Alexandria Virginia
I welcome you to join me for some Road Trippin on Art as my travels take me from Florida to Maine. Meet Artist in residence Karen Fitzgerald, whose
studio I visited at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria Virginia. Founded in 1974 in an old munitions plant, the Torpedo Factory Art Center is home to the nation’s largest collection of working
artists’ open studios under one roof.
Karen Fitzgerald
I’m a failed physics professor and fiction writer turned artist only after trying to fit my love of magic into more practical boxes. What most compels me about being an artist is the calling for authenticity, championing merit in a disposable world, and digging in the dirt for clues to what holds us together.
I make art out of common, everyday things. Through the context of these materials-their purpose and place in our lives-| explore inherent values and meanings, fascinated by our collective
beliefs and their reflections on the world around us.
In practice, this involves breaking down materials from junk mail to discarded clothing, seeking out color and shape, and building structural collages.
Preserved with resin, my work takes on a jewel-like reflective finish, provoking a closer look at what lies below the surface.
I work primarily in series, five-year cycles focused on subjects and materials I find particularly relevant.
In 2022 I will complete an exhibit (details forthcoming). The first of these series, MARGINALIA, is constructed from encyclopedias, a relic of our recent past, in a changing world at such frantic speed that we’ve barely the chance to question our direction or destination. Where are we headed? What do we want to create?
I am fascinated by Karen’s creative use of different shapes and materials in creating these authentically stunning works of art.
Please check her out at Karenfitzgeraldart.com or on Instagram at Karen.fitzgeraldart.
Feel free to comment, share and follow us on our art journey, over as we continue road tripping on Art.
