Lost Words

Opening Reception    January 25th, 2025    4pm-6pm
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Show runs from -
January  25th, 2025 - March 22nd, 2025
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​​​​(Click above image for press kit)​

​Artist - Kate Fitzpatrick

Statement

My work exists in the gap between text and art. Through creation of my own signs I delve into the intricate interplay of signs to explore language, meaning and identity. Signs serve as building blocks of communication, conveying layers of interpretation. Through my work, I seek to unravel the complexities of these signs, examining how they shape and reflect individual and collective identities.  “Language” in my art, both illegible and unspoken, becomes the surface upon which I construct and negotiate those explorations. My work is a visual dialogue,  inviting viewers to contemplate the nuances of language and its role in shaping our sense of self and belonging to uncover deeper meanings that lie beneath the surface to invite reflection, introspection and to the multifaceted nature of the human experience.

Lost Words
Exhibition Statement

Palimpsests allow an object or image to reveal itself through a history of partially viewed marks on its surface.  An early method of recycling surfaces for writing, images and text were erased, scraped or washed away to make room for new scrawl and images.  The chronology of palimpsests divulge what is beneath the surface, and examination of the layers reveal the debris or fragments that remain because of the removal process.  An archive of what was there alters the surface and reminds the viewer that no history ever disappears and holds the visible traces of the past to reshape the future. Palimpsests have a direct relationship to the day to day veneer of words and images we encounter.  Leaving out, crossing out, erasing, and overwriting reshapes the meaning of our language systems and allows for the legible text to live in the remnants of the demolished surfaces. The meaning of the image, words or objects lie somewhere in the spaces between.

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Biography

Kate Fitzpatrick grew up in a family of travelers.  Moving every few years to a new place throughout her childhood and adulthood allowed her to collect snippets of cultures and their languages. Never feeling quite on the inside of those cultures she began to explore how arbitrary signs and symbols hold meaning to create a system of understanding. Fitzpatrick works in traditional writing media like pen and ink but also uses a mixed media approach using materials like thread, acetate, and fabric to create intricate drawings, paintings, artist books, and installations.  These methods allow play and exploration of the potential of her own graphic signs. Fitzpatrick received a BFA in Painting from Clarion University of Pennsylvania (1997), an MA in art education from University of New Mexico (2000), and an MFA in Visual Arts from George Mason University (2020).  She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship (2016) where she spent a semester in India working on an art curriculum with local arts teachers. Fitzpatrick is an artist and educator based in Alexandria, VA.

Website - katesfitzart.com/
Facebook - www.facebook.com/katesfitz1
Instagram - ​https://www.instagram.com/katesfitz/?hl=en