Undergraduate grant recipients debut exhibit, fundraise for Alzheimer’s
In correlation with national Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, VCUarts undergraduate research grant recipients Mandy Fitzgerald and Virginia Wood featured their installation, “Remember Me,” this past Friday evening at Rick’s Custom Frame and Gallery.
Fitzgerald’s and Wood's installation featured each subject's most treasured memory on their forehead.
Mark Robinson
Assistant Spectrum Editor
In correlation with national Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, VCUarts undergraduate research grant recipients Mandy Fitzgerald and Virginia Wood featured their installation, “Remember Me,” this past Friday evening at Rick’s Custom Frame and Gallery.
While reading “Tuck Everlasting” in high school, Fitzgerald became interested in the concept of memory. Her interest and subsequent research led her to a statistic that piqued her interest in degenerative memory disease: By 2050, one in 85 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
“I want people to see that art can really make a difference in people’s (lives),” said Fitzgerald, a junior painting and printmaking major. “When people hear that you’re an art major, they don’t always take you seriously. It’s just nice to know that if you want to make a difference in someone’s life, you can.”
Since receiving the grant in January, Fitzgerald and Wood have developed the exhibit, which is comprised of 84 hand-drawn portraits commemorating friends and family whom they never want to forget.
Each person whom they sketched divulged his or her most treasured memory, which was then transcribed on to the forehead of his or her portrait.
The portraits were arranged in a living room setting amid a couch, coffee table and end tables. Fitzgerald explained that the setup was meant to emulate a treatment for Alzheimer’s that stresses importance on surrounding a patient with his or her memories.
Each portrait was for sale, and all of the money raised through the exhibit will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, which works to raise awareness and educate people about the disease.
Both Fitzgerald and Wood hope “Remember Me” will show people the value of memory. “Don’t ever forget,” Wood said. “Remember what you cherish most.”
In the last five years, 50 student-proposed projects have been funded though VCUarts undergraduate research grants; to date, $150,000 has been rewarded. Fitzgerald and Wood are one of the 14 groups that received funding last year.
“Being a recipient of the undergraduate student art grant has been a huge honor,” Fitzgerald said. “This idea would have been hugely difficult had we not received (the money) to make our idea come to life.”
Although Friday’s exhibition was advertised as a one-night-only event, Fitzgerald and Wood accepted an offer to showcase “Remember Me” in the Student Art Space in the University Commons from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2.
[sws_grey_box]To donate to the “Remember Me” fundraiser, visit .[/sws_grey_box]
Photos by Glenn Jodun
This show was a joy to visit. The artists were very passionate about their cause and it was evident that alot of thought and hard work had gone into their exhibit. Mandy Fitzgerald, a growing artist in Richmond, displayed her technical skills when it comes to detailed sketches. I was very impressed with the show, overall, and look forward to seeing more of her artwork in the future.
Great story!
I was most moved by the insight in each portraait and the depth of knowledge that Fitzerald and Wood exhibited in there knowledge of the dreaded illness “AlZHEIMER”. I was impressed with the total show, and look forward to Mandy’s next art show.
I was impressed with the thoughtful presentation of the exhibit. It was inspiring and exciting. I am so proud of Mandy Fitzgerald and was happy to see so many supporters of her art and the cause of Alzheimer’s awareness. I look forward to her future endeavors.