'torqued and tethered ...' flies again ...

Last week I completed my annual installation in the window of UniT at the Natick Mall.  This year Eujin, the owner of this inspiring shop, and I decided to feature my sculpture, 'torqued and tethered ...' in the wake of the political shifts and recent threats to women's rights, reproduction rights and human rights in general.

'breaking open . . .' Fountain Street Fine Art (2013)

'torqued and tethered ...' was first exhibited at 'breaking open ...' in 2013, at Fountain Street Fine Arts, Framingham, MA.  For that exhibit the entire dress was pinned down to the ground by rocks, the 'dress' was trapped, straining to get free.  It was during that exhibition that I was nearing the end of a long and intense divorce process and I was feeling very burned by the excepted and traditional roles for a woman, so it follows that the sculpture was trapped and in distress.

'torqued and tethered ...' during installation , Uni-T, present

Since that exhibit and the completion of my divorce, when I have installed 'torqued and tethered ...' not all the ribbons are held to the ground, trapped under the rocks.  At first I didn't think much of it, however on reflection this change reflects where I was personally in my life's journey. It could also be said that showing some of the ribbons free while some of the ribbons are still trapped can reflect the  truths of women's rights in general, there have been some advances but there is still a great struggle.

Below is a more elaborate description of the sculpture that I wrote when it was exhibited at the South Shore Arts Center, Cohasset, MA, in their exhibit, Forever & After, in 2015.

'torqued and tethered ...' SSAC, 2015

For the present, 'torqued and tethered ...'  can be seen in the window of Uni-T surrounded by photographs from my 'dailydress' series, ephemeral dresses made during the course of my day, created, photographed and then left to dissipate back into the landscape...



'torqued and tethered . . .' is the first of my dress sculpture where I played with the scale and shape of the dress. For this piece the bodice is stunted, emaciated, twisted and tortured. The sculpture hangs by only one of the shoulder straps, the other strap sags, defeated, exhausted. The way the bodice hangs the viewer can see in, under and through her; all is exposed. Being white, there is the suggestion of seeing bone.

'torqued and tethered . . .'
behind 'metamorphosis . . . '

The skirt of the dress is created by ribbons that hang from the bottom of the bodice. These ribbons strain against the rocks which have hold the ribbons to the floor; grounding her, repressing her, when all she really wants to do is to fly, to be free.
I usually do not like to share my thoughts about a pieces so that the viewer can have their own personal experience with the sculpture, so I will attempt to leave something for the imagination. However I feel very strongly about 'torqued and tethered . . .'

Lady Forrest 1876, Victorian style dress 

This sculpture speaks to the omnipresent and destructive messages directed at young girls/women,
from the media (TV, movie, advertisements, ...), society, many religions and possibly family. The dress is white to implying the many cultural traditions where a girl or woman wears a white dress that represents purity, goodness, respectability and virtue. Usually a white dress is worn for baptisms, first communions, confirmations, debutante cotillions, some graduations and, and of course,  a white dress is worn in a traditional wedding.

'torqued and tethered . . . ', for me, represents an innocent young spirit/girl who has been pinned down by rules, expectations, dogma and traditions and who has twisted and tortured herself trying to free herself and just be who is authentically is; she just wants to soar!!!

'torqued and tethered ...' SSAC, 2015

links:

Fountain Street: www.fsfaboston.com

Uni-T, Natick Collection: www.shopuni-t.com

South Shore Arts Center, Cohasset, MA:www.ssac.org/

peace

#wip wednesday: a woman possessed . . .

Tonight is the opening reception for "Possessions, prized or otherwise"
this year's national juries show at the Attleboro Arts Museum.

I am very happy to announce that my piece, 'pencil cup triptych' is one of the accepted works!!!

the triptych consists of the above three interruptions of my pencil mug.

some of you may remember this series from a few years back . . .  

an acrylic painting of this mug was as 

my contribution to the Fountain Street Fine Art's 8x8 in 2013.

(click here to see the process and the other renditions)

Below is the starting picture of my beloved pencil mug, taken on a cold winter's day, while waiting in my car, for a daughter so I could take her to school.  I remember thinking that the light was really nice and captured the whimsy of the pencils and showed the shape of the mug, so thanks to the always ready iPhone . . . click.  and from there I have interpreted this image in many different media -  graphite, collage, pastel, paints . . .  

