GO VOTE!!
thank you & peace
virginia fitzgerald: art, inspiration, ink; the passions of the creator of the 'dressproject'
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Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Sunday, August 26, 2018
for your sunday pleasure .... Sale! on both Society6 and Redbubble!!!
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| 'brenda's flowers ...' throw blanket |
Over the summer I have been adding new designs to both my Society6 online shop and my Redbubble online shop and today they are BOTH offering sitewide sales!!
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| 'wonky wildflower waterfall ... 'A-Line Dress |
Below are just a few of the products you can find in my online shops on both sites!!
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| a harlequin party in pink! Backpack |
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| tango in blue ... Tote Bags |
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| 'LOVE squared ...' zipper pouch |
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| 'blue vine madness ...' greeting card |
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| 'tiptoe thru the tulips ...' |
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| 'rainbow peace ..' totebag |
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Perks of summer ...
One of my favorite perks of summer is getting to visit Poetry Hill Poetry's Summer Writing Program and leading these lovely kids in an art project. These visits are particularly enjoyable as these kids are wonderfully creative and take my art activities and create pieces beyond my imagination. I am always awed by their ideas and finished pieces.
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| picture created using thumb and fingerprints (and pen) note how the flowers feel like they are flying! |
This past week we created graphic novel pages/comics using thumbprint art. Thumbprint art is basically using an ink pad and either your thumb or fingers to make a print which you can then make into ANYTHING by adding lines. You can also use your prints in a group to create larger shapes and images. You can see by the finished pieces below that these kids did both.
I started the session by demonstrating some possibilities and then handing out ink pads and scratch paper to let them play and get a feel for the process. While they were experimenting I asked them to think about a story for one of their thumbprint characters. After a bit, I handed out a page with empty 'storyboard's and ask them to create a story using thumbprint art. The stellar finished pieces are below, many with lovely narratives. And just in case you too want to play, here is the link to the printable template.
True confession: thumbprint art is HIGHLY addictive, as you will see by the piece I made for my 'dailydress' blog.
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| the adventures of Joey!! climbing, hanging, jumping and more. |
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| the story of a person looking for a place where they are accepted. |
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| a peacock beauty pageant, click to expand and read the captions, the outcome is priceless. |
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| story of a mole who gets sick and is helped by other animals and they all end up living together. |
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| 'love birds': the wedding, making a home, having babies ... |
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| based on the games, apples to apples |
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| a picture of the beach by her house in maine |
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| 'how I feel about houses' ... the sun shows its opinions about different styles of home. |
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| made by Andy Green, award-winning poet and writer, and leader of this program. He continued playing and experimenting and check out the last panel, totally thinking outside the box with his bunny ears!! |
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| as the kids were diligently working away I continued playing on the board, first creating a Ferris wheel, then putting all types of characters in the buckets of the Ferris wheel and then a created the crowd waiting for their turn! TOTALLY ADDICTING!! |
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| illustration for my 'dailydress' blog -EMBRACE YOUR WEIRD! |
and as always ...
Follow your Art and Peace
Monday, July 2, 2018
a gift for you ... Happy July!
Feel free to download and print out this calendar for your personal use this month.
p.s. if you are having problems downloading or printing the calendar,
just leave a comment & email and I will send you a PDF.
peace
Monday, June 11, 2018
'holy trinity', juried into 'Three'
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| 'holy trinity ...' (2010) |
'holy trinity ...' is part of my 'creatures' series. The series consisted of fiber pieces that I crochet in an intuitive and organic manner. I usually start with a certain color and a variety of yarn, once I begin crocheting I just follow the piece's lead.
Many of my 'creatures ...' have beads. Each piece in 'holy trinity ...' has a word bead, 'strength', 'wisdom' and 'trust', along with other beads. When exhibiting my 'creatures ...' I prefer to let the curator decide how to display the piece, adding another organic element to the 'creature ...' I wonder how 'holy trinity ...' will be exhibited in this exhibit?!?!
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| opening this thursday atthe Attleboro Arts Museum. |
So if you can make a trip to Attleboro and stop by the museum. If possible, come by this Thursday evening, June 14th, 7-9pm, and join in the fun of the opening reception. For all information about the exhibit and reception, the details are listed below or click on this link here: the AAM's website
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| attleboro arts on instagram |
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| attleboro arts on instagram |
Three A National Juried Exhibition June 14th - July 13th, 2018Opening Reception: Thursday, June 14th, 7-9pm
Reception Includes:
Presentation of juror’s awards
The announcement of the 2019 national juried exhibition theme
Live music from Debbie Barshay, Joan Lawton and Noriko
Whitaker – a flute trio from the Lafayette Band of North Kingstown, RI
THREE Juror – Juror Alexander Castro is a writer and journalist. He regularly contributes arts reporting and criticism to Art New England, Big Red & Shiny, Mercury, and GLASS Quarterly. His writing has also appeared or is forthcoming in untethered, Don’t Take Pictures and Lost Balloon. In 2018, Castro was a runner-up for the inaugural Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing..
