happenings ....

'skywarrior II .... ' installed at Art on the Trails,
Hopkinton, MA

It is the fall and that means lots o'stuff going on ... school starting, summer ending and in a month ...
Natick Artists 
Open Studios!!! 
So before I fall into a black hole of activity, I just want to get some information out into the world!!!

First, THIS weekend, on Saturday, September 19th, at 2PM, there is going to be a celebration of poetry in Hopkinton at the exhibit, Art on the Trail.  This is the outdoor sculpture exhibit where 'sky warrior II ...' has been holding court since August 1st.










It is a lovely collection of sculptures, scattered along Hopkinton's Center Trail, curated by sculptor, Michael Alfano, and tomorrow twenty area poets will present their poems inspired by the installation and sculptures.  This poetry presentation was organized by Polly Brown and Cheryl Perreault.

Click here to view the electronic collection of the poems to be presented tomorrow.  It is lovely to see that my piece, 'sky warrior II ...' has inspired some of the verses.

"Poetry on the Trail" 

21 poems inspired by an exhibit of sculpture 

on Hopkinton’s Center Trail 

Spider Woman, by Cathy Weaver Taylor 

This Heartbeat in the Woods I Hear 

inspired by Virginia Fitzgerald’s heartbeat dress

There is a heartbeat beating in these reticent woods how it reverberates

the ancient, patient message how the wind listens

and tells the trees to listen too

how the trees speak to the birds

and the birds sing out

this message to the world.

There are no secrets here.

There is no gossip in the branches. Nothing here is insignificant.

There is simple, sacred promise

that the earth loves every single living thing. Everything is beating life out loud. Everything here is creation.

Cheryl Perreault 

Also on the horizon is the
Natick Artists 
Open Studios 
and this year I AM participating.
I missed last year as there was just too much other life stuff taking my attention!!
But I am happily revving up for the big weekend .... SO MARK your CALENDARS!!!!

In prepping for the big weekend, the NAOS committees have been getting art into different venues around Natick and I am happy to say that I have a piece in the "People" exhibit at the Morse Institure Library.  I contributed this wonderful photography of graffiti in Chelsea, NYC.  Many people who see it assume that it is collage but not by me, I just saw this wonderful scene and clicked!!!

I realize there is so much more to share ...

but I think this is enough for now!!

Also my awesomely creative artist friend, Christina Zwart, texted me this week:

"not enuf hours for the rest of our lives."

kind of captured the feeling of this time of year ....

So on that noteI am going to sign off with of my 'daily notes to self':

from this thursday:

Thursday, September 17, 2015

today, let us remember to slow down ....

as we physically experience the craziness of the start of the new school year and the end of summer, let us remember to slow down; remind ourselves of the slow circles of nature ...

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. 

 May Sarton 

Happening this Saturday, May 16th . . . talking about the 'dressproject' @ "Wake up & Smell the Poetry"

I'm truly excited about this Saturday!! I have been invited by the lovely and talented Cheryl Perreault to be one of the presenters at her provocative program Wake Up & Smell the Poetry!!

I will be one of three speakers, the other two are author Susan Bailey and singer/songer writer, Camille Breeze.  And as you can see from their bios, below, this should be quite the morning!!!
I am so honored to be included in this prestigious group.

In 2010, Cheryl invited me to speak about my 'dressproject' to the Women's Art Forum in Hopkinton.  It was a stellar evening, and it lead to an article in the Hopkinton Crier, written by Helen Prunty Krispien, who was in attendance for the talk.  Click here to read the entire article.   

'dresstag'

I always love to speak about the 'dressproject' and my art in general. Besides loving to share, I learn more about the work every time I speak about it.  It is also a treat to take the time to sit back and review the 'dressproject' as a cohesive body of work.

Since it began, in 2015, it has expanded from ephemeral dresses to life-sized sculptural dresses to painted, collaged, drawn and printed dresses to a whole division of the 'dressproject' based on an origami dress: my dresstags, dresscards and dressmats, which lead to the creation of my 'dailydress' inspirations blog and FB group. 

'wedding dress . . .' (brenda's dress)
first dress of the 'dressproject'

And, YES, it started nearly 10 years ago, in August 2005, on the beautiful beach of Wells, ME. The story behind the beginning alone could be a topic of a lecture. I was experiencing much insecurity and tremendous growth as an artist when I discovered the dress form.  This iconic image presented a perfect structure within which I could explore new and old beliefs, opinions and concepts, concerning myself and the world around me.  As I say in my artist's statement, the image of the dress became my soapbox.

For my talk in 2010 I collected 300 slides!!! and successfully got through them. This Saturday I am limited to 20 minutes!! which I am finding a bit daunting as there is so much I can say about the 'dressproject'.  For many of the lectures that I have given I usually go in and see where the energy of each situation takes me, this time I believe I need more of a plan!! 

I am pleased to say that I will have some of my books, 'the dressproject: the beginning'.  I have had many requests for these books, and I have had issues with getting it published.

So, I now have a new publisher and a slightly different format, however I have YET to find a less expensive option for such a book . . . but my search continues!!

However,  I will have about a dozen books for sale, along with some dresscards and photographs of many of the ephemeral dresses.

So in conclusion, as I noted above, this has all the makings for an inspiring and provocative morning!! I hope you can join us and if you can't (& I know any weekend in May is CRAZY!!), it is going to be taped and will air on HCAM, see photo for schedule and it will also be archived.

schedule for the airing of Wake up & Smell the Poetry

So now you must excuse me as I need to prepare my presentation!! 

peace & thank you for stopping by, va

this mosaic was made for me by one of my past student from Dana Hall,
she took a photo of me at one of my openings and made a mosaic of the
image using pictures from my 'dressproject' and some other work!!
thank you so much Rui Ray Fu!! 

fundraiser for Rosie's Place ~ tonight

I am participating in a fund raiser for Rosie's Place in Boston, a wonderful place......

Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women, offers emergency and long-term assistance to women who have nowhere else to turn. Founded in 1974, Rosie’s Place welcomes each guest with respect and unconditional love. Rosie’s Place accepts no government funds, and relies instead on committed volunteers and private supporters to accomplish its effective and innovative work.

The fundraiser is this evening in Framingham ~ below is the announcement

from the organizer, Cheryl Perreault. Hope to see u there!!

ToNIGHT ~ LA CARRETA MEXICAN RESTAURANT

WOMEN MUSICIANS and ARTISTS TO RAISE MONEY FOR ROSIE'S PLACE

I would also like to announce a special fundraiser that I am involved with taking place tomorrow between the hours of 4:00 and 10:00.

This event will be an open-house style ...come when you can for a few hours or stay the entire time! This special event of partaking of Mexican food, listening to a non-stop line-up of talented female performers and viewing beautiful art...all for a donation of your choice for Rosie's Place is the vision

and creation of singer-songwriter Ruthann Baler who is founder of Strike A Chord

There will be ongoing music performed by a line-up of 30 talented women and I look forward to emceeing the whole event with my dear friend Ellen Schmidt! There will also be a number of artists exhibiting artwork including previous guest features of the Women's Art Forum such as Jeanine Vitale, Kris Waldman, Lynne Damianos and Virginia Fitzgerald. In fact, Virginia will be exhibiting a wall piece in addition to one of her special dress art pieces! All artwork will be available for purchase and each artist has kindly agreed to donate a portion or all of their sales to Rosie's Place!

A line-up of the performers and a listing of the artists can be found in the attachment.

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I'm really looking forward to this special event of women artists sharing their art for women of Rosie's Place.

This event is open to the public. We would love to see you there in support of this special cause.

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