Artist of the Day: Stitched Heart Necklace - Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann stitched heart necklace XVIII Dynasty Princess

The description for this necklace reads: A wounded heart heals stronger.

I like that.

Every year for our birthday, my father gives each of his seven children a cash gift which they spend how they see fit.

I decided early on that I would buy a piece of jewelry that would be symbolic of the year.

This year, I suppose because I am now so, so old, in addition to the cash, he and my mother gave me a flower bouquet.

I found Thomas Mann's stitched heart necklace at Q Street Gallery. I think the stitched heart piece reflects a heart stitched back together truly does heal stronger, and grows into a seamless, full heart.

I love Ancient Egypt and the heart looked beautiful draped over a photograph of a XVIII Princess.

Artist Bio:
Thomas Mann has been an active participant in the contemporary American craft movement for the past forty years as an artist, gallery owner and lecturer.

He describes himself as an artist working in the medium of jewelry and sculpture. The primary design vocabulary which he employs in the making of jewelry objects combines industrial aesthetics and materials and with evocative romantic themes and imagery. He calls this design system Techno.Romantic. Though it is not the only design mode in which he works, it is the one for which he and his work is best known.

Thomas Mann lives and works in New Orleans where he oversees a jewelry design and production studio, a sculpture studio, and gallery.

This Moment: 6:49 P.M. March 5, 2012

The old dog has settled herself near the living room couch. She is panting long after we have returned from our evening walk down the lane. Light is fading fast. A car races up the street, it's lights flashing briefly as it passes. Muted music from upstairs assaults with its heavy pounding. I think to turn on the satellite Blues, but the swoosh of passing cars paired with the steady downbeat, and punctuated by house sounds and the dogs snorts create a music of it's own. Today is the first day I've felt the world come back to life. Snow is still on the horizon, but I refuse to acknowledge this, today. I look up and it is suddenly dark. The dogs are up at the door barking at a phantom guest. Then, I hear them at their bowls, lapping water. The small dog reenters the room and sniffs the rugs, finds an appropriate spot, then lies down, paws curled under his small body. The old dog has settled near the threshold on hard tile. A strange choice. A mistletoe ball still hangs from the front hall entry light. Funny that I just noticed this. A plane's backwash fills the air with a mournful vibration. I wonder where the people inside are going. I wonder what it is that they want. And also, a strange thought: what happens to their thoughts as they pass overhead. I see an image of thought after thought falling like rain, catching in the tree branches like detritus during a windstorm. A train passes through town. And now more cars. Where all hurrying somewhere. The old dog raises herself and her nails scratch the tile on her way to the food bowl. She enters the room, limping slightly like an old man without his cane. I inhale deeply and both dogs raise their heads, fully awake and expectant, ready to follow my lead.

One Sentence: 6:45 P.M. March 5, 2012

Four little words are much, much harder to say than three.

The Day in Cartoons: I Win Again - Frederick Deligne

I Win Again Frederick Deligne, Nice-Matin, France

Shock and surprise are not the words you need to study for today's vocabulary quiz.

Here's the list:
accusations
anarchy
arrests
bribes
bullying
cynicism
dismay
despair
detained
fraud
protest
rigged

Here's what world news had to say about the election results:
Aljazeera - Putin returns to Russian presidency

Reuters - Tearful Putin wins back Russian presidency

Christian Science Monitor - Putin wins. Will Russians buy in?

Voice of America - News Analysis: Putin Wins A Battle, But Is He Losing the War?

Artist of the Day: Movie Cats - Jamie Shelman

Movie Cats Jamie Shelman jamieshelman.etsy.com

Artist Jamie Shelman's drawing, Movie Cats, reminds me of my daughter and myself at the movies.

One of the best, and only venues for independent film is SLC's Broadway Center Cinemas & Tower Theater. Last weekend we saw two excellent, thought-provoking films: The Descendants and A Separation.

Artist Bio:
"Brevity is the essence of wit."

We graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2006 and have studied around the world from Rome to Australia to St. Petersburg Russia and Paris, France but more importantly we love the thought that our work can make someone happy even if just for a moment and possibly redirect their day or their lives in a positive direction. Tom and I, regardless of the black realities of the world that surrounds us, never pass thru a day without finding something ridiculous enough to make us laugh to the point of tears. As your art doctors we would like to prescribe a dose of this levity to you! From haute couture to bloated cats our medicine cabinet has just what you need! We are the cure all snake oil of the modern world! :D Jamie and Tom

Jamie draws the cats, Tom makes the fashion portraits- Tom recently opened his own etsy shop check it out here! http://www.etsy.com/shop/tmeyer55?ref=seller_info

Read our formal bios on our website http://www.jamieshelman.com

Our Blog http://smallexpectations.blogspot.com

And join our mailing list: http://www.eepurl.com/L6MZ

We also teach a number of online art courses at The Dancing Cat Art School, find out more!http://www.jamieshelman.com/NYC.htm

Blogs we''ve been featured on:
Modern Cat
The City Sage
Pikaland
{frolic}
Sfgirlbybay
All Stripes
Design Is Mine
The Shiney Squirrel
Apartment Therapy- The Kitchen
Absolutely Beautiful Things
Undercover Painter
Katy Elliot
Creature Comforts
Bliss
Dear Ada
Rue Magazine

This Moment: 7:03 A.M. March 3, 2012

The sky is the color of ice that holds the faintest hue of blue. Forced air pushing through the hotel vent has an insistent voice. I have been up for over two hours watching the day emerge ever since the alarm on the bedside table sounded. I don't remember setting it. I do remember pulling the plug out of the socket when I couldn't shut it off. The pine tree outside my window obstructs the sky framed by the large rectangular window. A solid, stubborn looking cloud has settled itself within the frame and will not be moved. Checkout is in four hours. I am not yet ready to go home and reenter my life there. A bird trills and whistles and I am taken back to when I was a girl walking through a forest's thick trees, the only sound, birds singing warnings and threats. A door opens and shuts. The sky brightens a few degrees. The cloud remains.

This Moment: 11:01 March 1, 2012

It's snowing like December. The city is buried in white. Cars look like small hills guarding the perimeter of the hotel. Fifty is the new forty. Fifty is fifty, any way you count the years. And I am grateful for every year. I have run away from home for this birthday, to a day of art, independent film, French cafes and Thai food, and great company. The marble floor is slick and cool under bare feet. I have an urge to draw a great stag on the striped lemon and sage wallpaper next to the large gilt mirror. The wind is pushing snow down at an angle.