Jeffrey Wirsing has been collaborating with Jeanne Ruddy since the inception of Jeanne Ruddy Dance in 2000. They met over twenty years ago while Mr. Wirsing was an assistant to Halston, working on costumes for Martha Graham's interpretation of The Rite of Springin 1984. He has been collaborating with the Graham company for over twenty years and currently holds the position of Costume Design and Creative Advisor.
Over the past twenty years he has worked with such choreographers and designers as Robert Wilson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ann Reinking, Martha Clarke, Susan Stroman, Donna Karen, Calvin Klein, and Oscar de la Renta. He has recently been collaborating with the Noguchi Foundation in Queens , New York, recreating the original carved Noguchi body jewelry for such works as Night Journey, Pheadra, and El Penitente for their recent exhibition "Noguchi/Graham."
He has done many special priojects for the New York City Opera including working with the designer of the original Sweeney Todd, Franni Lee, to distress and paint costumes for the NYCO revival in 2004. He has designed and built costumes for four productions produced by "American Virtuosi", a NY based baroque opera company.
Having studied art conservation in Florence, Italy in 1990-91 Mr. Wirsing worked on the restoration of historic furniture and historic villa interiors in Florence and Palermo. In 2000, he was awarded the Eleanor Lambert Fellowship in Objects Conservation, offered by Save Venice, Inc., and spent nine months in Venice working with Venetian restorers on such projects as the restoration of the high altar of San Francesco della Vigna. In 2003, he recieved a Fulbright Fellowship to return to Venice to study conservation techniques of Venetian decorative stucco. Mr. Wirsing designs his own collection of home furnishings under the lable, "Veneto Classics" and is restoring a house in the south of France in the historic city of Beaucaire. Currently, his work can be seen on the HBO hit series "Boardwalk Empire".
Veneto Classics web site is located at: www.venetoclassics.com. More information on his work in Venice and Veneto Classics may be seen at: here.