The first person I bumped into at Liggett Studio's "Passages" was assemblage artist Joy Frangiosa.
"Assemblage" was an art term unfamiliar to me. Dictionary.com gives the definition as it applies to fine arts: "a sculptural technique of organizing or composing into a unified whole a group of unrelated and often fragmentary or discarded objects." Frangiosa's art allows seemingly unrelated elements to merge in her work.
Flea Market connoisseur, dumpster diver, and happy recipient of gifts left on her porch by neighbors, Frangiosa holds onto pieces until they all fit together and make sense for a particular assemblage. Both a feeling about the project and time spent doing research ensue before a piece is completed.
Frangiosa's light blue eyes shone with an otherworldly light as she began telling me that she is an artist and a clairvoyant, with a painful personal past. Her pieces, often resembling alters or shrines are meant to give a voice to people whose voices never had a chance to be heard.
Frangiosa walked me around her show explaining the stories behind many of her pieces. That is what struck me most about Frangiosa's work; instead of feeling like I was looking exclusively at visual art, I felt I was reading a narrative and historical piece.
"Stop the Violence" is dedicated to Kelsey Briggs, an Oklahoma baby who didn't make it past the age of two due to child abuse that resulted in murder. The piece serves as a shrine for all abused children.
Other works address the artist's family, pioneer and Native American women, the children of Letchworth Insane Asylum, and murdered orphan Sister Maricica Irina Cornici. Frangiosa tells intense stories with her assemblages, often weaving in an element of hope and "closure," as well as a voice for the voiceless.
The exhibit ends October 24.
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