'lilith contemplates ...'

One body of work which basically created its self is my photo series called, 'lilith contemplates ...'

What I mean by that statement is that the idea for the series basically came from the sculpture, 'lilith in blue ...'.

Last spring there were a few occasions in which  'lilith in blue ...' was needed to be out and about.

The first event was that she was one of the models for one of David Lee Blacks' Photography Workshop "Creating your Vision". 

'lilith in blue ...', along with the beautiful and talented Melanie Moore and Kaya Alexandria Wadsworth Worthington, owner of CapeCodGypsea, were photographed in front of the Atlantic ocean.  I thought that she looked so at home outside in the elements!!

Then she was one of the sculptures that I brought with me when I gave my lecture for 'wake up and smell the poetry' in May.

During the lecture I spoke about 'lilith in blue ...'  and the historical/biblical/mythical figure, Lilith.

talking during 'wake up and smell the poetry' 2015

Lilith's story can vary depending on the source.  The one that I reference in the name of my sculpture is the Lilith that was Adam's first wife in the Garden of Eden.  She was made like Adam, out of dirt, her own individual creation, not from any part of Adam. With this individuality came an independent spirit and a strong will which was not acceptable in Eden.  So Lilith was banished from the garden and God made Eve, using a rib bone from Adam with the intention that Eve would be more obedient ... enter snake, stage right.

Upon relaying Lilith's story I recognized some similarities between my 'dressproject' and Lilith's strong will and eventual exile.  'lilith in blue ...' is a plaster dress sculpture on which I painted images which  allude to life, nature, passion, pleasure, knowledge and femininity.  As i spoke suddenly I saw this sculpture was an embodiment of my 'dressproject'.

After the lecture, I was planning to return 'lilith in blue ...' to my studio but in the driveway of my studio there was an old push grass cutter and I put 'lilith in blue ...' by the contraption.  It felt like 'lilith' had a thought about this relic and suddenly I knew that 'lilith' had many thoughts and instead of going back into my studio, 'lilith' went back into my car to go out and contemplate the world.

She went many places last Spring and I witnessed a series develop - 

be it in a book form, or in a gallery.  

Sadly, I had to abandon lilith's adventures with the increasing pressures of 'real life',  but I knew that her returned to the studio was temporary.  If I can get funding for her travels we would be back on the road. in NO time flat.  In fact when I envision this series I see lilith and I criss-crossing the country, contemplating the brooklyn bridge, the mississippi, a hay stack, an oil drill, the badlands!!! 

 the list can go on and on. 

But until the lilith lottery ticket arrives, 

here are a few of the photos from lilith's journeys so far.

'lilith contemplates evening ...' (2015)

'lilith contemplates single stream recycling ...' 2015

'lilith contemplates that freedom is not free ...' 2015

'lilith contemplates detours ...' 2015

'lilith contemplates the art of lisa barthelson ...' 2015

'lilith contemplates a change in careers ...' 2015

'lilith contemplates palettes ...' 2015

'lilith contemplates sanctuary ...' (2015) 

'lilith contemplates the cost of parking ...' 2015


thank you and peace!!!

video from 'wake up and smell the poetry'

validation: messy room, brilliant mind!!!!

What a perfect way to start a week!!! In my FB feed, there was a link to this article from Country Living with the comment ...   'this looks likeVirginia Fitzgerald" 

Well, it not only looks like Virginia Fitzgerald, it IS ME!!! 

Many moons ago I 'modeled' for a local photographer who sells his photos to photo banks, like Getty Images, but I completely forgot about it until today!!! And now I am the poster child for embracing your MESS!!!! (happy dance)

And to add to the joy of this discovery,  this photograph captures me working on one of my favorite sculptures, 'lush ...' , so that would be the summer of 2009. 

This New Study Offers a Good Excuse Not to Straighten Up That Messy Room

Papers thrown about? Craft supplies strewn across the table? A disorganized space might just be a sign of creative brilliance.

