Friday, August 14, 2009

I actually never left China.

I just realized I left China August 15th 2008.
I'm returning August 16th 2009.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Dreamspace in New Mexico

http://manns.tmanndesign.com/manns/?p=1645

Friday, August 7, 2009

my anklet!!!!!!!!

Wow.
My anklet of 9 years just came off.
I inadvertently tore it off with a swift and soft gesture as I put my sock on.
I left the room, leaving it broken on the carpet, without realizing I didn't have it any longer. Then returned to the room to get something. I looked down and I actually felt my heart beat at a different pace the moment I saw it there on the ground.
Overly romanticized...I know.

But I've been waiting for this moment for years.
I've built it up for so long and I demand it to have meaning.
There has to be a reason it came off today.

So far what I've got is all about numbers.
I've had it on 9 years, and it came off 9 days before I'm leaving for China in the year 2009.
There has to be more to it, but I don't know what that is yet...

art videos, art dream, art dismantling.

Last night I discovered an archive of Art 21 videos on Fancast.com and so I'm on an art documentary binge.
(Dad, if you're reading this, you should really check them out. Very interesting. Very chic.)

And it influenced my dream.
I was in an attic full of boxes. Taylor's brother was there. We were looking through them. Neither of us knew what was in any of them, but we were slowly meandering through them, peering in to see what was there.
I came upon one that had about a 3 foot wide, 4 foot tall wooden African mask attached to a log. The log had the bark peeled away in parts, other parts remaining but painted in saturated primary colors. The paint appeared slick, but it was dry.
The rest of the box was filled with large sticks and things, all of them painted and decorated. Ryan said they were Taylor's, and I thought "of course they are!" And I was excited to see he had continued working with wood like that.

I don't remember any particular mood throughout the dream which is unusual for me.
But I do remember when I woke up I was thinking about these little stick sculptures Taylor made and how I had mixed imagery from one of the videos with the art of his I've seen...creating awesome hybrid art.

Also speaking of art, today I dismantled the dreamspace and washing machine.
As I was removing the fabric from the wood I was sad, thinking of how they hold quite a few memories. I worried that removing the fabric would release those memories into the air to be lost forever...
But.
I tacked their fabric skins to the wall and there was a wonderful surprise!
They looked awesome just draped, way better than they did stretched on their wooden frames.

So I'm not sad anymore.
Now I just need to decide whether to lug them along to China or send them to New Mexico...

Thursday, August 6, 2009

fabric freezer

I absolutely should have gotten a picture of the little girl that just brought home my fabric freezer...but I didn't.

Anyways, she was so adorable and her parents were incredibly jolly so I feel very happy to have given it to them.

And I know they'll pass it on to someone else when they're done with it because they said they're all about hand-me-downs.

Their daughter had a felt flower in her hair and was holding the same kind of doll I just bought for Madi the other day.
I think I made that freezer just for her, but didn't know it. :)

yay for art going to kids!

This is not embarrassing.

If you've ever thought I cracked a corny joke, or laughed at something really stupid,
let me prove to you it runs in my family.

My father's blog:
http://manns.tmanndesign.com/manns/?p=1634

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

thinking about their climb.

I was just thinking about how Taylor and his brother Ryan are on Mount Rainier right now.
They should be a couple days past half-way.

So get this.
I found a video of a guy taping himself and his friends climbing, pointing out the deep crevasses on either side, reminding the viewer of the danger climbing on ice and snow entails, and talking about how they were "1,000 percent in the elements!...dude."
Thing is, he said they were about half-way up the mountain.
Then he proceeded to call out the names of his buddies, which were Ryan and Taylor.

I clicked on a link to his website to find out when he posted it, and it was almost exactly a year ago.

I'm becoming increasingly more sure that the universe is constantly performing intricate magic tricks that we're mostly unaware of.