Out & About

A little update of the comings and goings of the artwork of Virginia Fitzgerald ~
Last night was the MassRecycle's Annual Recycling Awards @ the Artist for Humanity EpiCenter,Boston and a few artists, including yours truly, were ask to exhibit artwork made from recycled material. This was an easy one for me ~I exhibited Black Widow (the VCR tape dress), Glass Slipper and the Paper Mache Bustiere. It was such a lovely event as well as a zero waste evening!! really nice!!! The Epicenter was a perfect venue for this event being a green, high-performance, sustainable building ~ "the Artists For Humanity EpiCenter was awarded LEED Platinum Certification from the United States Green Building Council; it was the first project in the city of Boston to have earned this distinction. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings." The building itself set the 'green' tone with many different reused materials ~ the Ladies room was so cool, the toilet paper holder was made out of the bottom of a used water cooler bottle. I was happy to be included because i am a big fan of all things recycled. Years ago my business centered around recycling, creating bottle cap jewelry and accessories. I used the bottle caps as frame for my artwork and sold the pieces to stores around the world ~ so this is not a new trend for me. And it was exciting to see the 'recycled' artwork of the other artists. David Lang exhibited three pieces, and one of them he made especially for the evening, 'Return', and it was a show stopper!!! Check out his blog to see some of the pieces as well as the creation of 'Return'. The other artists were ~
Jeannie Dunnigan, Paula Estey, David Lang, Michael Ulman, Marty Ulman & Bill TurvilleIt was a feel~good evening!!

And then tonight there are two openings of shows that are exhibiting some of my work ~
First ,the opening reception for ArtOrganic at the Harbor Art Gallery, UMass Boston is tonight, November 18th, from 5:00 - 8:00 P.M. This show has many of my fiber pieces as well as the work of Jodi Colelle, Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord, David Lang, Janet Kawada and Derrick Te Paske. (Click here for the post with all the artists' links) The show runs from November 15th through December 15th. And I hope to make it to the opening near the end (one never knows with Boston Traffic).

And the second opening is for Carry On at the Attleboro Arts Museum, tonight from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. i am going to start there for two reasons. one this show is running in conjunction the city of Attleboro reading Tim O'Brien's The Things That They Carried so I am thinking this could be one big book group with artwork. As i think I mentioned before I was really moved by this book and I am eager to discuss it. Also I am planning to wear one of the pieces I made for the show, Tongue necklace, during the opening which will be fun. I just need to figure out what else to wear in the next few hours.

Both shows are exciting shows and the openings promised to be fun ~ I wish that i could clone myself :) but maybe I can make it to both openings!! But if you are in the area of either or both openings please stop by - i don't think you will be disappointed!!!

peace

A Reprieve for the Glass Slipper!!

Happy to report that the Glass Slipper was accepted in the Members Juried Exhibition l at the Concord Art Association. The Opening Reception is this Thursday, January 15, 6-8pm. Hope you can come by ~ peace!

a bit o' buz.

First.... for those inquiring minds....

here is the Clementine dress after about a week -

definitely drying out, but not as hard as i was hoping.

Second ... A rejection....

Sadly my Glass Slipper didnot make the cut for the shoe show at the Fuller Craft Museum. I know this is all part of the job of artist, and one should not take a rejection to heart because you have no idea what the curator was looking for - however this one stung.

Third ....But as they say ~ you got to get back on the horse, so....

I just put a grant application in the mail today(with these supporting images). A fellow artist had mentioned how putting together the material for a grant can be very soul searching which i discovered this week. I am new to this grant stuff but with the direction that my work is going it is definitely time to apply for grants. I found it interesting and rewarding to journey back to the beginning of the dress project and to how the whole thing started. below is the essay that i created to describe the Dress Project ~ thought it was an interesting read.

Wish me luck & peace....

The Dress Project is a body of work which began about two years ago. It centers around the dress form. It started at a time when I was in a creative limbo. I had just had a successful gallery of paintings however I felt as if my work was lacking. I wanted to make my work more personal. It was then that I stumbled upon the dress form. The first dress I made was out of chewed gum – it was about 1 inch big. The next dresses were made on a beach. These dresses were large, two dimensional and made out of materials from the beach. They were ephemeral ~ created on the beach then taken away by the high tide. In creating these beach dresses I realized that I had found that deeper connection to my art. I discovered the truth in the idea that an artist is a conduit to a larger vision/voice. The dresses are a vehicle with which to express my personal thoughts, opinions and feelings.

In creating and recreating the image of the ‘dress’ I have opened a floodgate of ideas and emotions for me as well as the audience. The Dress Project has inspired and excited many who have seen it; there is an intuitive sense of kinship with the work, an innate understanding of the deeper meanings. Besides dealing with my experiences as a woman, and women’s experiences in general - it has tapped into a universal emotion from the audience. On a personal level the dresses have been a lifeline ~ helping me discover as a woman who through upbringing, education, socialization and organized religion had been so buried, had been quieted. On a larger scale the Dress Project speaks to many people, male and female, old and young. The dresses spark conversations, incite stories and generate excitement. However, the reaction that I see the most is that the Dress Project inspires.

P.S. I saw Santa Claus in the post office today when i was mailing off the grant application!!!

I swear - white hair, white beard, a jolly old soul ~ he even 'ho,ho,ho'ed to me.

So ~ yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!!!
I am taking this as a good omen!!!