By Rebecca Shinners

 Apr 29, 2015

If there's one thing we could all count on hearing from our parents growing up, it was the seemingly constant command to clean our rooms. Over time, mom and dad's insistent reminders to put away our toys have turned into a nagging inner voice telling us that we'd get so much more work done if we'd just straighten up our desks.But what if everything you thought you knew about the benefits of being tidy was wrong? A recent study released by psychologist Kathleen Vohs at the University of Minnesota concluded that a messy work environment is actually linked to greater levels of creativity and and interesting ideas.In the study, Vohs tested the effects of different kinds of working environments on human behavior. As part of the study, participants were asked to come up with different uses for ping pong balls. The ideas were scored by impartial judges, who concluded that the ones generated by the people in messy environments were more interesting and creative. Messy room participants also tested as more likely to choose a new product than an established one."Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights," Vohs said in a report by the Association of Psychological Science."Orderly environments, in contrast, encourage convention and playing it safe."The study was tested in six different locations, but Vohs found that the type of room participants worked in did not matter—the environment just had to be unkempt to result in a difference in behavior.So the next time you head into your home office or craft room, you may want to skip the extra few minutes it would take to put your books or supplies away—you never know when your messy space will inspire something extraordinary.TELL US: What type of environment do you think you do your best work in?(h/t Apartment Therapy)

'lush ...' (2009)

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Just under the wire ... #makeitindesign

quote by oscar wilde 

Since reentering the world of surface design and freelance illustration ( I was freelancing few decades ago, pre-internet ) I am amazed by all the wonderful resources that are available!! besides being able to view so many illustrators works on Instagram and Pinerest, there are so many educational websites and online classes.  Many a morning I can fall into the blackhole of the cyber-world just following interesting links that are delivered to my inbox.  And that is exactly what happened today ...

Today I learned it was the last day to enter an online competition run by MakeItInDesign.com and to enter one needed to turn a positive mantra or uplifting quote you live by into a beautiful typographic design!!!! and the winner would receive: 

a place on The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design

posted on 'with love, virginia'

‘The Ultimate Portfolio Builder‘ course starting March 21, 2016.

So let's review ~ possibility to be in a class about building my illustration/surface design portfolio and creating an interesting illustration using typography and an inspiring quote?!?!? I'm in!!!
So I would just squeeze one more thing on my already full 'to-do' list today.  And I figured I would work-up one of the quotes that I had done for my inspirational blog, with love, virginia, it won't take that long ... ha, ha, ha.

Also as I was ping-ponging between all my different 'to-do's I suddenly was curious exactly when the 'creation' needed to be posted, since with many a deadline I have learned that I can really focus and finish once the other part of my day is done, the girls are feed and taken care of, the dog walk, the evening hours ... But I am SO glad that I did check because the deadline was midnight, but midnight  (GMT) (that is 7 PM EST!!!!! ACK!!!!)

But all is well as I pressed share seconds before 7 PM (EST) (fingers crossed) and I am happy with the resulting illustration.  In fact I hope/plan to do some more work on it as I think it would be great for a book bag?!? Which is another reason I love to enter competition and join challenges, as it is a great way to push yourself to make work!! So here is my entry, an illustration of one of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotes.  

Win a free place on The Ultimate Portfolio Builder worth $805

february 24, 2016

SHARE: 

facebook twitter pinterest

DEADLINE:

Midnight (GMT) on Wednesday March 9, 2016

HOW TO ENTER:

BRIEF: To enter this competition, your challenge is turn a positive mantra or uplifting quote you live by into a beautiful typographic design

• LIMIT: You may enter this competition with up to 3 different designs / quotes
• SHARE & SEND: Share your creations on your social networks using TWO hashtags: #makeitindesign AND #upbcomp and send your entry to submissions@makeitindesign.com before the deadline for your chance to win.
• FORMAT & DETAILS: Images are to be provided in SQUARE FORMAT as low res cropped to 550px wide & ‘save for web’ jpg.  Please provide your full name, country you’re from and one web link (i.e. your blog/website)
• JUDGING: Rachael Taylor will select the grand prize winner!

