The dresstag story, installment #2

the dresstag story continues . . .

the first official dresstag, made at Me & Ollie's cafe, Portsmouth, NH

from my daily dress journal
click here to see more

first dresstag placed

4. when did you start dresstagging?

it was Labor Day of 2011. I was in Portsmouth, NJ with my daughter, Maya when we had stumbled upon a package of charming origami paper. In the past months I had mastered the act of making an origami dress, using the folded dresses in collages.   I was also had been intensely working with different size origami dresses with my daily dress journals.  It seemed a natural step to start leaving them in different places!!

as i folded a dress Maya made this lovely cicada

some i hide in books . . .

When I started ‘the dress project’ back in 2006, I saw the dress as the mark of Virginia, like the mark of Zorro.  I built dresses to celebrate something beauty or protest an injustice. Years later the origami dress was a smaller, more manageable dress to leave behind.  But as i played with the origami paper in Portsmouth I liked the idea of using the dresstag as a vehicle of good fortune.

i made this dress in protest
for  the crazy amount of fencing
and 'stay down' signs

while visiting my hometown I came across an old path thru a ravine that I took many times as a kid, to get to the beach.

the idea that they needed to put up this many fences, creating such an eye sore, really irked me. 

5. why are they called ‘dresstag’s??

From the first dress that I left behind I was hooked. I felt that this new endeavor needed a name.   

may this dress bring u a smile

hope this dress keeps you warm ~ put on a car with the bumper sticker saying, "hate is not a family value"

may this dress bring u ur dreams come true ~ placed in an ice cream shop in the bershires

There was a street art/ graffiti aspect to this act of dropping dresses, even though they were small and carried good fortune.  Looking to the jargon from the graffiti world I considered dressbombs/ dressbombing. However I didn’t like a violent, destructive word attached to these dresses.  There is much literature about how using violent language adds to the negativity and violence in our lives.  My aim was to add positive energy, so with the aid of many friends I decided on dresstag.  This name alluded to street art as well as to the dresses that are made, sold and worn. 

dresstagging makes it to the MOMA!!!!

 6. how do you come up with the ‘fortune’??

I usually don’t have any preconceived idea about what I am going to write.  By the time I finish folding the dress I have an idea of what fortunes I will write.  I have noticed that many times I make a dress with the intention that I myself might need at that moment., like courage, clarity, strength.  Interestingly those dresstags usually get the most responses on FB?!?!?  maybe on those day there is a more universal need for a certain intention?!?!?

may this dress bring u satisfaction 

Next installment will be about the places that the dresstags have gone and the directions that these treasures have lead me.  Also if you have any questions about this practice , or any questions about my art either leave them below in the comment area, or on facebook or email me . . .

thanks for reading!! 

peace

Dress 'bombing' in Portsmouth, NH

Today, daughter Maya and I took to the road to one of our favorite New England hamlets ~ Portsmouth, NH.  While there I got the idea of sprinkling the town with 'good fortune' dresses.  

 It started while waiting at Starbuck's.  Not being one to have idle hands - I made a dress out of an index card that i had in my pocket.  After I made it I thought it would be fun to put it in a corner with a bit of good fortune on it for the one who may find it. 

dress#1 ~ "may this dress bring u joy!

starbuck's, 1 Market Squ. 

 Maya and I liked the idea so much that we found some beautiful origami papers and made a few more, which we carefully placed around downtown Portsmouth.

 

dress#2 ~ "for you who finds this dress, may you have a yummy meal!

me & ollie's, 10 Pleasant St.

dress#3 ~ "may this dress bring the finder personal satisfaction"

a planter on Congress St.

dress #4 ~ "may this dress bring u a good night's sleep"

random car on Congress St.

dress #5 " may this dress bring you love"

Riverrun Bookstore, 20 Congress St.

dress #6 ~ "to the finder of this dress ~ find good fortune"

shoe store on Market St.

who knows if anyone may find one of these dresses, or for that matter pick it up! But it was fun to quietly dapple downtown Portsmouth with some good thoughts.  But now, watch out, because who knows where dress will pop up next??? 

Happy Labor Day Weekend to all!! Peace 

opening of ETA 8 @ Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth,NH

Just returned from a wonderful evening in Portsmouth where I attended the awesome opening of Nahcotta Gallery's ETA 8. I was so glad I could go and Hurricane Earl didn't dampen the evening at all. The town was bustling and Nahcotta was too!! Here are some photos I took - the place looked great - with all these little treasures adorning the walls. I met one of the artist, Terry McCue who does these beautiful pastels and was exhibiting some lovely acrylics for the show (sadly I didn't get a picture of her work -but check out her website). Here is a picture of my girls in all their glory ~ and there is a red dot there as well :) ~ hopefully more to come!!!

This picture is of the gallery's window which I LOVE ~ especially with the night sky behind it!!! the window was created by Jennifer Judd-Mcgee and Julia Rothmans for their show at Nahcotta called flora and fauna, last October.