Here is the statement that I submitted with my triptych, explaining why I chose to submit this object for the possession show, the call for art asked for art that represented 'concepts that explore the things we hold dear – and the things we just plain hold. Consider representations of storage units, moving day, family heirlooms, trophies, travel souvenirs, yard sales, bric-a-brac on the fireplace mantel …'

artist's statement:

I received my ‘pencil mug’ sophomore year in college, so over 30 years ago. My roommate,Kate Kenyon, had found it at a ‘dollar store’ over a school vacation and upon returning to campus presented it to me with much fanfare.  She exclaimed that when she saw it she knew I needed to have it because it was a mug covered with colored pencils.  And she was right,  I did LOVE it and I have cherished it.

For the rest of my college career my ‘pencil mug' came with me everywhere!! I tied it to one of the straps of my knapsack where it would dangle as I would traverse the campus, from academic buildings, down the middle path to my home away from home, my studio.  In my studio I had my trusty, rusty hot pot where I would make either tea or coffee or a cup of oatmeal, all of which were consumed from my beloved ‘pencil mug’.  
Surprisingly and SO fortunately my ‘pencil mug’ survived the years of swaying from my backpack and the occasional collision with random desks, chairs and fellow students, and was carefully packed to join me in my post college life, which included many moves.  As it is my favorite mug, it always came with me.  I remember feeling that I was officially ‘home’ once I unpack my ‘pencil mug’ and placed it in its honored place on a kitchen shelf.  So my ‘pencil mug’ helped me make home in Los Angeles, CA, Iowa City, IA, Chicago, IL , New York City & Brooklyn, NY, Newton, MA and eventually Natick, MA where it has been moved a few times.  
My ‘pencil mug’ has held many a hot beverages (coffee being my favorite) and numerous meals, cereal being one of my favorite go-to meals that can easily be eaten out of a mug.  It is the mug I seek out when I am having a hard day or need some reassurance.  It still travels with me in ways a ceramic mug might not survive, but it does.  In fact the photo that I have used for the ‘pencil mug’ triptych is from a typical cold and rushed morning of multi-carpooling and my faithful mug was there keeping me warm and happy.
The images in the ‘pencil mug’ triptych are three out of a series in which I altered and manipulated one particular photo of my mug.  I had placed the mug on the dashboard of my minivan waiting for the second round of carpooling.  It was a cold winter morning and the light was quite enchanting.  Besides the light, the composition of the photo appealed to me so I made numerous photo transfers of the image and then treated each one with a different medium and/or technique.  The triptych includes a graphite rendering, a collage interpretation and a multimedia version where I placed a grid over the photo transfer and worked each section in different manners.  
With much of my work I use different techniques, materials and media to interpret the same image.  I am interested in how the different materials and approach can alter the overall experience of a piece or imbue it with an alternative meaning.
 
This mug is definitely one of my prized, cherished and loved possessions.

namaste & peace, va

#tbt: the story of 'torqued & tethered . . . .'

'torqued & tethered . . . ' at "forever & after"
at the SSAC

the story of  'torqued & tethered . . . ' 

in honor of her participation in the exquisite exhibit, "Forever & After"

 at the South Shore Art Center, curated by the amazing Bill Houser. 

Opening reception is tomorrow, Feb 20th, 6-8pm. 

If you are able, you need to go experience this exhibition, it is haunting in its beauty.

 'torqued & tethered . . . ' (2013) ribbons, chicken wire and rocks.

'torqued & tethered . . .' is the first of my dress sculpture where I played with the scale and shape of the dress.  For this piece the bodice is stunted, emaciated, twisted and tortured.  The sculpture hangs by only one of the shoulder straps, the other strap sags, defeated, exhausted. The way the bodice hangs the viewer can see in, under and through her; all is exposed.  

Being white, there is the suggestion of seeing bone.

'breaking open . . .' Fountain Street Fine Art (2013)

The skirt of the dress is created by ribbons that hang from the bottom of the bodice. These ribbons strain against the rocks which have hold the ribbons to the floor; 

grounding her, repressing her,  when all she really wants to do is to fly, to be free.

'torqued & tethered . . .' behind 'metamorphosis . . . '

I usually do not like to share my thoughts about a pieces so that the viewer can have their own personal experience with the sculpture, so I will attempt to leave something for the imagination. However I feel very strongly about  'torqued & tethered . . .'

This sculpture speaks to the omnipresent and destructive messages directed at young girls/women,

Lady Forrest 1876, Victorian style dress

from the media (TV, movie, advertisements, ...), society,  many religions and possibly family.  The dress is white to implying the many cultural traditions where a girl or woman wears a white dress that represents purity, goodness, respectability and virtue. Usually a white dress is worn for baptisms, first communions, confirmations, debutante cotillions, some graduations and, and of course,  a white dress is worn in a traditional wedding.

