05.12.2020 I am honoured to have been selected along with artist Leonardo Moretti create the art work entitled Trame Plastiche- Bridge for the art prize and project, Vicoli d'Arte.
14.09.2020 Writer Connor Maley and I did an interview with Rai 3 that talks about our residency at Vis à Vis Fuoriluogo 23 curated by Matteo Innocenti and the cultural association Limiti Inchiusi in Campobasso, Molise. You can see the interview here: https://www.rainews.it/tgr/molise/video/2020/09/mol-arte-lucito-castelbottaccio-494007c8-e907-4328-99f3-2c7a4c8363d8.html?wt_mc=2.www.wzp.tgrmolise_ContentItem-494007c8-e907-4328-99f3-2c7a4c8363d8.&wt
15.08.2020 I am thrilled to announce that write Connor Maley and I will be participating in the residency Vis à Vis Fuoriluogo 23 curated by Matteo Innocenti in Castelbottaccio, Molise.
29.07.2020 I am giving a sewing workshop to encourage mending our clothes instead of throwing them away! It will be the 6th of August at 18:00 at the Villa Romana in Florence as part of the Scuola Populare program. IF you want to come, sign up here: office@villaromana.org. Here is more information: (In Italian) https://www.facebook.com/events/600583037317181/ (In English) https://www.facebook.com/events/600583037317181
08.06.20 I am so honored that I was selected to have a solo show at Finestreria!! Take a look here: https://www.instagram.com/finestreria/?hl=es
4.25.20 Here is an interview I did with writer Connor Maley about being creative and living in Florence, Italy during the Covid-19 lockdown. Thank you so much to Sarah Thibault and her Artists + Travel travel blog and to Minnesota Street Project for sharing the interview! You can check it out here:
2.14.20 Here is an interview I did with Vincenzo Rosana for Tutto in 10 minuti during the final show for the Bridge Art Residency. Enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=619528502161980
2.1.19
I was interviewed by Rai 3 (TGR3) in Itay! My interview came out yesterday and today! Here are the links! I hope you like them!!
7.1.18
I am excited to spend the next two months as an artist in residence in collaboration with the fiction writer Connor Maley at Hangar.org in Barcelona. https://hangar.org/ca/residents/artistes-residents/victoria-deblassie-connor-maley/
6.7.18
There are only two days left to visit my solo show at the Villa Romana in Florence! Tomorrow is the closing reception at 7:30. I look forward to seeing you there!
2.8.18
Here is a video recap of the Apulia Land Arts Residency I did in collaboration with writer Connor Maley. You can see my artwork here on my website and his writings are available on request.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0cgzoha2hI&feature=emb_title
2.12.17
There is only a few weeks left to come visit my show at Fondazione Biagiotti Progetto Arte in Florence Italy! The show is up until the 28th of February!
2.2.16
I am looking forward to participating in Lakkos AIR in Heraklion, Crete, GR!
7.1.15
I am happy to be participating in an artist residency in Lisbon, PT at Atelier Real!
7.15.14
I was recently selected to participate in an artist residency at DE LICEIRAS 18 in Oporto, PT!
1.12.13
I am proud to announce that I will be an artist in residence at F_AIR in Florence, Italy (http://fair.palazziflorence.com/). More on this soon!
12.13.12
Earlier this week, I was notified that I was one of the Italian Fulbright grantees selected to attend the Annual Berlin Fulbright Seminar in March! Yay! Non vedo l'ora!
11.28.12 FINALLY! I have my blog up about my experiences in Italy! You can find that here: http://ciakitalia.wordpress.com/
7.12.12
I was recently awarded an artist residency at La Muse at Labastide Esparbairenque, France. I can't wait to go! It looks like it will be an incredible experience:(http://lamuseinn.com/)!
6.4.12
I just started an indiegogo fundraiser campaign to offset the costs not offered by the Fulbright such as art supplies, travel expenses, and an art studio. The Fulbright grant is an amazing opportunity to work on my art for a year in Italy.
I am reaching out to all of you for support for this project. I am looking to raise $8,000 over the course of 52 days. As an incentive for backers I am offering various goodies in return, such as a piece of my orange peel textiles!
To learn more about the project and to become a backer please visit:
http://www.indiegogo.com/VictoriaDeBlassieAlchemicalOrangeProject?a=657335
Thank you!
5.25.12
I was recently awarded a Fulbright Full Grant to Italy for 2012-2013! My goal for this project is to understand the relationship between craft and sustainability. For the past nine years, I have been using a variety of craft processes to transform orange peels into a leather-like material that I then use to make large sculptures. In Italy, I plan to apply the Italian crafts of vegetable tanning and wool felting to the production of my orange peel textiles. This new “leather” will link the vegetable tanning and felting crafts with ecology by using castoff peels and hand-making methods of construction.
First, I will commence my studio practice and research in Santa Croce sull’ Arno at the Polo Tecnologico Conciario, an institution dedicated to innovative methods of tanning. There, I will apply vegetable tanning techniques to my orange peel tapestries to simulate the fiore, the smooth surface of leather. Secondly, at the Art Studio Fuji in Florence, I will study felting to mold the felt to the underside of the peels to resemble the crosta, the rough side of leather. Here I will also be conducting free workshops about creative reuse of materials in the textile arts. In addition, every three months I will be traveling to Venice to be guided with my qualitative research of ecology and craft theory with art historian Dr. Cornelia Lauf, who specializes in the intersection between art, craft, and agriculture.
Stay tuned, I will have a blog of my experiences!