validation: messy room, brilliant mind!!!!

What a perfect way to start a week!!! In my FB feed, there was a link to this article from Country Living with the comment ...   'this looks likeVirginia Fitzgerald" 

Well, it not only looks like Virginia Fitzgerald, it IS ME!!! 

Many moons ago I 'modeled' for a local photographer who sells his photos to photo banks, like Getty Images, but I completely forgot about it until today!!! And now I am the poster child for embracing your MESS!!!! (happy dance)

And to add to the joy of this discovery,  this photograph captures me working on one of my favorite sculptures, 'lush ...' , so that would be the summer of 2009. 

This New Study Offers a Good Excuse Not to Straighten Up That Messy Room

Papers thrown about? Craft supplies strewn across the table? A disorganized space might just be a sign of creative brilliance.

By Rebecca Shinners

 Apr 29, 2015

If there's one thing we could all count on hearing from our parents growing up, it was the seemingly constant command to clean our rooms. Over time, mom and dad's insistent reminders to put away our toys have turned into a nagging inner voice telling us that we'd get so much more work done if we'd just straighten up our desks.But what if everything you thought you knew about the benefits of being tidy was wrong? A recent study released by psychologist Kathleen Vohs at the University of Minnesota concluded that a messy work environment is actually linked to greater levels of creativity and and interesting ideas.In the study, Vohs tested the effects of different kinds of working environments on human behavior. As part of the study, participants were asked to come up with different uses for ping pong balls. The ideas were scored by impartial judges, who concluded that the ones generated by the people in messy environments were more interesting and creative. Messy room participants also tested as more likely to choose a new product than an established one."Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights," Vohs said in a report by the Association of Psychological Science."Orderly environments, in contrast, encourage convention and playing it safe."The study was tested in six different locations, but Vohs found that the type of room participants worked in did not matter—the environment just had to be unkempt to result in a difference in behavior.So the next time you head into your home office or craft room, you may want to skip the extra few minutes it would take to put your books or supplies away—you never know when your messy space will inspire something extraordinary.TELL US: What type of environment do you think you do your best work in?(h/t Apartment Therapy)

'lush ...' (2009)

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it all started seven years ago . . . .

wedding dress (brenda's dress) 

the beginning of the dress project

it all began on wells beach, me. in 2006. i had an idea of an image of a dress and while walking on the beach one morning i picked up a stick to see what this 'dress' would look like.  i drew a sleeveless, life sized dress and  filled it in with the beautiful beach rocks & then proceeded to let the high tide take it away ~ giving me a new, clean canvas on which to make another dress.  the process felt so right and so gratifying that for the rest of the vacation i made a dress!  & each day i would walk the beach with no preconceived idea and would just listen to which material i was to use that day... 

(from www.virginiafitzgerald.com, 

click HERE for photogallery)

It all started, innocently on 

a family vacation, 

in Wells Beach, ME.

A broken glass, 

a sea of drowning ladybugs 

and a nagging thought 

lead me to create 

the DressProject.  

Follow this link to read 

Helen Prunty Krispien's article: 

Drowning ladybugs lead to fascinating art project, 

(for more about ladybugs and dresses)

Since then I have created hundreds of dresses, 

in a myriad of media and materials.

Some in unique locales:

dress #3 from wells beach, me.

new york diner dress (2006)

I have made LARGE dressese

this installation centered around an 8 foot tall dress of eggshells 

'this comes from within' medicine wheel productions (2009)

and I have made small dresses 

abc dress (2006) about 1 inch square

some dresses have a message:

'in memory of  . . . .' (2008) in private collection

made with plaster tape, dog tags and photos of soldiers 

honoring those who died in Iraq.

'ripple' (2010)

a drawing that I contributed to a charity 

raising money to help the gulf after the BP oil spill.

I have made ephemeral dresses and dress sculptures

 which reside in public and private collections.

'lush' (2009) in private collection

And 7 years later, the desire to make dresses is just as unrelenting as it was in Wells Beach.

The dress continues to inspire me to venture into new realms of expression;  performance, installations and collaborative art.

'metamorphosis' (2013) made with the Dana Hall student body

The dress has lead me to

my dresstagging practice

the world of greeting cards and

my daily dress inspiration blog (dressblog).

one of the first dresstags, portsmouth, NH

dresscard  - soon to be for sale on Etsy

I have made dresses out of plaster, plastic bottles, VCR tape, 

fresh pasta, shells, maps, clothes pins, 

fall leaves, dog hair, ribbons, 

even nail polish . . . Nothing is safe!!!

winding roads (2011) paper-mache, paint, marker 

'cicada' (2012) mixed media painting on panel

'time to take flight' (2012) mixed media collage, part of the 'home sweet home' series

With the dress I discovered my voice,
the dress became my soapbox from 
which I could initiate a dialogue,
engage in political debate, 
question social protocol and
excavate my authentic self.

thank you

And I thank you for your continued interest 

in my dress obsession, 

your company and support has made 

this journey all the more gratifying. 

peace

grant application submitted - CHECK

Any other artist out there feeling like the business end of being an artist is exhausting?!? 