(I am suddenly feeling as though I have so much to say that I am going to EXPLODE!! I have many opinions about these traditional roles and expectations that are forced on girls/women even now in this supposedly gender enlightened time!! I have two girls/young ladies and I am aghast at the subtle messages that they have gotten about the importance of getting married! But this rant is for another post.*)

'torqued and tethered . . . ', for me, represents an innocent young spirit/girl who has been pinned down by rules, expectations, dogma and traditions and who has twisted and tortured herself trying to free herself and just be who is authentically is; she just wants to soar!!!

thank you for your interest and peace,

va

'breaking open' is closing this weekend ~

'tethered and torqued' works so well in the space

The count down has begun . . . 'breaking open' at Fountain Street Fine Art will close on Sunday! 

I am sad this exhibit will be closing because I am very proud of how the pieces came together.  

And there are some of my pieces that are more like installations and which work very well in this space, and I appreciate that they won't be exhibited like this again.  

But it has been a great run.  I have had heard lovely comments from those who have been able to make it to the gallery.  

In fact a fellow artist, Catherine Carter, brought her Framingham State classes to the exhibit, and then wrote an insightful review on her blog.

students making notes 

Here is a section from Carter's post:

The most impressive takeaway from our visit, and the one which I think will provide an ongoing memory for the class, is Virginia's creative approach to LIFE. It was apparent from this exhibit that every day is an adventure to her. New artistic ideas are always flashing through her mind, new expressive possibilities are always suggesting themselves to her, and she is always seeking new methods and materials to communicate her ideas and visions. Her open-mindedness and free spirit are inspiring, especially to these college students whose lives at this stage are increasingly suffocated by deadlines, requirements, and responsibilities. It's important to remind them that one of the reasons we are here (The Reason, in my book) is the need to savor the sensuous, impractical events in our lives, and our field trip experience today provided that example.

click here to read more

And besides Catherine's wonderful words about the show, she asked her students to pick one of the pieces and write their reaction to it.  I am so curious to reads their thoughts.

Also last night I hosted an evening gathering at the gallery, which, despite the cold and rainy weather was well attended.  It was a great group of visitors with great interest and wonderful questions, and I am all too happy to discuss the work, my thoughts and my processes.  

Thank you to all that stopped by last night.

So, if you want to experience the exhibit,

it will still be  up and open for to more days.  

The gallery's hours are :

Friday 11-5pm

Saturday 11-5pm

Sunday 11-5pm.

and by appointment

And if you need extra incentive ~ I am gallery sitting Saturday afternoon from 2-5pm.  

Then as of 5pm Sunday I pack it up and make room for Fountain Street's next exhibit: Natural Selection. Hope you can stop by . . . 

going out with a bang!!!!

'tethered and torqued' detail

Incredibly 'breaking open' ends this sunday!!! Yes, a month has past, and although it feels as if I was just installing the work; this Sunday evening I will be packing 'tethered and torqued', rocks and all, back into my van.  All in the life of being an artists, which is all good.

But before this exhibit rides off into the sunset, there is still a chance to experience the show.
 Fountain Street Fine Art will be open its regular hours:
Gallery Hours Thursday - Sunday 11-5 and by appointment (508-879-4200)

And to add to the fun ~ we are hosting an evening reception tomorrow, Thursday Nov. 7, 5:30-8pm, for those who can't make it during daytime hours.  I appreciate this is a very busy time for folks so I hope to make it easy for people to stop by.  Because my work is more installation and if one gets to the gallery one gets the 'experience' of the work, which photographs can't convey.

So if you are in the area, please join us
~

 ‘break open’ the champagne- celebration;

‘break open’ a geode-exploration, discovery;

‘break open’ the safe- intrusion, violation;

‘break open’ a case-success, achievement.

‘breaking open’  ~ a provocative exhibit, by two mixed media artists, intended to ‘break’ or prompt a reexamination of old ideas or beliefs.

' breaking open’ comes to a close this weekend!!

but there is still time to come experience

this exhibit/ installation by

Virginia Fitzgerald & Anne Gilson

Join us, this Thursday, November 7^th, 5:30 – 8pm

for an evening reception of wine and good conversation.

Artist Virginia Fitzgerald will be there to chat about the work.

Also the gallery will be open its regular hours:

Friday	11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday**	11:00 am – 5:00 pm
** Virginia will be gallery sitting 2-5pm
Sunday	11:00 am – 5:00 pm @ 5 ~the show is over!

we hope you can stop by & thank you!!

Fountain Street Fine Art

59 Fountain Street, Framingham, MA 01702

Phone:(508) 879-4200

www.fountainstreetfineart.com

'metamorphosis' in front, 'tethered and torqued' in background