Danny Ponders Pending Mending

Over at Flickr there is a whole world of Art waiting to be found.
One Artist that I especially admire is Danny Mansmith.

He lives in Chicago and creates the coolest ART.
He hung these red thrift store ties on a wire fence with his friend Cathi and it is Art. Maybe a joke, too, as they have $1.00 price tags on them. Are they saying that anything can be Art?
Something Highbrow about Conformity and Businessmen, daily grind, not Living An Artful Life?
Who knows what they were laughingly saying as they hung each tie and what the people walking by said as they watched.
In the City, I can imagine that they have seen it all and probably didn't think anything of it. Christo has led the way.

His Studio is hung with strings and hundreds of clothespins and his work literally covers the walls.
Fabulous faces, figures, clothing, art quilts created with layers of paper and fabric and lost and found bits of ephemera from his life.

I think I have a favorite until I see the next picture.
I want to save them all in my Favorites and visit them again and again. No, I am not an Art Stalker, I just really like your work. He can paint with his sewing machine. His thread is drawing a picture, each line depicting movement or expression so perfectly.

I imagine walking by his Studio, wrapped in my woolen coat and scarf and stopping to admire the artistic scene displayed there.

I go inside and turn slowly and try to absorb it all.

Clothes pins hit my head as I duck under a few low hanging lines.

I smile as I imagine wearing one of his garments.

His drawings are elegant in their simplicity and haste.

The fingers say volumes.

Expressive.

Danny Mansmith says it with Scraps of fabric and paper and threads.


So, I saw a picture of him and it said wait, I can be something else.
I printed it (ran out of yellow, must use Black & White) onto a sheet of fabric and away to the sewing room.
Before I could stop myself.
Before I could think about what I was doing.
The right Brain saying we are all Connected.
Flickr has made that true for me.

I have friends everywhere.
We gather in Groups and share our pictures like happy, excited kids on a playground trading baseball cards.
Leaving comments of encouragement and love.
Yes, Love.
I see images that are so beautiful it is painful.
To allow myself the time to explore other peoples lives.
Gasp at their talent.
Allow it to Inspire me to Grow and become better at my "Crafting Art".

Nervously taking the pictures and showing them on Flickr to Danny- Will he laugh and think its crap?  Politely say, I just don't have the room...?

My self doubt nags as I do it anyway. Unsolicited Artwork, forcing someone else to take what I have made because I wanted to make it!

No, I had to make it. 

I couldn't start what I needed to be doing until I did actually make this!

Am I crazy? Seems so.

Letting my Right Brain take over to the brink of insanity.

I will just make and make and send it out all over God's Creation. Whether you want it or not.

Put it in the closet! Under the sofa; line the birdcage. I don't care. It's my Art Therapy and you are gonna get some!

Too simple and country girl?
Will he get how I see him with a cloud of sewing notions swimming in his noggin?
His wrapped binding idea put to use around the edge.
I wanted to try it.
That's my excuse.

I couldn't rest until I had done a small quilt with the edge that way.
I don't even know enough about Couture to know if this is Innovative and unique or a standard?
I only know that I have only seen Danny use it on Flickr on the edges of his work.
For me, it is extremely fresh and exciting.
Not to bind with bias tape and allow freedom of the edges.
Art quilts are allowed to be untraditional and I have seen many with edges that have shapes like rectangles and circles and rods shooting off from the body of the quilt...but they were still bound very traditionally.

I love to imagine things deconstructed- the lining showing in gaps in the seams. Tattered and shattered and falling apart.
Like some old-fashioned dress manikin with a forgotten gown, decaying in the heat-freeze of Seasons passing.
In the attic, tulle filled with dust, glass glitter dark with age.

On Flickr I can find that and more.

I wish I could have gone to Danny's Big Sale last weekend. I bet it was Amazing!!!!

I want him to be successful.

I wish him all the best.

I want him to be on Project Runway. He would so rock as a competitor!

I think he should be in magazines- hello Threads!!

Or Quilting Arts!!! Hello!!

See this very talented Artist??

Imagine the Giant Neon Arrow pointing from above to his Shop! So, go visit  Danny at Flickr or his Blog or his Etsy Shop. Dream. Imagine. Share. Explore. Create. Stop Being Afraid. Just Do It. Make a Mess. Live an Artful Life. Start Today in some small way.