baum
Frank Cole
Andrea Driscoll
Virginia Fitzgerald
Ann Hanscom
Tobi Hoffman
Celia Knight
Robyn Lane
Kimberly Marshall
Janet Miller
Corina Palmer
Judy Rolt
Janice Sisti
Carolann Tebbetts
Kay Thompson
Marion Vaitkus
Max Verga
Erika Davis Wade
Mihoko Wakabayashi

Thank you Julia Ward Howe; the real mother's day story

Today I got a wonderful Mother's day present ~ I learned about the true origin of Mother's Day and I have been blown away by the story. 

I thought that this holiday had been started, or at least fostered, by Hallmark and the world of commercialization.  But that is false. This holiday DID NOT begin to get people to buy stuff!!!! 

Mother's Day began when Julia Ward Howe (an amazing woman ~  a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet)  wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation, written in response to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War.  She asked for women to stand up for ending war. 

 

"...In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask

That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,

May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient

And the earliest period consistent with its objects,

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

The amicable settlement of international questions,

The great and general interests of peace."

(The full text is at the bottom, thanks to Code Pink)

The fact that this proclamation rings achingly true 142 years later is not lost on me!! So much violence rages in this world ~ in the name of power, justice and even peace-keeping.

Later the holiday was used to help reunite families after the Civil War, lead by a West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis.  "After Jarvis’ death, her daughter began a campaign for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in honor of peace. Devoting much of her life to the cause, it wasn’t until 1914 when Woodrow Wilson signed it into national observance in 1914." (from the article on Nation of Change's site.) The article goes on to say that Jarvis actively worked against the commercialization of the day, but alas, here we are! 

But that does not mean we are need to keep 'buying' into this commercial version of Mother's day.  We can change the focus of Mother's Day.  Just as Julia Ward Howe called for women and mothers to 'arise' for peace in 1870, we can 'arise' today, this year and next year and demand PEACE.  

We can take this day back from the marketplace and make it a celebration of PEACE.  I believe Peace on Earth would be the best gift to any mom!!  

I have always loved the idea of celebrating Mothers, motherly love and the nurturing concept of TLC and the desire for PEACE only adds to that equation.

  So . .  PEACE! 

PEACE!!

PEACE PLEASE!!!

Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

Arise then...women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts! Whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, For caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, Will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs." From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up withOur own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice." Blood does not wipe out dishonor, Nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil At the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace... Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God - In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality, May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient And the earliest period consistent with its objects, To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions, The great and general interests of peace.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I think of this as a day to celebrate LOVE ~ for as Robert Browning puts it - 

"motherhood ~ all love begins and ends there.

So Happy Mother's Day to all!!! 

& especially to my mom, 

who kindly passed on to me her creativity, her imagination, her wacky sensibility & 

her LOVE of ART!!!! 

Also I want to thank my sweet angels who make me a mom!!!!

peace!!

Illustration Friday: Kernel

When I saw the prompt for this week's Illustration Friday I thought of this surface design I made in another life!!

Each week the topic is suggested by a fellow illustrator, and included in the topic email there is frequently  a quote.  The illustration doesn't need to relate to the quote & mine obviously doesn't, however I wanted to share this lovely quote. 

 “Nature has neither kernel nor shell; she is everything at once” ~ Goethe

This week's topic is "kernel", suggested by Sylvia Liu (http://www.sylvialiuland.com/). Thank you Sylvia and let's go out and enjoy Nature this lovely Spring weekend!!

Peace

May today there be peace within . . .

May today, there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.

May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content with yourself just the way you are.

Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.

~ peace ~