Announcing the rebooting of my dailydress project ....

Though I started making dressart and my 'dressproject'  since 2005, I started my 'dailydress project ...' on May 31, 2013.  It stemmed from a personal need to have daily positive and inspirating messages because that year was pretty intense for me. And as is my nature I wanted to share the words of wisdom that I found so I started my 'dailydress project ...' blog.

click here to go to blog

I posted daily for over a year, May 31, 2013 - July 11, 2014. Then my posts became less daily so that I could focus on other projects of my life. Then when my oldest, Maya, headed off to college I turned again to my daily posting, this time focusing the posts on topics and themes that I wanted to share with my daughters, my book of motherlove. I posted 97 days of 'motherlove', and once again life demanded my attention and my posts became more sparatic and far between.

Now loved ones of mine are going through a difficult transition,  so I am rebooting my dailydress blog!!  And honestly I couldn't be more happy! My 'dailydress' blog has been one of my favorite things to do.  I am a quote junkie, jotting down inspiring quotes whenever I see one, the more obscure the better. So if you are interested in "a collection of art, quotes, advice, recipes and life hacks to help us all navigate this brave new world ...." click this link to visit the entire blog.

I have also created a 'dailydress' project group on FaceBook, so if you are on FB please join the group! the more the merrier.

'the dailydress project ...' Public group · 384 members Join Group 'the dailydress project ...' @ https://dailydressproject.blogspot.com a collection of art, quotes, advice, recipes and life hacks to help us all navig...

click here to join the dailydress project group on FB

thank you and peace, 

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

Have the vision to recognize a good thing . . .

while writing a new blog a came to realize that I don't think this one ever got posted?!? so if that is the case - here is a post written a few months ago . . .

lucky penny

I am happy to announce that I am one of the 6 participating artists in 
Fountain Street Fine Art's recent endeavor ~ 

Community Supported Art or CSArt.

This is a inspired way to collect some 

great, original ART 

at easy on your wallet prices :).  

The idea is similiar to Community Supported Agriculture but instead of getting shares of a garden's output you get a share of a gallery's selected artist's output.  

Below you will find a more thorough description of this program, as well as links to each artists' web/blog and a special CSArt blog with artist's statements and more. (click here for my page)

I have been very excited about this prospect from the first time I was ask to participate.  

My mind has been spinning with different ideas for my 'share' of the 'shares'.  

One of the circling thoughts is to make individual Daily Dresses pieces, not in a book :0 (say it isn't so).  Many people have suggested that I should take my daily dress journals apart so that each piece can stand on its own.  I can't imagine doing that, BUT I have been playing with the idea of making these mixed~media snapshots of my daily going-on on separate pieces of paper or board?!?!

'dress of installation' (6/3/12) mixed media on mdf

I experimented this weekend with the detritus of a day that I helped a friend install a sign.  I call this piece, 'dress of installation'. The jury is still out about how I feel about if these pieces can stand on their own?!?! 

But I do like the idea of some kind of mixed media piece for the CSArt.

marker on mdf ~ medium density fiberboard

I have also thought about pulling out my inks, rollers and brayers and do a woodcut or such!?!? or drawings or little dress collages ~ the possibilities are endless. 

But as u can tell this idea of creating a special treasure  for the lucky share holders  thrills  me    !!!!  

strata ~ mixed media on canvas

So if you have thought about investing in 'local' artists, 

or want to ‘grow’ you art collection ~ 

this is 

for you!!*

(*you will al$o be helping out some wonderful & worthy artists)

Fountain Street Fine Art starts

Community Supported ART (CSArt@FSFA)

Many local residents are familiar with community-supported agriculture, (CSA) a popular way for consumers to buy seasonal food directly from local farms. With the same buy-local spirit in mind, many arts organizations have started a similar endeavor to support local art, artists and collectors.  Fountain Street Fine Art is starting its own CSArt to put original art from the hands of local artists into the hands of thirty lucky locals!

 CSArt@FSFA is modeled on wildly popular programs throughout the country, including a successful Art CSA program adopted last year by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. 

The six artists participating in this year’s CSArt@FSFA are Lisa Barthelson, Cheryl Clinton, Marie Craig, Virginia Fitzgerald, Kay Hartung, and Jeanne Williamson, all Core and Associate members of the gallery. Find out more about the artists at csartfsfa.blogspot.com

Here’s how the CSArt@FSFA works:

-Each Share costs $360.  ONLY 30 shares will be sold, to keep the quality high.  

-Each shareholder will receive six works of art at an "Art Harvest" party in the fall, one by each of 6 different artists.

-Each work of art will be a unique, signed original piece. Artists will decide what to make; each piece will be about 12x12 inches or smaller.

Shares are selling at a steady pace, and will be available through the end of June (to allow the artists plenty of time to create the work) or until sold out.

We've attached a press release and FAQ with more information, as well as jpegs of example pieces by our participating artists. Please contact us for additional photos of the artists at work and examples of their art.