craftivism: is a form of activism that is centered on practices of craft/art

my contribution to @whatchidid's project  

Craftivism:  a form of activism, typically incorporating elements of anti-capitalism, environmentalism or third-wave feminism, that is centered on practices of craft - or what can traditionally be referred to as "domestic arts". Craftivism includes, but is not limited to, various forms of needlework. Craftivism is a social process of collective empowerment, action, expression and negotiation. In craftivism, engaging in the social, performative and critical discourse around the work is central to its production and dissemination. ^[1] Practitioners are known as craftivists. (definition from wikipedia.org)

I love the concept: craftivism, as it embodies two ideas that I feel passionate about: making my voice heard and making things.  So when I saw this project, "Draw the Line" by @Whatchidid I just HAD to participate ~ Embroidery and Women's rights.

photo: @whatchidid

photo: @whatchidid

Artist Chi Nguyen (@Whatchidid )—in partnership with the Textile Arts Center and the Center for Reproductive Rights—put a call out to anyone who wanted to participate:

The public is invited to Draw the Line by joining the embroidery process at the stitch-ins, or by sending in their own 10x10” swatches with as many tally marks (卌) as they would like to embroider. All swatches will be patched onto a larger quilt to be used at the Supreme Court rally on March 2nd, 2016. ** (she is continuing to add swatches after today so don't despair)

Many stitch-ins were hosted and swatches were sent from all over the world; as of yesterday @whatchidid stated that the quilt now represented 300,000 embroidered lines with submissions from 34 states and 6 countries and the project is still going.  Today the quilt stood outside the Supreme Court of the United States but @whatchidid is still collecting swatches, her aim is to have 

5.4 million lines to represent the 5.4 million women of reproductive age from accessing the healthcare they need. So if you are interested grab your needle and hoop.

I learned of the project while taking my daughter on a college tour via Amtrak, but luckily for me I always travel with a needle and embroidery hoop and floss (I always think I would do really well on the Monty Hall version of 'Let's make a Deal' (Monty) "Let's see what you have in your purse" , (me) "well I have a paint brush, glue stick, pliers, ... ) 

It has been really interesting to see the different swatches and different interpretations on these swatches while just using tally marks!! Below is more information, links to articles about the project and photos,  along with the link to Artist Chi Nguyen (@Whatchidid )'s web site where you can find all the information about how to participate.  

from Artist Chi Nguyen (@Whatchidid )'s website:

photo: @whatchidid

"On March 2nd, 2016, the United States Supreme Court will hear the most important reproductive rights case in almost 25 years. The decision will determine whether Texas can shut down nearly all abortion care providers in the state and prevent 5.4 million women of reproductive age from accessing the healthcare they need."

DrawtheLine.org where you can see pictures of many of the beautiful swatches.

from the article on MS.blog.com:

“Because this is a very public and collaborative project,” Nguyen says, “some might want to embroider one line and others might want to embroider all 5.4 million. I think that’s the beauty of it. When we surpass the original number, we ourselves become ‘and Counting.'”

from the article about the project on VICE.com:

This Artist Is Making a Giant Quilt to Represent 

the 5.4 Million Women Affected by Texas's Abortion Laws

How will the quilt function at the rally? 

I really wanted to use a quilt because it represents comfort, safety, and security, and the lack of access to abortion care and reproductive health care in general is anything but that. The quilt represents those things for me and also creates a sense of unity from supporters across the US who can send in swatches, which we will sew together. Right now, I have no idea how many swatches we will get by March 2. If we don't get enough, we will hold stitch-ins at the rally, but if we finish, we will use it as a banner. However, it won't just be a banner. It will also provide warmth.

where to find : CHI NGUYEN

website

twitter : @whatchidid

instagram : whatchidid

peace 

a flurry of spring is now online ...

some of the products available at Society6

Today, I have dipped my toes into another online venue with some of my design work.