Once again I am racing to get a grant submission in before the deadline (today), and each time I do this remember my desire to get better pictures of my work?!??!

This was the first time that I needed to prepare a powerpoint presentation so hopefully I dotted my i's and crossed my t's. 

Below are the 'slides'.

Now off to the next task . . . or maybe a nap?!?!? 

peace to all.

hands, hands, ...glorious hands

You might have noticed that my blog has been quiet for awhile. That is because last week i had surgery on my left hand and I have been a bit out of commission! The surgery was part of the repercussions of breaking up a dog fight. I have now learned my lesson that you don't use your hands (especially if you are an artist) to break up a dog fight. I will never do it again, I SWEAR!!!! (u can't imagine how many times people have questioned my actions... but i digress) So suffice to say I have learned my lesson and also have had an intimate education on bone infections (which is why they had to operate). But I am recovering well and my left hand now has a removable brace so I can type, so hence i can blog!!! And I felt an appropriate topic would be hands!!!

Back in October, before the ‘dog’ incident I drew this hand dress on the door of a friend’s studio. I drew it during a melancholy and lonely afternoon. I wasn’t sure what I was going to draw on this empty canvas of a door, but when I started I found myself just drawing these hands holding the dress or ‘me’ together. As I drew the dress the hands changed from being flat to curving around the figure. For me touch and cuddle is so important and I loved the idea of this dress embracing me, holding me. It made me feel better of that afternoon.

Now this is an outside door so in the elements of Boston winters the dress went its way, as all my ephemeral dresses do. And I was fine with that, until the day before my hand surgery. It was Sunday and of course I had a million different places to be and things to do before going into the hospital. I didn’t think I was too anxious about the procedure – I had done my homework and I was glad it was not going to be both hands and I had all these things to think about…. But as I was racing around I passed by my friend’s empty studio door and I found myself pining for the hand dress. Even though I was already late I turned around, found my chalk and recreated my hand dress. There had been an ever so light suggestion of the first dress and so I patiently retraced this dress that had given me such solace during a time of sadness. Now it was giving me a moment of quiet during an anxious time. When I finished the dress & got back in my car I had a new calm about having surgery and an acceptance of not being able to work for awhile. I drove away in awe of the power of the creative drive and how it can be so healing.

Now while I was convalescing I ruminated about hands. I could not use my hands much but I was ACUTELY aware of how much I usually do with my hands, and what amazing instruments they are. Soon after the ‘dog incident’ I had started a series of hands ~ mostly drawings; and as I lying in bed I envisioned how I would continue the series. But as I thought about working with hands I realized that hands have been present in much of my work for decades ~ in my hand painted clothing, in my illustration as well as in the Dress Project. In fact the walls of my installation ‘this comes from within’ was full of hands ~ coming out of pots, off of vines, out of the bathtub, and in my favorite corner there were seven hands reaching up out of this ‘nest’ of life. I have always been a fan of hands - visually they are beautiful and they represent so much. And especially for me ~ they represent the importance of touch ~ that physical connection with another being. Peace

Ready for her close-up

Last week I had the pleasure of delivering Lush (also known as Barcelona) to her new home ~ it was such a treat!!!! I was able to see the beautiful space that these wonderful people have set up for her ... it looked like it was made especially for her!!! There was a nook all ready for her with red urns to flank her. Beside her nook was a wildly colored screen in a design similar to the wall designs of 'this comes from within'. And the best part was the brightly colored chandelier of BARBIE dolls which came from a terrific vintage clothing and accessories store in Gloucester called Bananas. The owner Richard Leonard made the chandelier, and when I met him I learned that he made a dress out of Barbies!!!! It was exhibited in a few places, here is the link to one of the show catalogs!!


So besides knowing that Lush is with nice people in the perfect home I also found a terrific vintage store and learned about a dress of barbies ~ life is good!!!


Before she left I did want to document her. This dress has been on the move since she was finished!! First the ALL show in Lowell in August, then @ Gallery 55 for the open studios and then off to the Red Show @ the Cambridge Art Association where she was sold...so I hadn't really had a moment to photograph her. So I got her set-up with lights and whatnot. But the really fun part was that I took pictures of her in different locations. This is an idea that I have been bouncing around in my mind for awhile. I really want/plan to make another eggshell dress and put it into different locations and photograph it. So I really enjoyed experimenting with Lush ~ two of the photos are below.


peace