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!! 

I 'heart' publicity

Here is the article from the Hopkinton Crier about my talk to the Women's Cultural Art Forum, written by Helen Prunty Krispien. I must confess, it is always fun for me to read about how people interpret my work!!! thank you Helen!! peace

new york diner dress (2006)

Hopkinton Crier ~ May 14, 2010

Drowning ladybugs lead to fascinating art project

Helen Prunty Krispien; Crier Correspondent

Virginia Fitzgerald has an artist's soul. She finds creative expression and inspiration through everyday life experiences that can be seen in her current endeavor, "The Dress Project."

Fitzgerald, who lives in Natick, gave a lively, self-narrated slide presentation with over 300 of her dresses at the Women's Cultural Art Forum at the Cultural Arts Alliance on May 6. With such a dynamic embrace for creativity, Fitzgerald's quaint stories that accompanied each colorful slide made the two hour presentation fly by.

The simple, sleeveless dress form that is a signature of all her dress creations had its initial inspiration, although she was not quite aware of its implication, on an outing with her then 4-year-old daughter who wanted to learn how to blow bubbles with chewing gum. Fitzgerald was taken aback at her daughter's disgust at her mother putting gum on a stick and just playing around with it.

The "Dress Project" challenges a lot of preconceived rules, says Fitzgerald, as she passed around a 2 by 3 inch white tile that had a hardened, chewed stick of gum with a tiny dress form on it. 

Another design, "Dress of Etiquette" is created from pages torn from the book "Emily Post's Etiquette" and pasted on a mannequin. This dress will be part of the Cambridge Art Association's Northeast Prize Show juried by Cheryl Brutvan, curator of Contemporary Art at the Norton Museum of Art. The show runs from May 14-June 23.

But the actual "dress project" began on a family summer vacation in Wells, Maine. "We had rented a little house on the beach. On the first day, my girls and I were beach combing and came upon wave upon wave of drowning ladybugs. Of course, we had to save the ladybugs," she said.

"In the process of taking the ladybugs out of the ocean and up to the warm sand, we noticed that some were dead and my girls asked what would we do with the dead ladybugs? My immediate response was to make art out of them. The idea blasted open my brain. That night I sat up filling my sketch book with the different materials I could make a dress out of.

"The next morning, after a night of sleepless inspiration, I headed out to the beach. While walking, I wondered what would this dress look like? So, I grabbed a stick and drew this life sized outline of a simple, sleeveless dress. Once, I saw the outline, I knew I would fill it with the beautiful beach rocks that surrounded me and voila. the dress project began."

A self-proclaimed peacenik, one of Fitzgerald's dresses currently on display at the CAA, entitled "In Memory Of" serves as a protest against the U. S. involvement in Iraq. The top of the child's dress is made of a plaster cast that is abstractly painted with a map of the Middle East. The bottom consists of strands of dog tags from fallen soldiers that were reprinted from the New York Times which publishes the names and photos of deceased soldiers every time the death toll hits 1,000. "It was at 4,000, and that was like 3 1/2 ago," she said.

"The bottom is a mess; such a quagmire," she said.

"I bought miniature dog tags, cut and attached the picture and put polyurethane on which gave it gave an antique look. And that's part of the dress project - the learning process. I start with one idea, and one direction, and it unfolds."

Another dress on display is the "Flower Power Dress" that has the 60s flower motif printed on the top and strands of colorful beads as the skirt. This is an interactive display in that it encourages people to make a string of beads for the skirt.

For Fitzgerald, who admits she loves being an artist, the best part about it is being in the moment of creating. "It is like a drug," she says. "To get an idea or see an inspirational sight, figure out how I can recreate that idea or emotion or vision, then dive into the materials and process and just being there," she said. "It is meditative and exhilarating. It is a creative problem, and I love a puzzle. And this carries over to sharing the piece with others - seeing how my recreation is interpreted by those who witness it. And I especially enjoy inspiring others."

over 300 slides....

Last week the Women's Art Forum of Hopkinton invited me to speak to their group about the Dress Project, and it was a terrific experience! ~ the group was so generous and appreciative. Of course, getting prepped for the talk was a bit challenging ~ I found myself an LCD projector (thanks Tom) and put together a slide show of the Dress Project. After a few hours of combing thru files of photos I realized that I had over 300 slides and I had not even included all of the dresses that i have made. I was a bit awe~struck!! A few friends baulked at the quantity thinking there was no way for me to cover that much work in 2 hours ...well I got thru all of the slides in an hour and a half :). I was amazed how easy it was to speak about the Dress Project with the slides ~ I had my girls with me!!! As the dresses appeared across the screen the stories and inspirations just poured out of me.

At the talk there was a reporter from the local paper ~ the Hopkinton Crier, who sent me some follow questions. As I was answering them for her I thought the answers maybe interesting for my blog readers....so in their rough form, here are my answers, a little background of the Dress Project.