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| attleboro arts on instagram |
thank you and peace,
Saturday, May 5, 2018
The end is near ... the end is today :)
I am sad to announce that 'A long distance relationship' at the Attleboro Arts museum, ends today, at 5PM!!! It has been quite a well received exhibit, and it offers much appreciated information about the Boston Marathon and running in general. I am honored to have been involved with such a wonderful show.
The invitation to participate introduced me to the world of women running and the amazing history of the Boston Marathon. At the bottom of this post you will find a number of books that I read while preparing for this show, and which I found really interesting!
Thank you Mim Fawcett, the musuem director, and the wonderful staff at the Attleboro Arts Museum for including my work in this provacative and inspiring show.
My third piece that I submitted for this exhibit is one of my organic embroidery pieces, called 'she runs ...' Here's is my thoughts about this piece.
The invitation to participate introduced me to the world of women running and the amazing history of the Boston Marathon. At the bottom of this post you will find a number of books that I read while preparing for this show, and which I found really interesting!
Thank you Mim Fawcett, the musuem director, and the wonderful staff at the Attleboro Arts Museum for including my work in this provacative and inspiring show.
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| 'she rns ...' organic embroidery, beads and wire (2016) |
At this year's Golden Globe, Oprah Winfrey told how life-changing it was to watch Sidney Poitier accept the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Award. To see a black man celebrated on TV enlarged what this young black girl believed that she could accomplish in the world. Many minorities speak of the importance of seeing themselves represented in successful and significant roles. This was true for women's running. As recent as the mid1960's, it was socially unaccepted for women to run. It was widely believed that it was dangerous for women to run, especially long distances; women didn't have the physical endurance, their uterus would be dislodged and fall out, running would prevent healthy pregnancies, women who ran would become unattractive, develop muscles and extensive body hair.
Men were making these assumptions and rules and many women believed them and repeated them. In 1983 I was jogging in my hometown and I was flagged down by a neighbor, a younger woman whom I admired and who I believed was openminded about women's roles. However she stopped me to warn me that running was dangerous, "women's organs are held up by spider webs and running can rip these webs." I didn't stop jogging, however, her words haunted me. My family was not athletic and I didn't know of many women athletes.
But fortunately there were many trailblazers in women running who were challegning these untruths; Julia Chase who in 1961 at the age of 19 challenged the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU)'s ban on women from competing officially in all U.S. road races; Arlene Pieper, who in 1959, became the first American woman to run the 26.2 mile distance, finishing the Pike’s Peak Marathon in 9:16; Roberta 'Bobbi' Gibb, the first women to run the Boston Marathon in 1966 and Kathrine Switzer who brought much attention to women's running in 1967 as the press witnessed and photographed Switzer being physically accosted by marathon officials because she was running with an official number. These are just a small number of women who courageously challenged societal norms and broke rules. Because of these trailblazers any woman, young or old, fast or slow, competitive or not, can lace up their running shoes and run.
"I hadn't intended to make a feminist statement," said Gibb. "I was running against the distance [not the men] and I was measuring myself with my own potential." http://www.marathonguide.com/history/olympicmarathons/chapter25.cfm
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I wanted to share some of the wonderful reads that I discovered while doing research for my pieces for #alongdistancerelationship exhibit at @theattleboroartsmuseum. I truly fell down the rabbit hole of research & loved every page!! I started reading about the Boston Marathon & then moved to women running! If I was asked to recommend one I would say ‘the long run’ by Catriona Menzies-Pike, but all of these were informative & enjoyable. #bookrecommendations#bostonmarathon #researchjunkie #rabbithole#womenrunning #womenwhorun #kvswitzer#catrionamenziespike #thelongeun #ambyburfoot#billrodgers #rebekahgregory #survivor#bobbigibb #goodreads #ilovelibraries # |
thank you & peace,
virginia
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
'for the love of ...' thank you Bobbi Gibb
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| Me and Christina Zwart who's piece, 'Fearless' is a show stopper. See photo below of Zwart installing the piece. |
It was an honor to see my newest sculpture, 'for the love of ...' (created for this exhibition) greeting all museum visitors at the entrance of the exhibit. It was even a greater thrill to witness museum visitors reading my statement about the piece. After doing much research about the marathon and particularly women in the Boston Marathon, I was greatly moved by Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon is 1966. Besides the fact that she was a trailblazer and ran the marathon even though her application had been denied because 'women cannot run the distance of a marathon', it was her love of running and her passion for life that really captured my interest. Here is the longer version of my artist statement about 'for the love of ...'
