Artist's journey more than miles

Hamilton, Ohio – The physical distance between Syracuse and Hamilton clocks in at precisely at 575 miles.

For artist John Fitzsimmons, however, the journey to the Push & Pull exhibition at the Fitton Center took more than mere odometer clicks.

While Fitzsimmons spent time in the area half a century ago when he studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, he took a circuitous route back to southwest Ohio for Push & Pull.

After graduating in 1977, he went back home to his native upstate New York and worked for his father in the manufacturing industry for 13 years. He eventually went into product and package design, registering some 30 United States patents for his work along the way.

“I never intended to go off in the other direction, but you have bills to pay, children to raise,” he said. “But for the last 20-some years I’ve had a studio and spent a lot of time making art there. I retired three years ago and have been full-time in my studio ever since.”

Fitzsimmons’ paintings present life-size (and larger) images of his models.

“This body of work is pretty consistent to what I’ve been doing the last few years,” he said. “I’ve been playing with scale. Scale is really important to me. You’re contrasting and forcing comparison to the actual size.

“I’m intrigued by late medieval work and scaling in gothic works. You’re never on eye level with the church fresco. You’re always looking up at them, which changes your view.”

Life circumstances affected his view as well. Fitzsimmons lost his daughter to brain cancer at age 42.

“It adds to the urgency (to create),” he said. “I’m 72. I’ve been conscious of my mortality and you realize you don’t have unlimited time. You have to prioritize. We live a pretty simple life. Whatever we do, we do it because it’s important to us.

“I’m looking for the non-verbal narrative. That can be a copout, but it’s a visual narrative. If you can tell it with words, write a poem or a short story. I have to tell my stories visually.”

Fitzimmons doesn’t place any expectations on what he wants audiences to find or feel in his art.

“The work always has to speak for itself,” he said. “It’s OK to establish some context for it, but it needs to have a life of its own. For other people to see it and give it their meaning.”

The Push & Pull exhibition is on view in Monument, Riverview, Bever West and Bever North galleries at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts through March 27. Galleries are always FREE and open to the public. Hours run 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, on selected weekend in conjunction with performance events and by appointment. Guests may arrange field trips or guided gallery tours by writing Director of Exhibitions Cathy Mayhugh at cathy@fittoncenter.org.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

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