Adventures of a Sock Monkey Visionary!

You may wonder what brings me to the blog-a-roo on Saturday evening but I'm so inspired I have to share.  Today, we braved the cold to visit Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum.  It's the only Visionary museum in the U.S. and boy is it well worth the visit!  This year's theme is Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness.  There is just about every material you can image used to create many of the pieces - including yarn - yes yarn - Yay!  There are paintings, illustrations, carvings, a metal sculpture garden and barn. Most of the work is created by unknown or little known artists and regular people who don't claim to be artists at all, but are self taught from around the world with a true vision all their own.  It's a wonderful place to rediscover human history.  There are expressive, funny and sometimes quirky pieces, expertly crafted. 


Two of my favorite artists were Judith Scott with her yarn cocoon and Deborah Berger's masks and knitted pieces which were rescued twice, once after the family put them in the trash after her death, and miraculously after Katrina, and were finally donated to the museum.


If you're near Baltimore and have never been to the AVAM, do go and visit.  Check their events page and bookmark the ANNUAL KINETIC SCULPTURE RACE.



Every turn is filled with dreams, ideas, and talented people.  You will be inspired.


On the way out, I had to visit the gift shop and I found Sock Monkey Dreams, daily life at the red heel monkey shelter by Whitney Shroyer and Letitia Walker.  If you have serous sock monkey love grab it for your library.  You will seriously dig this one.

That's it for now...Back to your regularly scheduled knitting and crafting.


Marg (delighted to find both a yarn cocoon and knitted masks on a Saturday afternoon-life is good)