‘for the love of …’ was inspired by the spirit and courage of Roberta ‘Bobbi' Gibb; lawyer, neuroscientist, artist, single mother and the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1966. Not only has Bobbi Gibb been a trailblazer for women’s running and women’s rights but she has a love for life and a passion for life that needs to be celebrated.
"I have always had a vision of a world where men and women can share all of life together in mutual respect, love and admiration; a world where we find health through exercise and through the appreciation of the spirit and beauty of the world and of each other; a world based on love and individual integrity, where we all have a chance to do what we most passionately love, to help others, and to become all we can become."http://runningpast.com/gibb_story.htm
Since Bobbi entered this world, in the elevator of the hospital, she has been on the move. As a girl, she loved to move and to run, however, in the 1950's and 1960’s the expectations for women were to get married and start a family. As Bobbi approached adolescence, she saw her girlfriends stop running and playing:
“As soon as you became an adolescent, everything changed,” Gibb told Women in the World. “You started to become a woman and suddenly there were all these incredible constraints. I could see coming down the line that I was going to have to live in a box as a woman—literally, locked up in the house. We were expected to be housewives, and that’s all … We weren’t expected to have minds, and we weren’t expected to have bodies that ran.”“[Running] was sort of a spiritual thing, and I could get away from society and its rigid ideals,” she said. “It had nothing to do with sports. I knew nothing about the sporting world. I never stopped running when normal girls would stop running and settle down. I never became a normal girl.”https://womenintheworld.com/2015/04/20/the-incredible-story-of-bobbi-gibb-the-first-woman-to-run-the-boston-marathon/
In 1964 Bobbi’s father took her to see the Boston Marathon for the first time. As a spectator, she felt a kinship with the runners. She didn’t notice that it was only men running, what she saw were others who understood her love for running. Witnessing the marathon was a spiritual experience for Bobbi, one that she wanted to participate in.
“I knew these people felt the same way I felt when I ran. I was reconnecting with some ancient potential almost lost in modern society, some deeply moving fundamental core of what it means to be human. And I felt that they were too--that we shared this bond.” Bobbi recalls. Interview with Bobbi Gibb April 2011; http://www.billrodgersrunningcenter.com/inwibogi.html
After watching the marathon, Bobbi began to train and to test the distances that she could run. One time she was running on the beach in Southern California and ended up running into Mexico. She had no ID and her appearance caused some alarm among the border guards, they did not believe that this woman was just out for a run. Fortunately, the confusion was soon resolved and Bobbi returned to North of the border. Needless to say, Bobbi knew that she could run distances and at the beginning of 1966 she sent in her application for the Boston Marathon. What she received in response to her application was a rejection, telling her that women were not physically capable of running marathon distances, that under the rules that governed amateur sports set out by the AAU, women were not allowed to run more than a mile and a half competitively.
To Gibb, her rejection emphasized the ridiculousness of the situation,
"It was a catch 22; how can you prove you can do something if you’re not allowed to do it? If women could do this that was thought impossible, what else could women do? What else can people do that is thought impossible?” http://runningpast.com/gibb_story.htm
So even though her application was rejected, nevertheless, she persisted, Bobbi decided to run the Boston Marathon. On marathon day, while waiting to run Bobbi hid in some forsythia bushes near the starting line because she was afraid of how people would respond if they discovered that she was a woman, fearful that she would be physically removed and/or arrested. In 1966 many thought it was life-threatening for a woman to run anything longer than 1.5 miles, it was believed that a woman’s uterus would fall out harming a woman’s reproductive capabilities which were thought to be the main raison d'être for women, it was not proper for a woman to be seen exerting herself, it was not lady-like for women to sweat. Bobbi knew that she would be threatening many societal norms for women. But she felt like it was time to challenge these beliefs. Also, Bobbi loved running and wanted everyone, men and women, to be able to experience the nirvana that she experiences when she runs,
"It (running) came naturally to me. When I ran, all the stresses of the day disappeared. I felt like myself, like a bird flying, free and happy. I felt close to something spiritual, close to the mystery of being, you might say. I felt connected with the creative power of life. I feel most alive when I run. I feel the energy of the whole universe pouring through me and I feel grateful to be alive here on this planet in this world.” Interview with Bobbi Gibb April 2011; http://www.billrodgersrunningcenter.com/inwibogi.html
Bobbi ran and won the ‘unsanctioned’ women’s division of the Boston Marathon in 1966, 1967 and 1968. After 1968 her energies and interest turned to her studies. She applied to medical school and was denied because of her gender, but she wasn’t deterred she went to Law school. Bobbi Gibb is a champion of women’s rights, her action on April 19, 1966, added fuel to the Women’s movement of the time which was challenging many of the restrictive beliefs that held women back from contributing to the world and discovering their authentic selves. Bobbi knew that she was making a political and social statement when she jumped into the marathon, and as much as she was happy to shatter many of the prejudices against women, she ran because she loved to run, she wanted to be part of this primitive fundamental experience of running en masse and she wanted to share this experience with women, half of the population.
