Fashion and Fiberarts at Dana Hall

'lilith in blue' greets gallery visitors

There is only one week left of this stimulating exhibit, Fashion and Fiberarts, at the Art Gallery at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA.  I sadly missed the opening as I was west taking care of family.  However I am going to make-up for lost time :) as I have been invited to create a collaborative dress with the entire student body which will be worn during the Dana Fashion Show in the Spring.  This means I will be camping out at Dana during the show's last week, leading workshops and encouraging creative participation.  More about that project later ~ for now I wanted to share some photos of the show.  

'lilith in blue' with Merill's work

Whenever my fiber pieces, especially my creatures are exhibited I give the gallery complete freedom to display the pieces anyway they see fit.  So when I entered the gallery I was thrilled to see how curator and beloved teacher, Michael Frassinelli, displayed the work!!! Many time the curators display the work in ways I never have thought of.

I especially liked how he placed 'raw' over a podium - letting it ooze and slither.  

I am so honored to have been included in this exhibit - all the work is exciting.  I have always enjoyed Merill Comeau's wondrous fiber collages, her uses of clothing with a past, giving them new life.  Her pieces of deconstructed clothing made a wonderful juxtaposition to Sarah Campbell's and Tia Penney's beautiful coats and hats - ready to be worn.

Here are two examples of Michael's envisioning my creatures in a way I had not considered.  I love the pairing of 'blue angel' and my crocheted shawl, and the way he hung 'pinkie' created a delightful shadow!!

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!!! 

dresses here, dresses there...

I have been blessed with a summer full of exciting opportunities. First there is Green at the Attleboro Arts Museum!! Then, this weekend I dropped off the 'dress of etiquette' aka Emily at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall Rivers, MA for their show Baggage. ~
JUL 20, 2011 - AUG 20, 2011
RECEPTION: AUG 14, 4 PM

Baggage is what we carry when we travel and what we bring to relationships. Baggage contains our belongings and our emotions. It gets dragged, lugged, carried and shipped from place to place. It can take many shapes and hold many things.

The diverse and dynamic exhibition will include sculpture, painting, drawing, and photography from the following 25 artists:

Aparna Agrawal, Milcah Bassel, Harry Bernard ,Merilee Bowers, Wendy Brusick, Alyana Cabral, Andrea Cabral, Deborah Carlson, Donna Catanzaro, Emily Corbato, Kate Doyle, Virginia Fitzgerald, Fran Forman, Caron Gonthier, Chrystee Governo, Jacqueline Henry, Jennifer Jope, Grace Koshinsky, Michael Kurgansky, Susan Lirakis, Charles McGill, Filipe Miguel, Susan Post, Stephanie Silvi, Hollianne Wood-Garrothers

Lastly, but not leastly, I am doing a collaborative piece with artist Eugene J. Quinn for Barefoot at Rockport, a celebration of art and fashion Thursday July 28th. The event sounds so fantastic ~ On July 28th, Art comes alive in a fashion event on Boston’s north shore. Barefoot at Rockport is a day long celebration of fashion as art, a showcase for independent local and national designers, and boutiques. It’s a day of shopping, wine tasting, a showcase for our artisan food designers, mixologists, stylists, floral designers, it’s a fashion exhibit at one of New England’s most notable art associations, the Rockport Art Association and a fashion extravaganza and exclusive cocktail party all set against the back drop of the jewel of Boston’s north shore, Rockport MA and in one of New England’s premiere performance centers, the Shalin Liu.

And Eugene and I are creating a 'dress' that will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Rockport Art Association. This is a very exciting, yet daunting, project. Eugene has given me some of his old canvases and I am incorporating them into a dress. We decided that the old canvases were going to be part of the skirt and he would paint a new painting on the bodice. So I have created a bodice out of plaster which I am going to deliver to the artist today....can't wait to see how this all comes together....

More to come about the Rockport dress and this packed-full event, but right now i need to pack her up and head North.

illustration friday ~ fearless

This week's topic for Illustration Friday is Fearless ~

“The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave.” ~ unknown.

It made me think of this illustration i did awhile ago ~ two mice taking on the slopes in a teacup!!! weeeeee!!!

Last week I missed Illustration Friday because I was thrashing around trying to get my submissions ready for jurying at the Danforth Museum ~ which I successfully delivered with 2 hours to spare before the deadline!!! For all who are curious, I submitted Treacherous and Frida (one of the shadow boxes from my installation 'table of content'). Now it is the sit and wait time to see if I get in.... tick,tick....

While i was thrashing around I did make a piece that i call ' Mirror Gown'. When i was cleaning the mirror pieces that sit under Treacherous I couldn't resist putting together this gown - on the scoreboard page of the Sports section no less!!!

This week I did get some good news, my dress, the Dress of Etiquette (Emily) was accepted into the Cambridge Art Association's Northeast Prize Show . The show runs from May 14 to June 23, 2010 with the opening reception is Thursday May 20, 6-8pm ~ Yeah!!!
peace

Yeah for the world wide web!!!!!

Isn't the Internet amazing???? It is always interesting to me to see what information gets where and how. I just goggled myself to see if my facebook fan page comes up and low and behold I found my Dress of Etiquette on the web site Emily Post’s Etiquette Daily ~
http://www.etiquettedaily.com/2009/07/summer-fashion-the-etiquette-dress/.

