Gerald Fitzpatrick
BIO
Gerald pursues a lifelong dream of making sculptures and wearable art fashion. In lieu of a traditional art education Gerald explores hands on workshops. Workshops covering industrial sewing, millinery arts, forging metal corsets, cordswainer / high heel shoes, metal shaping, stone carving, English wheel and power hammer operation.
After forced retirement Fitzpatrick returned home to Columbus, Ohio and caught the artist creative bug. He developed his skills with tools and equipment that are traditionally used for the restoration of vintage automobiles and aircraft. Using found industrial materials and scrap metal he fabricates whimsical like sculptures. With his past knowledge of prosthetic fabrication (limb making) he has rolled that skill set of metal forming into creating alternative fashion / wearable art. From metal corsets to steel hoop skirts. Gallery and runway examples of Gerald's work can be viewed on instagram@killerjeanne
Gerald is an advocate and promotes" Lifelong Learning" programs. He has taking advantage of Ohio's program for free education for seniors at public funded colleges, universities and technical schools. He is grateful of the opportunity to have attended 5 semesters of training at the Sherman Sculpture and Glass studios at The Ohio State University.
He has a studio in Columbus, Ohio and is a member at the Columbus Idea Foundry, Ohio Art League, Columbus Fashion Alliance and still is in good standing with America Board of Certification of Prosthetist & Orthotists, CTPO 1936. Since 2006 Gerald has been renovating a vintage "Cold War" missile base in Champlain, New York. Where he harvests metal to repurpose for public art sculpture fabrication.
A graduate of Bowling Green State University 1978 with a BA Degree in Latin American Studies. Attended the Hobart School of Welding 1979. Worked in various ship and fabrication yards as a welder. Joined the Peace Corps and taught welding in Morocco to disadvantaged youth.
Spent a number of years in the Washington DC area working as a carpenter, welder and plumber servicing boilers. Graduated from Century College in Minnesota with certificates in orthotics and prosthetics, 1992. He refined his prosthetic skills employed at a Rehabilitation Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi.
Worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. As a prosthetist, Gerald set up and rehabilitated orthopedic centers in areas of conflict from 1996 to 2017. This included the countries of Angola, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Ethiopia, India (Kashmir), South Sudan, Guinea Bissau and Myanmar. He trained and mentored public health staff at the various limb fitting centers.
Statement
Take a walk into my gallery. It's a metal comic book which I call The New World. Filled with characters in uniform, mask heads, exotic vegetation and trees. This world is sparked by my drive to explore, learn and share firsthand. As a kid I was more interested in the hourly wage of washing dishes to earn enough for my next trip. Fast forward from college, welding school, shipyards, Peace Corps, waiter, boilermaker, deckhand, overseas technician, prosthetic school, a rehab hospital and finally a job I could sink my teeth into. Working for the International Red Cross fitting artificial limbs in conflict areas. Eighteen years later forced retirement. On a whim I enrolled in an African Metal Mask Making workshop at the local maker's space. Maker's space, what a fantastic concept which I quickly took advantage of.
There were plenty of artist workshops where instructors were willing to show their art and the process. A confidence builder it was. Fast forward again. I now have my own workshop where I fabricate my metal and leather art.
The stuff I create is a mix of past travel experiences, a new sourced material, a new fabricating skill learned and a realized hidden insight stirred into something that was not foreseen. The takeaway is that I want my audience to experience my metal comic book firsthand and be able to share the process of how my art was created.
