Artist and filmmaker Victoria Jorgensen conveys a compassionate but discerning awareness of the human condition. Leftovers, her latest site-specific work continues her exploration into how people think and interact with art.
The multitalented artist has shared with Creative Pinellas that her latest installation will be featured in the upcoming all-women show 13 on the 13th at the Hillsborough Community College-Ybor Art Gallery. The piece, she explains, features six found photographs most likely taken between the 1940s and the late ’60s. The viewer answers who, what, where, why, when questions on the clipboard sheet after viewing the photographs and then constructs a story from that information on the back of the sheet and drops it in a brown grocery bag below.
“I am very interested in creating an environment which fuses the experience of viewing art with that of point of purchase consumption,” Jorgensen says. “This piece carries forth the act of pulling something from a retail pegboard and interacting with it äóî becoming part of the creation of the actual art itself. The viewer is no longer interpreting the artist’s thought but actually becoming part of the process by interactively controlling the interpretation. We have an innate desire to ‘have’ things. Here, the viewer can ‘have’ the art by creating the outcome. An investment in the end.”
Other works in the upcoming Creatives Exchangeæshow will feature a variety of media, including photography, works on paper, mixed media, clay, painting and glass and works from the baker’s dozen of talents that include Jorgensen,æPaula Brett, Suzanne Camp Crosby, Kimberli Cummings, Eileen Goldenberg, Brenda Gregory,Candace Knapp, Kim Radatz, Debra Radke, Marina Shamble, and Suzanne Williamson.æMelissa Fair, recently featured in Doll Quarterly magazine, will be a participating guest artist.
Topics explored in 13 on the 13th,æaccording to the gallery’s press statement “range from the exploration of family relationships and their emotional components, contemporary political issues and the contemplation of safe havens, to the landscape of the human condition in a world of haves and “have-nots.””
“Being part of Creatives Exchange has offered me the opportunity to learn more about other genres of art,” Jorgensen shares. “I came to the group as a filmmaker and ended up trying my hand at what I call ‘2D’ art.'”
She was eager to step outside her boundaries, she adds. “Trying my hand at something new was a little painful but exciting.”
In Creatives Exchange’s last HCC show Creatives Refired, Jorgensen created an interactive piece that allowed the viewer to participate by choosing printed cards with positive or negative emotions and/or ideas. If the viewer chose a positive card they agreed to take the card(s) and to meditate on that feeling daily for the next two weeks. æIf they choose something negative, they could “pitch it” in the trash can below the piece.
“I was absolutely stunned at the response,” Jorgensen says. “Many took the positive cards and sent me photos of the cards in various environments including their breakfast table while on vacation. I was amazed at the end of the show to find cards that were thrown in the trash can like ‘addiction,’ ‘hate,’ ‘jealousy’ and ‘fear.” I even found half of a ripped ‘family’ card in the can.”
That piece, she says, is now at the Moffitt Cancer Center, displayed in the adolescent and young patient area.
Creating art with a purpose is nothing new to Jorgensen. Her other works as a filmmaker have helped draw acclaim to the Tampa independent film scene äóî which she has immortalized in the documentary A Moving Feast.
Always looking for new ways to engage movie viewers in the local film scene, Jorgensen says she attends the Toronto International Film Festival yearly and has attended the Berlinale yearly for many years.
“I also just returned from Cannes Film Festival at which my latest film Tiny Bacteria screened,” she shares. “The film also showed at Gasparilla International Film Festival as well as Sunscreen.”
By attending film festivals, Jorgensen says she gets to see what is going on in the rest of the world and utilize that information to create her own art.
“I would also like to shout out to Film Commissioner Tony Armer,” she adds. “He has been instrumental in making connections for me. He has been a tireless ally.”
In Jorgensen’s opinion, local film buffs already have much to celebrate in Tampa Bay, but Florida’s government could do more to support it.
“We are a community rich in film festivals, each with a slightly different take,” she says. “There are so many film professionals and independent filmmakers. … It’s a shame the state of Florida doesn’t support the arts, in particular film, more than they do. We have a wealth of talent and that talent will go where it is appreciated.”
At least Jorgensen has found a home where she feels the arts get their due: “St. Petersburg is supportive of the arts; this is obvious with the incubation taking place throughout the city. I recently made the decision to live, work and play in Gulfport. I couldn’t be happier!”
13 on the 13th æcan be seen at theæYbor Campus Art Gallery, Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, July 13-Aug. 3; Opening Reception is Thursday, July 13, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday and Wednesday-Fridays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tuesday noon-7 p.m. Callæ813-253-7674 æor visit hccfl.edu.yborgallery.