Now sadly my facebook fan page did NOT come up - I still need to work on that. But I have set up a fan page!!! (Yeah - after many frustrating hours of my computer freezing up) And so there is another site about my work out in cyberspace. Now I am not completely sure the difference between a fan page and a blog because everyone can view the fan page -you don't need to be a member. However with the fan page i was able to create a photo album which chronicles the construction of 'this comes from within'. Also I have been able to post the information about the opening which is helpful ~ since I still don’t have the official postcard invite and the opening is only 15 days away. But my mantra lately has been – it will all work out!!!!

Now back to the fan page …. To view my new fan page with the photo album …here is the address.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Virginia-Fitzgerald/127363913633?ref=search&sid=690681189.2554966880..1

Lastly, today this quote was emailed to me and I am amazed on how timely this delivery was. As I am finishing this installation, I have been working hard on my artist's statement about it & this quote had given me another perspective. Many who see the eggshell dress immediately think wedding dress and even though it is a white dress I was not going for wedding dress, per say. However this quote put a different spin on the idea of being a bride, giving me an entirely new thought process. So I say again ~ isn’t the Internet amazing????

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.” Mary Oliver

So once again, thank you Mary Oliver & peace

in the News & upcoming Exhibits

This week started out nicely ~ with a picture of my Dress of Etiquette in the Metrowest Daily News' Sunday's Art section, accompanying an article about the Danforth Member Shows. Kristine Diederich reviews a few of the pieces in the exhibit and gives a nice reminder that the shows run through Aug 2nd. here is the link to the article ~ http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/arts/x1443001385/Danforth-Museum-hosts-annual-exhibit-of-members-artworks

Also, in August the Dress Project will be in a few shows around the Boston area.... First, from Aug.5th - Aug 29th the photo, A Little Jam Please, will be exhibited at the Bromfield Gallery as part of the WCA's juried show, sense of Humor. the opening reception is during the August first Friday ~ August 7th, 5-7:30 and a closing reception is Aug. 29th, 3-5.

Secondly ~ at the Arts League of Lowell (ALL) three dresses will be part of the show, Fabrication of Imagination ~ running August 1, 2009 ~ August 30, 2009. The Lowell Quilt Festival is also going on during this time.




Lastly - thank you to all who came to David & my open studio party last thurs. It was a wonderful evening and the music of David Williams was magical.
thanks & peace

'Emily's coming out party

The Dress of Etiquette (aka Emily) had her coming out party last night at the Danforth Museum. It was an elegant evening with champagne and chocolates. On Wednesday there will be the opening reception for the shows ~ I've put the information below ~ hope you all can come.

For those who might have missed the earlier post about Emily ~ this sculpture is exclusively made out of an Emily Post book that i received as a wedding present. Emily Post's Book of Etiquette was also a book of reference that I grew up with. To me it represents the world of appearances and 'ought to's , 'should's & 'obligated to's ~ a world with which I don't agree. So I put the book to good use ~ ripping it apart and creating this dress. It was quite a fascinating experience to rip a book ~ I hold books to an almost sacred standing, and to rip this one was distressing and yet cathartic at the same time. I was hoping that creating this dress would be therapeutic, however it seems to have stirred up more emotions then it seemed to settle. oh well....

I was excited to see the dress again ~ I finished it the day I submitted it to be juried and hadn't seen it since. The museum lite the piece beautifully, she looks stunning. It was fun to watch people read the dress & I enjoyed talking to people about all the different subjects that Emily Post covers. All in all it was a fine coming out party! And Wednesday eve should be fun!! If you can, come by because the shows are lovely ~ there is a wonderful collection of art, lots of mixed media, photography, printmaking,.... it was a feast for the eyes!! peace


Annual Members’ Juried Exhibition ~ Opening Reception ~Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 6 - 8 pm.
Danforth Museum ~ 123 Union Avenue, Framingham, MA 01702 - 508.620.0050
(click here for directions)
Join artists, family and friends in celebrating art and the creation of art in one of New England’s most exciting and fastest growing cultural organizations. This reception is free and open to the public.

Dress Update....

Well...Black Widow did not make it into the Danforth Member museum show; HOWEVER, “Emily” the Dress of Etiquette did!!! She was juried into the show by Lisa Tung and Joseph Carroll. For more information about the show click here. There will be two receptions ~ the Off the Wall Gala, Saturday, May 30, 2009, 6 - 8 pm and the Annual Members’ Juried Exhibition Opening Reception ~ Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 6 - 8 pm.
Since I was (of course) racing the clock to get Emily submitted I do not have a picture of her complete!!! SO you will all have to see her in her finest at the Danforth.

(a teaser- have a read..)

Now Even though Black Widow did not get into to the show she is on exhibit in the window of One80 in downtown Natick. Since I lost my windows when I moved studios One80 has kindly offered their windows!!! Right now Black Widow and In Memory of… are in the windows. I wanted to put in In Memory of… to acknowlegde the 6th anniversary of the Iraq war which was March 19th!

In Memory of....
I hope to be able to keep a good rotation of dresses in their windows. They are also exhibiting other artist’s work – some beautiful jewelry and the woodworkings of Carl Staley. The address is 19 south Main St (Route 27), between Gallery 55 and Bakery on the Common.
Peace