I worked one of my #30daysofpatternstudies into a repeat, called it 'springtime flurry and posted it on Society6.

Society6 will put my artwork on a number of products so that anyone can go and order different merchandise with some original virginiafitzgerald art on it!!!

iPhone skin available at Society6

I have ordered one of the carry-all pouches to make sure that the quality is to my liking, however I know other illustrators and artists who use this site so I am pretty confident that I will be happy with the end product. 

As one of my goals for 2016 is to have an online shop, either on my website or via Etsy, I see posting some art on Society6 as the beginning of my foray into the land of online commerce.

Another perk of listing with Society6, is that they are running a promotion from now until March 6th - the link for the promo

promo: get FREE Worldwide Shipping + 15% Off New Carry-All Pouches when they order from your Society6 Store

Promotion expires March 6, 2016 at Midnight Pacific Time. 

*Free Shipping offer excludes Framed Prints and Canvas Prints

(Also, true confessions, it is such a hoot to see my art on the different products!!! )

And as a way to celebrate this newest entry to the online world,

 I have created a downloadable calendar for the month of March with the pattern of the day ...

you can either download the calendar from here or you can follow the below link to my flickr account

https://flic.kr/p/EeeoRJ

So happy March everyone and thank you for your ever-present and thoroughly appreciated support!!

peace

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patterns on a post-it

photo by Francisca Nunes of some of our posts for her #30daysofpatternstudies 

One of the perks of Instagram, besides finding awesome artists and beautiful art, is discovering interesting projects/challenges.

Last year I contributed to the coloring book 'Breathing to a new Beat, "the Breathing to a New Beat Technicolour Dream Book is a collaborative fundraising colouring book to support the Heart and Lung Transplant Trust Vic (HLTTV)" and the brain child of CurlyPops .  

This month I stumbled upon Francisca Nunes' #30daysofpatternstudies and knew it was perfect for me ... I love pattern and a post-it is the perfect size so that I can't spend all day working on it (need to be on the watch for anything that may be a #productiveprocastination possibility)

pattern 11/30

And it has been a perfect project, post-it are always available, and perfect for when you are on 'hold' on the phone, waiting for a carpool pick-up and lately they have been quite handy while traveling on the train and during the 'lovely, yet repetitive' college informational sessions.  This week Francisca posted about her reasons for starting her #30daysofpatternstudies and has posted some of our patterns (make sure to click on the link at the bottom of this post to be taken to her blog!)  and I figured I would share how this has been such a terrific experience for me on my blog.

pattern 10/30 'lovebirds' for Valentine's Day

First I have really enjoyed getting to 'know' Francisca and her work via Instagram! 

another photo by Francisca Nunes of some of our posts for her #30daysofpatternstudies 

Secondly, any of these daily or monthly projects/challenges are a great way to hone a certain interest or talent. Doing a certain assignment every day for an allotted time takes away the sense of the work being 'precious' or the need for it to be 'perfect', two words that can kill any creativity!! 

one of the rooms at Charleston, Sussex, England

Creating these 3x3 pieces of pattern has reminded me about how much I LOVE to create pattern, how I used to envision living in a home that I covered with pattern.  This explains my obsession with the Bloomsbury Group and the country home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the Charleston Farmhouse, where the artists decorated the walls, doors and furniture! 

pattern 13/30 

pattern 14/30 

Also this project got me to pull out my gouache paints, an opaque watercolor, which I used to use when I was creating illustrations and art for greeting cards (way back when).  Via these post-it, I am thoroughly enjoying rediscovering the wonders of gouache, which is so timely as I am reestablishing my freelance illustration and design business this year!! 

pattern 12/30 (pen and gouache)

Lastly this has been an awesome project to take on the road ... post-its are perfect for traveling as I taking my daughter on an eastern seaboard college visit via Amtrak.  And it turned out to be a lovely mother/daughter bonding moment!!! Below is my post-it pattern which was inspired by Maya's beautiful mandala!!!

pattern 15/30 

To see all of my post-it patterns you can check out my instagram feed and to see see the work of Francisca Nunes and read her thoughts about her project, #30daysofpatternstudies check out her blog: 

http://heartmakes.blogspot.pt

And lastly, as Francisca noted in her blog, JOIN the FUN!!!

