My interdisciplinary work is primarily purpose-driven. Through messaging, compositional narratives and the re-purposing of materials, my work is based in activism, starting conversations about a variety of environmental and social justice issues. While my main focus is the environment, other cause-related topics such as gun violence, grief and aging have also been a focus. Living with purpose has been found to heighten life quality, and creating pieces with meaning gives me a way to deal with the troubled state of people and planet. I work in a variety of mediums including sculpture, metalsmithing/jewelry, graphic design, writing and drawing. Though graphic design is my area of professional expertise and the medium I use most frequently, I will often let an idea drive material choice.
Turn a faucet handle and immediately, water flows from the faucet’s end to a drain, mere inches below. In a less than a second, what was new becomes waste. Comparatively, nothing we use as humans undergoes this transformation so quickly. The turn of that handle belies none of the cost of bringing the water supply from enviornment to user. The drain reveals just as little, suggesting nothing of water collection systems, purifying treatments and the return to the environment. And what of all the water used in commercial, industrial, agricultural and energy-related processes? Much of mankind is woefully out of touch with the central substance that makes our lives possible. I will spend my residency writing about water. The tenor of that writing will determine whether the final deliverable will be geared towards children, adults or both. With a cellphone, a laptop, adobe Rush (video editing) and Adobe Express (social media post design), my work will take form as written word accompanied by still or short video imagery that will be public facing in an effort to raise awareness and reconnect people with the earth’s most precious substance.
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Bridget Parlato is a designer/artist/activist in Baltimore, MD. As a freelancer, she has run Full Circuit Studio for over a decade, specializing in cause-related work. She seeks to raise awareness and create behavioral change through digital and print campaigns, sculptures, public events, performances, installations, and school outreach. Parlato’s personal work is largely conceptual, often focusing on environmental, societal and political issues, material over-consumption, grief and loss. Mediums include metalsmithing, art jewelry, found object sculpture, drawing, illustration, writing and digital graphics. She holds a BFA and MFA in fine arts.