Life and Work with Anne Irene Fitzgerald

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anne Irene Fitzgerald.

Anne Irene, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am an artist with a focus on pen, ink and markers. For as long as I can remember art has been a facet of my life. In school, art was my favorite subject, and at home it’s become almost a meditative process. It was in 2018 that I decided to start showing my art to actively try to get my art seen by the public (before then most of my art was sitting in a box under my bed). Since then, I’ve shown in three gallery shows, participated in my first art market in December. For me this is only the beginning, I hope to take on more projects and accept as many opportunities that I can.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think the nickname, Avidstruggler, uniquely suits this question. I came up with Avidstruggler, firstly because I wanted a unique phrase that would make it easy to search for me. But mostly it’s the best way I can describe myself. Despite any hardships, I’ll struggle and make it through, not giving into negative thoughts about what I can or can’t accomplish. Also with positive opportunities, I take every chance to learn a new skill and obviously it takes time to learn a skill. So I struggle through, I show up and try, that’s what Avidstruggler means to me and about me. My advice would to believe in yourself, I know that sounds cheesy but it’s true. I’ve had a lot of people tell me growing up that I couldn’t do anything with art, or that I should draw a certain way. The best thing I’ve found is following your creative heart and to keep dreaming of any and all possibilities.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My work is constantly fluctuating. I have many pieces that I have half started, which every so often the inspiration suddenly comes to me on how to finish them up. A style throughout much of my work is using fine-point sharpies/markers in a pointillist style (using lots of tiny dots).

A long term project that I have been working on is my Environmentalism series. Nature has always been a theme to my work, with the Environmentalism series though I researched endangered species and presented that research alongside my art. I have also tried to be more environmentally conscious with my art: buying recycled paper, my business cards are made out of recycled t-shirts and using recycled objects.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
I feel as though the biggest barriers to female leadership today would be visibility and belief. We need more women in a variety of leadership roles for younger generations to see that it’s possible. Having confidence in one’s work and belief that you can succeed is the other component. Believing in yourself is the first step to attaining your goals. It wasn’t until I started believing in myself, and taking the failures with the successes, that I started making progress towards my dreams.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://anneifitzgerald.wixsite.com/avidstruggler
• Email: anneirenefitzgerald@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avidstruggler/
• Other: https://society6.com/anneifitzgerald

Image Credit:
Avidstruggler

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