"If you join us post your patterns with the #30daysofpatternstudies and #heartmakespostit, so every patterns will be in the same palace and we all can see the creations of each others!"

pattern 1/30, felt tip marker and gouache
hope to post this on spoon flower as a repeat
©virginiafitzgerald2016

peace

It is February .... FEZTASTIC!!!

print me and color me!!! 

Here is a coloring page for you!!

to fill with color on a cold, gray february day.  

on my daily blog I posted this quote about february,

 and felt like a fun coloring activity

would be a welcomed break if the weather is bleak! 

"Winter is a time of promise because 

there is so little to do,

or because you can now and then permit yourself 

the luxury of thinking so."

Stanley Crawford

have fun and happy coloring!!!

A little snow didn't stop the women in the Senate ...

I saw this from the Washington Post and I just needed to share ... 

©virginiafitzgerald 2013 ... dailydress series

in post-blizzard D.C. it seems as though only women made the effort to go to work?!?! 

“Something is genuinely different — and something is genuinely fabulous,” Murkowski said."

Click on the title of the article to go the Washington Post's site or you can read the article below.  I felt this was a very telling event and should be celebrated and shared.

Women don't let a blizzard stop them from doing what needs to be done!!!

"Post-blizzard, Sen. Murkowski notes 

that only women turned up to run the Senate"

By Emily Heil January 26 at 1:41 PM

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) noted that only women turned up to run the Senate Jan. 26, following a weekend blizzard that brought D.C. to a standstill. (C-SPAN)

Something was a little different in the Senate on Tuesday morning. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski noticed it.

The Alaska Republican was one of only a few lawmakers in the Capitol building following the weekend blizzard, and it was her job to handle the formalities of delaying Senate business until her colleagues could get back to work. After finishing a bit of parliamentary business, she described what she saw in the ornate chamber.

“As we convene this morning, you look around the chamber, the presiding officer is female. All of our parliamentarians are female. Our floor managers are female. All of our pages are female.”

Murkowski noted that she and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who was wielding the Senate gavel, hadn’t planned the all-women session. It was, she said, just a coincidence.

“Something is genuinely different — and something is genuinely fabulous,” Murkowski said.

She theorized that the lack of men in the ranks of members and staffers might not have been a simple fluke. “Perhaps it speaks to the hardiness of women,” she added, “that put on your boots and put your hat on and get out and slog through the mess that’s out there.”

the bustier is leaving the building ... the story behind the first eggshell dress

'eggshell dress ...' (2008)

me, removing my 'eggshell bustier...' from Renew Arts & Industry ...

the beginning .....

Just a few of the headlines from April 2007:

• College Student Guns Down Dozens in Virginia (April 16): Male student kills two in a Virginia Tech dorm. Two hours later, he kills 30 more in a classroom building before committing suicide. The shooting rampage is the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others are wounded.

• Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Abortion Procedure (April 18): The ruling, 5–4, which upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, a federal law passed in 2003, is the first to ban a specific type of abortion procedure. Writing in the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "The act expresses respect for the dignity of human life."Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who dissents, called the decision "alarming" and said it is "so at odds with our jurisprudence" that it "should not have staying power."

• Earthquake and Tsunami Strike the Solomon Islands (April 3): Magnitude 8.0 earthquake and tsunami that follows kill at least 20 people and destroy villages.

• U.S. Squadron Hit by Suicide Bombers in Iraq (April 24): Nine U.S. soldiers are killed and at least 20 are wounded by two bombers attacking an American post in Diyala.

• Bombs Kill Nearly 200 in Baghdad (April 18): Five bombs targeting Shiite neighborhoods ravage the Iraqi capital in the worst violence in weeks. One bomb alone kills about 140 in Sadr City area.