Thank you,

Marie and Cherie

late-night ramblings after a long day

Today I was possessed, as I have been for the past 4 days, by my driving desire to enter a 'new' work to the Fountain Street Fine Art's PAPER exhibit.  So even though it has been a long day, my heart and head are still spinning, and I felt that I might 'talk out' my thoughts here on my blog.  Today has brought up some fundamental questions that I feel many artists face now and then. 

the piece that I left @ FSFA

Fountain Street Fine Art is celebrating its first anniversary with a Paper Show (paper being the traditional first anniversary gift).  Besides wanting to be part of any show that this wonderful gallery puts on, James Welu, Director Emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum, is the juror.  

I have known about this call for weeks and I had SOOOOO many ideas.  But, as is usually the way my creative life unfolds, other life needs kept me away from focusing on this call, until this weekend, which was a little late.  

I mean - what a wonderful call - PAPER, anything to do with paper - my head was exploding with ideas -  

"Media may include, but is not limited to paper, oil, pastel, acrylic, watercolor, collage, photography, video, ceramics, metal, fiber, glass, wood, and stone. '

~i wanted to create an interactive piece with my little dresstag dresses, pinning these dresses on a wall (each with a fortune) to create a dress and encourage the gallery visitors to take a dress/fortune.  

Ever since I started the Dress Project I wanted to set up a situation where participants would disassemble a dress.  I always wondered how would the dress 'decompose', would there be areas of the dress that people would not remove?!??  But alas, couldn't fold enough dresses construct a dress.

~I also started a small paper mache dress - on which I was going to 'collage' letters and images of internal organs.  

This dress was going to reflect how I have been feeling during my divorce process - exposed and raw.  The initial dress form turned out very successfully, a nicely defined figure, but I didn't have enough 'quiet' or reflective time to be able to take the next step.

~I fantasized about expanding on my Daily Dress collages.  I wanted to push the possibilities of working with paper - collage, sewing, burning, transfers, . . . 

~I also have been working on a series of works on subscriptions cards ~ yes those pesky cards that are always falling out when you are trying to curl up to read Oprah.  And last time I checked subscription cards are paper.

But as the due date approached and the days/hours/minutes ticked away I was drawn to a piece that I started in March at the Vermont Studio Center.  It is a painting on paper, inspired by the wall paintings in my 2009 installation, 'this comes from within'.  

although I exhibited this dress
I didn't think it was finished

I started with a simple drawing which I then reworked and repainted, adding and embellishing with creatures and hands and insects and bodies.  I have started MANY projects using this painting technique - a mostly monochromatic line painting/drawing.  But with all these starts I have hardly finished one of them.  Even with the walls of 'this comes from within' I only stopped painting the walls because I needed to build an 8ft dress out of eggshells. 

So for the FSFA's Paper show I 'finished' my line painting on paper, which has churned up many doubts/questions in my creative soul.  

First, for the longest time many people felt like the painting was finished when I brought it back from Vermont.  But I didn't, I liked parts of it but I felt it needed more.  So off and on I have been adding and subtracting to the painting.  Then, in the past week I tacked it back on the wall and went at it.  Again I had some colleagues suggesting that it was done, but alas I kept seeing areas that I felt was weak, lines that I wanted to strengthen, so I kept on working.

the piece that I left @ FSFA

the 'start' of painting (VSC)

And I LOVED it - I LOVE this technique!!! It is very intuitive, I just start working on an area and I start to see new images emerging or morphing into something else.  I am drawn to creatures and internal organs; these painting seem to just unfold.  I think i could paint like this for hours and days (which I did @ VSC)

So why the questioning - I don't think there is any artist out there who hasn't struggled with the concept of 'over working'??!?!  Also as the 'last call' for entries was approaching I still kept seeing one more area to tweak, one more line to clean up.  And then when I delivered the piece and hung it with the other work I REALLY started to question the work?? I wanted to take it down and rip it up.

So I am struggling with questions ~ who knows when a piece is done?? How does one know?? If the work feels so authentic does that make it your real art, no matter what the end result is or the reception??

I am in the process of re-reading Art & fear: observations on the perils (and rewards) of art making by David Bayles & Ted Orland.  It is a good book about the obstacles that we artists deal with and even create for ourselves.  It addresses the numerous ways that fear can affect, alter and at times sabotage our art.  

Entering this painting to the jurying process has stirred up some emotions for me, one prominent emotion is insecurity?!? I surprised my daughters as I questioned if I should really leave the painting in the gallery.  It is hung by T-pins, so one of my daughters thought it might need a frame but then pointed out that a frame would obscure the surface texture!! 

I am thinking that these emotions are stemming from exhibiting something that is truly personal and new for me.  Besides the installation walls, this is a unfamiliar 'work' for me.  I wondered if I would have felt like a 'fish out of water' if I had submitted a dress?!? A few years ago it was a little out there to submit a sculptural dress but now I think of it as normal.

So why the whirling brain - the endless questioning of myself and my choices.  Was this the right piece to put into this show?? Now with my divorce I need to analyze which projects I spend time on - i need to consider the financial benefits and this makes my head spin.  

So thank you for indulging me in my ramblings and if you have any thoughts or suggestions I would be to hear them.  And even though I have more to say on this subjest, the clock is appoaching 2am and I am driving the carpool at 7:20 am.  (wish I wasn't such a night owl :)

So ~ नमस्ते, Buenas noches, Buonanotte, Bonne nuit, Slap Lekker, Gute Nacht & 

Happy Winter Solstice & peace