Happening this Saturday, May 16th . . . talking about the 'dressproject' @ "Wake up & Smell the Poetry"

I'm truly excited about this Saturday!! I have been invited by the lovely and talented Cheryl Perreault to be one of the presenters at her provocative program Wake Up & Smell the Poetry!!

I will be one of three speakers, the other two are author Susan Bailey and singer/songer writer, Camille Breeze.  And as you can see from their bios, below, this should be quite the morning!!!
I am so honored to be included in this prestigious group.

In 2010, Cheryl invited me to speak about my 'dressproject' to the Women's Art Forum in Hopkinton.  It was a stellar evening, and it lead to an article in the Hopkinton Crier, written by Helen Prunty Krispien, who was in attendance for the talk.  Click here to read the entire article.   

'dresstag'

I always love to speak about the 'dressproject' and my art in general. Besides loving to share, I learn more about the work every time I speak about it.  It is also a treat to take the time to sit back and review the 'dressproject' as a cohesive body of work.

Since it began, in 2015, it has expanded from ephemeral dresses to life-sized sculptural dresses to painted, collaged, drawn and printed dresses to a whole division of the 'dressproject' based on an origami dress: my dresstags, dresscards and dressmats, which lead to the creation of my 'dailydress' inspirations blog and FB group. 

'wedding dress . . .' (brenda's dress)
first dress of the 'dressproject'

And, YES, it started nearly 10 years ago, in August 2005, on the beautiful beach of Wells, ME. The story behind the beginning alone could be a topic of a lecture. I was experiencing much insecurity and tremendous growth as an artist when I discovered the dress form.  This iconic image presented a perfect structure within which I could explore new and old beliefs, opinions and concepts, concerning myself and the world around me.  As I say in my artist's statement, the image of the dress became my soapbox.

For my talk in 2010 I collected 300 slides!!! and successfully got through them. This Saturday I am limited to 20 minutes!! which I am finding a bit daunting as there is so much I can say about the 'dressproject'.  For many of the lectures that I have given I usually go in and see where the energy of each situation takes me, this time I believe I need more of a plan!! 

I am pleased to say that I will have some of my books, 'the dressproject: the beginning'.  I have had many requests for these books, and I have had issues with getting it published.

So, I now have a new publisher and a slightly different format, however I have YET to find a less expensive option for such a book . . . but my search continues!!

However,  I will have about a dozen books for sale, along with some dresscards and photographs of many of the ephemeral dresses.

So in conclusion, as I noted above, this has all the makings for an inspiring and provocative morning!! I hope you can join us and if you can't (& I know any weekend in May is CRAZY!!), it is going to be taped and will air on HCAM, see photo for schedule and it will also be archived.

schedule for the airing of Wake up & Smell the Poetry

So now you must excuse me as I need to prepare my presentation!! 

peace & thank you for stopping by, va

this mosaic was made for me by one of my past student from Dana Hall,
she took a photo of me at one of my openings and made a mosaic of the
image using pictures from my 'dressproject' and some other work!!
thank you so much Rui Ray Fu!! 

'the dress to the rescue' . . . a tale of loss and redemption via the dress

how, once again, 'the dress' saved me . . . .

'moss' 2dec

As I headed into the month of December

 I was plagued with uncertainty and exhaustion.  

My long term substitute job at Dana Hall had ended, and

  'breaking open' was now a thing of the past.  

I didn't have anything on the agenda. 

'ties' 3dec

 In many ways it was a needed and healthy place to be

 for someone who has been in triage mode for years, 

but it also sent me into a petite free fall 

- I was feeling lost! 

'dusting' 4dec
Then one gray and dingy December morning, 
out with my trusty companion Scruffy, 
a clump on bright green moss caught my attention. 
 I have always wanted to make a dress of moss, and since I had no where to run off to or schedule to keep, I realized that I could stop and make a dress!
And, as always happens whenever I make one of my ephemeral dress, 
I felt better. 
I was outside, in the brisk, fresh, new england winter, 
finding the best pieces of moss 
with which to create a dress. 
 I felt myself righted a bit.

'poetic' 4 dec

And then the next day Scruffy and I discovered discarded, 

old, rusty and luscious railroad ties!!! Another dress!! 

 I had a series, 

posting the dresses on Instagram, 

with 'hashtag' no less (#decemberdress ).  