• Bombs Kill Dozens in Algeria (April 11): Some 35 people are killed and hundreds are wounded when suicide bombers attack a government building in the capital, Algiers, and a police station on the outskirts of the capital. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claims responsibility for the attack.

It was April 2007 .... the Iraq war was a never ending quagmire, Mother Nature was making herself heard with Tsunamis, snow storms and tornados, taking lives and property, a male student went on a shooting spree on a collage campus and a good friend's marriage abruptly ended.               In April of 2007 I was feeling the fragility and pain of life quite clearly.  

As a way to deal with the overwhelming sense of loss and helplessness I headed to my studio.  

I had been collecting eggshells from my house and my neighbors, knowing  that they would be a beautiful and poignant material in which to create a dress, therefore I had a good collection of eggshells at my disposal. So as a way to center myself amongst all the craziness going in the world, I grabbed my eggshells and my hot glue gun and began building. I still remember thinking that the hot glue was so messy compared to the delicateness and fragility of the eggshells, but that dichotomy was appropriate for how I was feeling.

That first day of building was cathartic, I just grab whatever shell that was closest, I didn't think.   I didn't care if it was brown or white eggshell, I just needed to build something.  However the next day when I returned to my studio I was put off by the randomness of the colors of the shells; I didn't like it.  Yet I didn't want to start again,  I wanted to honor how the dress began. So to 'compromise' I started covering both the brown and white shells with smaller pieces of the opposite color shell, as a way of blending the two colors.  

And as happens so many times with my 'dressproject', my solution to camouflage the different color shells not only succeeded, but it also visually suggested lace.  I loved this suggestion but I had NOT planned it. This is the beautiful serendipity found in my 'dressproject'.

I continued to build the dress, embracing the messiness of the hot glue, using the ever-present wisps of hot glue to suggest dripping whites of the eggs.  While making this sculpture I needed to learn patience and mindfulness.  I learned the hard way not to just yank the hot glue gun's cord out of the wall, as it could and did go flying into the eggshell dress (clean up aisle 3).

Once the dress was finished I had the opportunity to exhibit it at the Natick Collection and the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA, 

the 'dressproject' at the Natick Collection, Natick, MA (2008)

where it got much attention ... 'look, those are eggshells?!?!?'

at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA (2008)

Unfortunately, even with a well thought-out and throughly cushioned mode of transport, the traveling was too much for the sculpture and once she returned from Watertown, she succumbed to gravity.

It was odd because the dress didn't break in transit.  It was a day or so after returning from Watertown. 

I was in my studio when I heard a very soft crinkling sound, almost undetectable.  I stopped what I was doing to investigate.  At this time my studio had a leaky ceiling and possible rodent residences, so I wanted to see what was making this sound.

As I walked around my studio, ears straining, I realized that the sound was coming from my eggshell dress?!?! As I got closer to the sculpture I understood that it was crumbling and there was nothing I could do about it.  I tried to save it but only was able to salvage the top ...

 

But there was much I loved about this sculpture ~ the patterning created by the mosaic of eggshell, the beauty of the eggshells themselves and most of all, I wanted to honor the 'place' from where the piece started, it was a physical expression of how crazy fragile life was. 

So instead of scrapping the entire piece, I created the 'eggshell bustier ...' which I exhibited at my solo shows at the Dana Hall School, 2008 and the Holliston High School, 2009, before in took up residency in the offices of One80Visuals/ Renew Arts and Industry, Natick, MA.

There, the 'eggshell bustier ...'  stayed, quietly crumbling, until last Friday when I gingerly removed it. I was pleasantly surprised how the piece still had some integrity and I was able to transfer it into a bin in one piece.  And today, as my daughter Harriet spied it in the backseat of my car, she insisted that I salvage the eggshell dress/bustier yet again because, "it has been so many places."

'this comes from with ...' (2009)
Medicine Wheel Productions, Boston, MA

So we will see where the bustier will go from here, but it did inspire my room installation/environment, 'this comes from within ...' which is a very good thing....

peace