Now this IS art! Although not by me.

Lovely things I just need to get framed. The top one is a large piece, like 18" x 18" and is marked Andrew Li, 2001, Creativity Explored. The squares are shiny and bright, like markers on glossy paper and the have been sewing machine-stitched to the larger background. It will be quite a statement piece when framed or matted and framed.

I got it at the American Visionary Art Museum recently, where I belong and also volunteer. It's a national museum, 15 years old, and internationally known for being dedicated to outsider, altered, intuitive art.

I picked up the piece of original art and put it back; someone else picked it up and carried it around, and then I was sad. Then I saw they had put it back, and knew I had to have it.

The same colors attracted me to this smaller piece on corrugated cardboard. It is marked Adam Elias Hines, April 2010, Project Onward. It appears to be student work. He had several pieces like this in the museum gift shop, Sideshow. It is about 9" x 12".

The bottom piece (2 pics) was a gift, also found at Sideshow and is a signed and numbered print by Kahler called Taksara. No idea about he/she/it. Must look into. It is 4.5" x 24".

Lastly, the Barbie sketches are by Robert Best, actually a fairly young man and Mattel designer, but his style has become iconic with Barbie in the last 10 years, since he created and brought to life the Barbie Fashion Model Collection (BFMC) and Silkstones, which celebrate their 10th anniversary this fall. The line art is so reminiscent of the early Barbie package inserts from 1959-65ish. The sketches are also about 9" x 12" and were exclusive gifts at a past national Barbie convention.

A new appreciation for sewers

No, not sanitation systems, although I appreciate those also. I mean people who can operate a sewing machine, or in this case, anyone who can wield a needle and thread without drawing blood, tangling one's materials in knots or making the finished object look like it was not sewn by King Kong or a Far Side cow (they of no opposable thumbs).

I was all thumbs in my first attempt at making a sock monkey, and worse still, I was late and missed most of the free class offered by the American Visionary Art Museum this Saturday. My first clue that I was in trouble was the lack of parking. And when I finally took the elevator up to the third floor classroom of the Jim Rouse (creator of Columbia, where I live) Visionary Center, I was shocked to find fiberfill flying everywhere and what looked like 300 men, women and children busily cutting, sewing and stuffing socks into fabric precursers of homo sapiens.

I couldn't even see a registration table; just dozens of round tables full of socks, buttons, yarn and more. Luckily, a woman wearing a "Monkey Helper" nametag took pity on me and gave me a pattern and five minutes of instruction. Then she started cleaning up. I felt pretty sheepish, thinking I could just drop in anytime--that's how I had understood the event. I also felt pretty disappointed, knowing sewing is not my strong skill and thinking I'd never manage to make a sock monkey, or even a sock amoeba.

But determination is a virtue, or something like that, and I stitched away into the wee hours, mostly because my neighbors were having a raucous party. By 3 a.m. I had a head, torso, legs and one ear, as well as two daisy buttons that gave Gladys all her personality. It really is all in the eyes.

I woke up this morning eager to finish, and hoping all the party-going neighbors had well-earned headaches. I had one, too, from trying to thread my needle without my glasses. But seeing Gladys with all her limbs intact and her wired tail made me feel all better. That, and some oatmeal monster (I mean monkey) cookies we made after that.

Bunny takes Baltimore by storm

I normally keep my Blythe postings to my Blythe blog, but on Saturday, Nov. 21, art and Blythe intersected as I visited The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore with my Blythe friend Maggie of Balto. Maggie is quite the collector, and not just Blythe. She has tons of Barbies, Momokos, Wonder Frogs, you name it. And, she has a great deal of talent in customizing and styling dolls, as you can see above from my Bunny Velvet, a former Ashton-Drake Roaring Red, which Maggie re-faced and re-eyed and re-everything'd.


We had a great lunch inside the museum at Mr. Rain's Fun House, and had a great Blythe chat with the owners, while they gratiously indulged our photo-taking. The restaurant and gift shop are highly-recommended! And, I'm a member of the museum, so of course it is high on my culture list.


If you've never heard of Blythe, a doll who made a brief appearance in the early 1970s, you can read more here, or simple type in "Blythe" on Ebay or Etsy, and prepare to get hooked.

A few more views from Maryland

Last weekend saw beautiful weather in Columbia, MD, and I was able to take a couple pictures outside my apartment before I flew home Sunday to Indiana. Arrived to rain and more rain; drove to Chicago for a meeting last Tuesday (rain); flew back to Maryland Wednesday night...arrived to rain and fog. You get the idea.

But today is beautiful again, and I am headed to The Queen's Ink in Savage, MD and then to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore for a little arting, shopping, and then a min-Blythe meet. How can a day be better?