I was back, baby, eager for the next day

 to see what materials would call to me.

'lichen' 5dec

my lovely assistant, scruffy

I have been intrigued how this December experience 

is strikingly similiar to 

the week in August of 2006, 

when I started my infatuation with the dress, 

aka 'the dress project'.

'ever - green???' 6dec
I was on a family vacation in Wells Beach, ME 
and feeling out of sorts then too. 
 Earlier in the summer I had a successful gallery show of acrylic still life's at Natick's Gallery55.
One might wonder, 
why out of sorts after a successful show??
Good question!

'prints' 8dec. The Porches Inn, North Adams, MA

Well, first, this exhibit showed me that art, 

no matter what kind of art, 

has a voice and I wanted to give that voice more depth, 

put more substance into my art.  As well, 

I wanted my work to be more personal, 

have more to offer the viewers.

But I was not sure how to do all that.

'lathe' 10 dec, Dana Hall School

the lathe in action at the 'Makers' exhibit at the Art Gallery at Dana Hall

$econdly, $ince my painting$ '$old', my internal voices bombarded me; 'paint more garlic$, people loved the garlic$', 'more pear$', bigger canvase$',
blah, blah, blah.
This tainted my studio practice. 
I was thinking too much, 
the work was becoming labored and looked it! So I headed off to Maine artistically struggling.

'by the tracks' 15dec

Then I 'stumbled upon' the idea of creating a dress out of materials from the beach.  

(click here for an article about the beginning of the dress project)

With the first dress, the floodgates opened and 

I was back in that most amazing place where I am just creating and NOT thinking!! Nirvana!! 

'slush' 16dec

so patient!!

And as it was in 2006, when 'the dress' guided me onto this exciting creative journey I call 'the dress project',  this month, as Scruffy and I were out and about making dresses, things started happening in other parts of my life. 

I was called to do some more substituting at Dana Hall (money is always welcomed), and I got interviewed for a 'possible' feature article in a local arts magazine?!?! (more about that later :) 

I truly feel rescued!!

'snowed in' 17dec

I was back in the wonderful state of thinking about material and dresses on a daily basis.  I found myself following familiar self-imposed guidelines.  

First and foremost, 

I will not hurt or cut down any living plant for a dress!! 

All the 'material' is found, already discarded by Mother Nature.  

'kids' menu' 18dec

Second requirement: mix up my techniques; 

if I 'dug out' the dress one day I don't want to dig out another dress.  

I like to challenge myself! I like to make each dress unique!! 

'twiggy' 19 dec

I remember this requirement was very important for my dailydress journals; if I was doing a lot of collaging then I needed to draw, paint or do a subtractive process.  

'fallen' 20 dec,  Newton Public Library, Newton, MA

There were other similarities between this series and the Wells series. 

'digging in the dirt'  21dec.

I would head out to the beach with one preconceived idea of the material that I would be using for that day's dress, and then end up using something completely different. 

These december dresses are no different.  

I would head out into the winter landscape 

thinking today I'll use 'blank',  

only to discover a much more suited material for the day!!

'ginger' 21 dec. making the famous and delicious family recipe for
Anne's Scotch Ginger bread with Maya for a cookie swap

Also once I start to focus on a certain material and 

concentrate on creating the dress,  

I find wonderful treasures.   It is as if I suddenly 

had special, X-ray finder's eyes, 

discovering the tiny starfish at the beach 

or the empty cocoon of a cicada at Wellesley College.  

'everandalways' 22dec. 
this title references how my dresses are forever and always there for me!

 So here is my #decemebrdress series so far, 

made out of snow, slush, twigs and so much more.  

I have posted the picture of the dress and 

then a picture of the location where each dress was made, 

this helps give a sense of scale and place.

'christmas' 25dec. Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

Below is a link to an album on Facebook if you are interested.

  Also if you want to follow this series of ephemeral dresses and my other practice, dresstagging, you can follow me on twitter or on instagram at virginiafitzart.  

Out of the world of social media 

Instagram is my favorite because it is visual, a cyber picture book. 

'vinyl' 26dec, Cambridge, MA

Hope you enjoyed this tale of loss and redemption via the dress ~

peace

You can use this link to share this photo album with anyone, even if they don't have a Facebook account. Anyone with the link will be able to see your photo album.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151893758928634.1073741867.127363913633&type=1&l=6612aa2530

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