1. I understand, you started out as a sculptor. How did you segue into this contemporary art form?

'Started out' is a hard to answer since i have been doing something creative since i can remember. At Kenyon College I studied Studio Art with a concentration in Printmaking. I don't know if you were there when Cheryl and I were talking about my beginnings.... I was saying how I was intimidated by sculpture in college but if you step back and look at my work before the Dress Project there are many sculptural aspects to it. In Printmaking I was drawn to relief printmaking - woodcuts, where i was carving the wood plates. After college I supported myself with different creative business ~ i sold my hand painted furniture and for 7 years I ran a business based on bottle cap jewelry that i made. All these buz. had sculptural elements. But, do i think i started out as a sculptor - not exactly.... I thought of myself as a painter and when the Dress Project started I was just coming off a successful painting gallery show. But I was craving something more in my work. I am drawn to much contemporary art ~ i study it and go see it, I try to get to NY as much as possible. So I feel that I 'segued' into this contemporary art form because I had the exposure of current contemporary work, the openness to receive it and the hunger to keep pushing myself.


2. What's the best part about being an artist for you?

Another toughie ~ because I love so much of being an artist!!! But if I had to narrow it down, I believe the best part is being in the moment of creating!! it is like a drug. To get an idea or see an inspirational sight, figure out how i could recreate that idea or emotion or vision, then dive into the materials and process and just being there. It is meditative and exhilarating!!! It is creative problem solving and I love a puzzle!! And this carries over to sharing the piece with others ~ seeing how my recreation is interrupted by those who witness it. And I especially enjoy inspiring others.

3. How many dresses are in the Dress Project?

I wish I had an exact number!!! The slide show had over 300 slides ~ and even though many of the slides were different views of the same dress I realize that there were many dresses that didn't make the slide show!!! Also there are the ephemeral dresses, the mini dresses, the dresses that were supposedly finished then I cut them, or started to rework them and they're not finished ( like my large dog tag dress). I counted up the large, still intact sculptures and came up with 20 over the part 3 1/2 yrs. I can't even guess on how many ephemeral dresses there have been - sometimes they are not even documented, i just needed to make a dress then and there. There are about 10 or more mini 3d dress sculpture then a good number of high relief dresses on canvas or board (like the strata series). Sorry i can't be more exact at this point.

4. How was the Dress Project idea started?

It started on a family vacation in Wells Beach, ME. We had rented a little house on the beach. On the first day my girls and i were beach combing and came upon wave upon wave of drowning ladybugs ...so , of course, we had to save the ladybugs. In the process of taking the ladybugs out of the ocean and up to the warm sand we noticed that some were dead & my girls ask me what would we do with the dead ladybugs - my immediate answer was to make art out of them. As I said this i thought wouldn't it be interesting to make a dress out of dead ladybugs - the symbolism alone was intriguing. Well, I do have the ladybugs, but I never made that dress, however the idea blasted open my brain. That night I sat up filling my sketch book with the different materials I could make a dress out of. The next morning, after a night of sleepless inspiration I headed out to the beach. While walking, I wondered what would this dress would look like - so I grabbed a stick and drew this life sized outline of a simple, sleeveless dress. Once I saw the outline I knew I would fill it with the beautiful beach rocks that surrounded me and voila - the Dress Project began. This was right after having a successful painting show of still life's and I had been wanted to get more personal in my work. The dress form spoke to that need - I was dealing with the female body, the idea of appearance & dress, the feminine psyche. The first day when i was collecting beach rocks i had an innate knowledge of what rock would go where and why. It was liberating and addicting. For the rest of the vacation I went to the beach to make a dress with whatever materials were offered to me that day.

5. Where can people catch a glimpse of your work?

At the present I have three dress on exhibit at Bead & Fiber ~ 460 Harrison Avenue Boston MA (617) 426-2323 ~ in their The Practical, Impractical & Artrageous: 2nd annual wearable art show. running April 30th 2010 thru June 26th - with a charity fashion show on May 15th & 16th 2010 in aid of Artists for Humanity in Thayer Street, Boston 02118. The pedestrianised street will be our runway. Inclement weather will result in cancellation of the show. The start time each day will be 2pm and the show will end each day around 4pm. Come and see some amazing art in motion from some truly amazing designers!
http://www.beadandfiber.net/gallery.html

Also my Dress of Etiquette will be part of the Cambridge Art Assoc.'s Northeast Prize Show juried by Cheryl Brutvan, Curator of Contemporary Art, Norton Museum of Art . The show runs from May 14 - June 23, 2010. Reception: Thursday, May 20, 6-8pm in both galleries.

http://www.cambridgeart.org/

Also the two dresses that I brought for my talk are still at the CAA for viewing. Cheryl and the women there felt it would be nice to have them for awhile, and with the Flower Power dress, everyone and anyone can make a bead strand to add to the skirt.

I am working on redesigning my website ~ http://www.virginiafitzgerald.com/, but there are many dresses shown there. Also I post up coming news and events on my blog ~ http://www.virginiafitzgerald.blogspot.com/ & facebook fan page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Virginia-Fitzgerald/127363913633?ref=ts#!/pages/Virginia-Fitzgerald/127363913633?ref=ts

peace