After finishing his graduate studies at SIU-C, Fitzgerald returned to Evansville, and set up a studio to continue creating sculpture. After leaving the great facilities of SIU-C, Fitzgerald again began to utilize Evansville's metal industry. At this point he had accumulated a competent level of metalworking skills, but the lack of equipment was a problem. He set up "D-City Studio," and began working on new sculpture slated for a major exhibition of his work to be shown at the Evansville Art Museum in the spring of 1987. Fitzgeraldıs work was selected to be exhibited in one of the premier shows in the museumıs "Old Gallery" which was part of the new addition to the Museum. He exhibited over 50 works at this exhibition. Some of the works were from his days in graduate school, but a large portion of the work was new. The sculpture ranged from small to large, and the exhibit was on the whole, quite impressive. It was evident from this body of work that he had become technically skilled. Another visible change was the scale of the large works. Being back in Evansville allowed him more frequent visits to the metal fabricators, giving him prime choice of scrap metal and large elements. He was not just getting materials and fabricating byproducts, he was also, at times, having parts or elements formed by the large equipment used in the industry. The tangible and inherent problems of making sculpture- especially large sculpture-space, equipment, knowledge, and resources-were evident. It was out of necessity for him to be able to continue making sculpture and growing as a sculptor that he started this vital rapport with industry. The more he frequented the facilities, the more he learned about how the equipment could be used and its capabilities for forming sculptural elements. This relationship with industry seems to have been a natural one, since he was already using industry as a source for acquiring raw materials. Industryıs equipment and knowledge of metalworking had become a new pool of experiences that he used to further his sculptural development. It became obvious that for him to continue his life endeavor as a sculptor he and industry had to marry. To survive and provide a home and a personal studio with equipment, he was going to have to put his technical abilities to work in industry as a metal fabricator-fitting and welding.