#tbt: the story of 'black widow ...'

'black widow ...' (vcr tape dress) 

Sculpture: vcr tape, chicken wire, Size: 55 x 64 x 50" (2008)

Lucy Lippard juried this piece into the Women's Caucus for Art: "from the center” 

exhibit at the Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL Jan, 2010. 

  
In honor of 'black widow' being part of David Lee Black's Create your vision photography workshop this Sunday, I wish to share the story of 'black widow ...'

I made 'black widow ...' in 2008 when people were still using VCR tapes. Now when people see 'black widow ...' they ooo and ahhh as if VCR tapes are as old as the rotary phones.

I got the idea when I got a glimpse at the insides of one of those VCR cassette. I saw this shiny, ribbon like material and immediately thought it would make a great dress.  I noted that the VCR tape not only had this shiny black quality but it also moved with any kind of breeze and it was reflective and it also made a beautiful sound when it moved!!! All wonderful qualities to have in a material!!! And to highlight all these I decided to use a chicken wire armature for the bodice and weave the VCR tape into the chicken wire and then create the skirt by hanging endless ribbons of VCR tape.  

Now an interesting happened when I was creating the armature ...first let me share with you that whenever I start any dress I do not have a preconceived idea of the shape of the form but just 'follow' the material and the dress.  As I was working with the chickenwire, molding and twisting it into the bodice, the waist was becoming very small and the breasts were growing?!?! As I continued I realized that this dress was going to speak to the inane expectations that the media, TV, magazines, Hollywood  creates for women!!! That from the youngest age girls/women are told how to look and how to act and a majority of those messages are not healthy (although there has been a movement for more healthy images in the media for girls/women, but honestly it is still pretty nasty out there) 

So as this thought was percolating I felt the need to close off the arm holes of the bodice, as a way of symbolizing how these messages and expectations presented by the media trap and stifle women. 

Once the bodice was finished I covered it with VCR tape in one of my favorite methods, weaving and then created the skirt.  I do not know how many VCR tapes I used (wish I had kept track) and 'no' I didn't use particular movies (another question I am asked).  After creating and showing the dress I did have MANY!! people asking if I wanted there old VCR tapes. It was interesting as I believe I witnessed the ending of the VCR tape era, as the amount of tapes that I was offered was mind-blowing.  I did take many boxes because I do think that this is an awesome material.  

It seems to be weather-proof as well.  In 2012 I did a workshop with the Happy Hollow Elementary School in Wayland, MA where the Students and I created a jellyfish out of VCR tape.  Click here to see a blog post about my visit to the school!! 

A last note about 'black widow ...' is that I feel it also reflects my personal feeling about watching TV can be the death to creativity, imagination and so much more. 

Below is a bit of a blogpost from 2009, when the Starbuck's coffee cups had different quotes on them ...

13 uninterrupted years!!!! lost

This is a quote that came on my Starbuck's cup and I HAD to share.....
The Way I see It #51 ~
"Americans spend an average of 29 hours a week watching television- which means in a typical life span we devote 13 uninterrupted years to our TV sets! the biggest problem with mass media isn't low quality- it's high quantity. Cutting down to just an hour a day would provide extra years of life- for music and family, exercise and reading, conversation and coffee."
--Michael Medved, author of Right Turns & radio talk show host

That is a little over 4 hours a day which equals 13 YEARS!!!!!I am the person who, in college, learned that you spend about a quarter of your life asleep and I tried to stop sleeping - that didn't work...you need sleep, but TV?!?

So that is a bit of the backstory of 'black widow ...' and if you can come to Plymouth today and join a wonderful group of creatives taking pictures in a inspiring space with modeling and musicians!! it is an event NOT TO BE MISSED!!! XXX

Change Event Photo

MAY22

Eleventh in a series of a wonderful growing community of supportive and talented photographers of all skill levels.

We will be photographing at the amazing TreeHouse Studios of Kristin Hughes-Craig located at 84 Court Street,Plymouth, Massachusett with professional lighting, backdrops and a projection screen! 

We will be photographing the lovely model Capri Lanning-Cafaro. Capri will be interacting with artist Virginia Fitzgerald's hauntingly beautiful dress sculpture, "black widow . . ."

There will also be plenty of helpful guidance and suggestions to enhance your passion for artful photography.

Feel free to invite your friends or share this invite!

What to bring: 
Camera (All kinds of cameras are welcome)
Your creativity
Optional: Examples of work for peer review

Cost: $50

Parking is street and parking lot on side of building. Also there is a public parking lot behind Plymouth Memorial Hall across the street.

We will meet at 10:30 am for meet and greet (refreshments provided).

This just in . . .
The wildly talented @Steven Lanning-Cafaro will be playing classical and flamingo acoustic guitar for this special event!

#tbt: the story of 'paint-pot dress ... '

'paint-pot dress ...' 

I am honored to announce that  my 'paint-pot dress ...' was accepted into Cambridge Art Association's biennial exhibition, BLUE, which was juried by Katherine French, Gallery Director Catamount Arts, VT.   'lilith in blue ...' was part of Blue 2012-2013. 

'lilith in blue ...'

And as a way to celebrate this exciting news I am going to give the brief story of this dress' creation.  I have been wanting to return to my #tbt blog posts, telling the back-stories of the many dresses in my dressproject.  As I am review the scope of my 'dressproject' I am constantly amazed about how many the dresses have some kind of story, connection or interesting point of reflection.  Some are very poignant, such as 'dear jeff... ' and some are just fun, like this one.  

When looking at this photograph, many people are unsure about what makes up this dress, even knowing the title.  So to clarify, this dress is made out of the paint pots from watercolor sets, the basic watercolor sets that we all used in school and possibly use now.  

In 2013, I was substituting at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA.  I was covering the maternity leave of the Middle School's art teacher, and loving it.

One of our class projects was based around one point perspective and I had the students create a city street in perspective then color it with watercolor paints.  When we first pulled out the sets it was clear that they needed to be refreshed and replenished.  

This is one of the cool parts of being the art teacher, access to the art closet, full of endless art supplies and in this case, boxes of replacement pots of paint so that schools do not need to throw out an entire paint set if only one color is used up!! 

So during one free period I gathered all the paint sets and proceeded to pop out the pots that were nearly empty.  Soon my desk was covered with the old and new paint pots, all different colors and shades depending on the state of the paint.  As I worked, piling up more and more paint pots onto the desk, I knew that a dress needed to be made, and so I proceeded to cull together the blues and purples and made a dress.

Now here is the part of this dress' story that I most love ....  

I hadn't been substituting for too long, maybe a month or so, and I felt as if my advisors and I were still getting comfortable with each other. 

On the day I was cleaning the paint sets I had worked through lunch so when my advisors returned to the classroom after lunch for advisory, I was in the midst of my mess. As I scrambled to find the necessary papers and information for advisory, one of my advisors walked over to my desk and surveyed my mess and inquired what I was doing???

'Well,' I started to explain, 'I was cleaning up in the watercolor paint sets and needed to pop out the old paints so I could put in the fresh paint pot.  But once I saw all the pots of color and noted all the beautiful variations laying across my desk I just needed to make a dress out of them.' And almost before I finished my explanation she looked at me with a smile and stated in a matter-of-fact manner,

 'of course you did!' 

Then all my advisors came up and admired my handiwork and it was at that point that I felt completely welcomed.  They got me! 

link to info about the exhibit

 

peace