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The People’s Choice Award: Gin Ferrara
31: Gin Ferrara
Create a series of mixed-media works about the transformation of perimenopause
Gin Ferrara is an artist and mediamaker who returned to personal artmaking after a serious head injury in 2020. An important part of her recovery was her daily drawing practice. Gin creates paintings, prints, digital, and mixed media art that reveal inner emotional landscapes. Much of the artist’s inspiration comes from daily interactions with nature: physical, emotional, and visual.
Project description
I will create a series of works in mixed media (painting, illustration, digital arts, and fiber arts) exploring the emotional, physical, and temporal elements of perimenopause over six months. I will be conducting research in the form of informational interviews with health care providers, therapists, and people experiencing perimenopause. Once completed, I will host a series of gatherings for people experiencing perimenopause in which they will have the opportunity to share their experiences and create their own work. This work will be attributed and displayed along with my work, and will be theirs to keep.
I tend to work in series, often drawing small sketches, which become progressively larger. I also use digital photography and digital illustration to convey my ideas. The final works will be on canvas.
I intend to return to using fiber arts in my work this fall. I have been working with fabric and fiber since I attained my BFA in sculpture from Alfred University. My first post-college internship was with a theater company, creating costumes. Since that time I have become a knitter as well. As clothing and fabric is a large part of our lived experience, it seems natural to incorporate those elements into the artmaking for a project focused on changes to the body and our experience of the world through aging.
As a community arts and media educator, I have worked for 3 decades to give people space and opportunity to use the arts to connect and communicate. I intend to make a bridge between my personal artmaking and community arts in this project.
The Arrival. “This is an example of the narrative elements in my work, which build on illustration techniques.”
Crying Rainbows. “A painting about the mood swings of perimenopause.”
Milkweed Dance. “Milkweeds have represented change and growth in aging to me for a long time.”
August 18, 2023