Thank you, Bobbi.
from the official Boston Athletic Association’s website: Pioneer Era of Women’s Participation 1. Roberta (Bobbi) Gibb (MA) 3:21:40http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-history/race-summaries/1966-1970.aspx
THEMATIC DUETS:
2. Abby Rovaldi’s “My 26.2 Miles,” composed of 20 etchings, and “Virginia Fitzgerald’s” rock tied ribbon dress installation, “Torqued and Tethered,” offer a conversation about struggle and endurance. To create the 20 dark etchings that depict her personal 26.2-mile marathon journey, Rovaldi attached a 5” x 9” zinc plate to the bottom of each of her shoes and walked 2.62 miles to create the aggressive lines necessary for printing. Fitzgerald’s beautiful cream colored ribbon dress in held to the floor with over two dozen found rocks of various sizes and weights arranged into a circle. This piece offers a puzzling shamanistic energy; it’s remarkably graceful and buoyant and yet contains a vexed tonality communicating a women’s struggle to break free from what’s holding her in place — she is twisting upward while fixed in place.
https://artscopemagazine.com/2018/04/thematic-duets-in-a-long-distance-relationship-the-26-2-mile-journey-at-attleboro-arts-museum/
In the News
NBC WJAR-TV previews the Attleboro Arts Museum’s “A “Long-Distance Relationship: The 26.2 Mile Journey” – http://turnto10.com/news/local/attleboro-arts-museum-opens-boston-marathon-exhibit
The Sun Chronicle previews the exhibition in the “GO” section: http://www.thesunchronicle.com/features/stories/attleboro-arts-museum-goes-the-distance-with-exhibition-on-marathon/article_60056499-5dbf-547a-9924-fbf8ea62d254.html
MassLive Media: http://www.masslive.com/expo/erry-2018/04/4ec11ed2365466/see_artworks_from_attleboro_ar.html#incart_m-rpt-2
The Sun Chronicle coverage of exhibition opening reception: http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/runners-high-attleboro-arts-museum-features-marathon-themed-art/article_4f7ea9b0-6155-5137-9804-0bd2055e4ac8.html
Artscope Magazine review: https://artscopemagazine.com/2018/04/thematic-duets-in-a-long-distance-relationship-the-26-2-mile-journey-at-attleboro-arts-museum/
Boston.com: https://www.boston.com/news/boston-marathon/2018/04/13/boston-marathon-bombing-anniversary
Providence Journal review: http://www.providencejournal.com/entertainmentlife/20180414/attleboro-arts-museum-exhibit-examines-art-of-marathon
Monday, April 9, 2018
a week full of art, poetry and midcentury treasures
from the studio of virginia fitzgerald
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MARK your CALENDARS ...
- Tuesday, April 10th, 7-9pm.
Opening Reception for 'A Long Distance Relationship' at the Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro Arts Museum,
86 Park St., Attleboro, MA 02703, 508.222.2644
This event will include a recognition ceremony that honors each exhibiting artist and exhibition partners. Free and open to all.
www.attleboroartsmuseum.orgCLOSING RECEPTION of "100 Extra Days" 6-8 PM
- Wednesday, April 11th:
The Carney Gallery - Regis College
235 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA 02493
MORSE LIBRARY POETRY SLAM
Poetry SLAM! 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM @ TCAN
Slam is held at The Center for Arts,
14 Summer St., Natick, MA 01760
Experience the power of words in this multigenerational SLAM for beginners and seasoned performers where only the audience gets slammed. Led by the dynamic Geof Hewitt at the historic The Center for Arts in Natick the evening starts with participants of the Dr. Seuss group (those ages up to 15), then moves onto the Dickinson performers, ages 15 and up. Prizes awarded to the top performer in each group
Free to the general public
www.natickarts.org1st RENEW Pop-up Trunk Show
- Thursday, April 12th, 6- 8 PM.
Contemporary Art, Mid-Century Antiques, Sustainable Fashion and Craft Brews together at Fountain Street!
@ Fountain Street Gallery
460C Harrison Avenue, Suite 2
Boston, Massachusetts 02118
www.fsfaboston.com
Taste Springdale by Jacks Abby‘s newest innovative barrel-aged ales and sour beers. www.springdalebeer.com
For more info. check out the links above or
send me an email:peace, Virginia
www.virginiafitzgerald.com
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