It was a fun evening and I love Portsmouth!! The show runs until September 27th so if you are in the neighborhood you should stop by. And if you are not in the neighborhood ~ you should go... New Hampshire is glorious with the Fall foliage!!! :)

Peace & happy Labor Day!!!

Opening Tonight in Portsmouth, NH ~ be there!!! :)

Tonight is the opening of the Enormous Tiny Art show @ Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH. And yours truly is planning to attend ( unless Hurricane Earl has something to say about it). I am so excited to be part of the show!! It is a spectacular idea ~ 'for the months of September and February, Nahcotta is entirely devoted to the incredible creation that is tiny art, each piece measuring ten by ten square inches or smaller and completely original.' As I may have mentioned before they have 14 pieces of mine ~ some 3d and some 2d.

So today I am excited (opening party..), however I am also a little nervous because for this show I am debuting a different style of small dress which i really love. These dresses are part of a series of smaller papier-mâché dresses that I paint like the walls of 'this comes from within'!!! (worlds colliding) I love so much about these dresses ~ i love building the forms and then covering them with papier-mâché ~ the smoothness of the paste. I love how these dresses sit on the surface ~ solid, grounded, sturdy. And finally I love, LOVE to paint these pieces ~ to follow the lines and the thickness created by the paint ~ i just get lost in the process. Additionally I love how I use different papers (maps, letter, spread sheets, horoscopes...) for the final surface of the papier-mâché and how some of the paper shows through the painting. I also love how the strength and meaning behind each piece exposes itself as I paint ~ as I work a 'theme' appears on the dress.

So we will see how these pieces are received!!! But no matter what the opening should be awesome and I hope to see you all there!!!
peace!

The girls are on the move again....

This weekend my family & I delivered some of my girls to the Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH for their Enormous Tiny Art show 8. Fourteen dresses joined the many mini masterpieces gathering at this great gallery!! It was wonderful to wander around and look at all the work. We all became so enchanted by a painting by Melissa Moss that we bought it. You see, I believe in a kind of support your fellow artists karma ~ if financially possible, I like to buy some art before a show that i am in. So now we own a charming painting!!

The gallery has set up a super website for the show ~ displaying each artist's work on their own page. Click here to see my page. The collection that I gave them consists of 6 of my 3d dress on hangers, 6 of my small dresses on canvases (shown in this post) & 2 3d papier~mache sculptural dresses which are making their debut (more about these in another post) . I really enjoyed thinking in this small scale. I have always loved creating these smaller dresses ~ it is a format in which I can make a statement about an idea a little quicker then with the full scale dresses &/or I can be a bit clever ~ tongue & cheek-ish, if you will.

The dresses shown in this post are Strength (upper left) Black & blue (lower left), Home Improvement (upper right) and Number please (lower right). They are all on a 4 x 6in canvas.

The show will run from September 1 - October 3 with the opening on Friday, September 3rd, 5-8pm. I am hoping to go - I do love Portsmouth!!

peace!

the end of a crazy, but great, week!!!

This week I spent dotting my i's and crossing my t's ~ getting many pieces ready for either submissions or for shows!!! It has been at least 4 solid days of dawn to dusk(midnight) working and I wonder how I get myself into these situations ... i had known about these deadlines and have been working on the pieces. But then I realized that the looming, larger than life due dates give me boundaries. A reason to tell my family and friends no, I am sorry, I REALLY have to work! I could honestly work in my studio 24/7 ~ well I think I could, that theory has never been tested. When my husband takes the girls for an overnight or weekend away - when I am not sleeping I am in the studio! but those are short periods ~ only a few days. Maybe i would get tired of 'work' but i think not ~ there is just too many wonderful things out there to do, to make, to construct, to read about, to learn, to photograph, to collage, to blog :) ~ I could go on & on. So due dates do help me to focus, to finish a project and for that i am thankful. I need the boundaries - it is a hard line to walk yet a tremendous blessing~ how much time can i work, how much time to spend with my girls, friends and family. I believe I am extremely fortunate to want my days to be at least 48 hours long!! or that i didn't need as much sleep :).


So I am coming off an intense few studio days and I know i will (most likely) hit a wall, but for now I am still buzzing!! I hope to post most of the work that I finished this week, in the coming few days. Above is a personal favorite of mine ~ called 'all is well' . It is part of a collection of small dresses that i created for the eta8 show at Nachotta Gallery in Portsmouth NH. The Enormous Tiny Art Show 8 opens on Friday, September 3rd, 5-8pm & features only original art that is 10' x 10" or smaller ~ so enter Virginia's small sculptural dress and wall dresses.

This one is a particular favorite of mine ~ it's skirt consists of many fortune cookie fortunes and one in the front reads "The stars appear every night in the sky. All is well." So this dress is called 'all is well' ~ I love that sentiment!! And i am very happy with the way the dress turned out. It is an interesting experience making these little guys - never an easy task!!! but what fun would that be?!? :)

Hope to post more but I have kind of lost my 'boundaries'. In fact at this moment their is a dog continually knocking my elbow saying 'time for my walk!!!!'. So time for my walk!! Much love to all & peace!!!