The art of sewing machines

Moments of inspiration come without warning, like rounding a curve on an otherwise dreary trip, only to be confronted with a panoramic vista of unparalleled beauty, that lets one know, inexplicably, that there is a God.

Such a moment of inspiration came recently in the form of a phone call, on my land line, which I seldom use, and what?s more unusual, I was at home to answer. I didn?t recognize the name of the person calling, but the gentleman said I had been at his garage sale several years ago and he remembered that I liked junk. (Is this the impression I want to leave?) Anyway, he informed me that he had a whole bunch of old sewing machine heads. Would I be interested?

?How many?s a whole bunch?? I asked.

?Maybe 50,? he estimated.

My mind went into warp speed. I?ve always been an excess person.

?Hello, hello? Are you still there?? he asked. When I indicated that I was, he said. ?Thought I lost you.?

?I was thinking,? I said.

?Yeah,? he said. ?I could hear the wheels spinning.?

The short of it is that I am now the tickled owner of, not 50, but 60 old sewing machine heads, like Singer, Brunswick, and White.

For sake of storage, I have them loaded into my old frontier-style wagon?another one of my projects. I plan on rebuilding it someday and hauling my grandkids in the Old Threshers Parade.

Now, what is one to do with 60 sewing machines? I?ve made the usual farm tractors out of sewing-machine heads before. They sell pretty well. But other people also make these same type of sewing-machine tractors. In fact, that?s where I got the idea, from someone else.

But, I don?t particularly like making something that other people make. I like to be unique. There just had to be a way of utilizing multiple sewing machine heads to make some sort of abstract art.

Voila! It?s called ?Sewing Circle.? It?s four sewing machine heads welded into a circle on a farm-disk-blade stand. It?s quite heavy. I have to use a two-wheeled cart to move it. But it draws a lot of attention at art shows. Not that it?s sold, mind you, just drawn a lot of cackles, comments and finger pointing.

Where there?s smoke there?s fire. When enough people have viewed it, eventually some crazy person (like me) will have to have it, if nothing else than because it?s the only one of its kind. Another artist once told me, ?Everything eventually sells.? I have seen this to be true.

You laugh. But Andy Warhol was once told that a tomato soup can was not art. How many millions is it worth now?

Art is in the eyes of the beholder. A crack in the wall, if painted or photographed properly, can be stunning art.

At the Des Moines Art Festival recently, I saw some pretty spectacular (not to mention, expensive) art made out of old rusty bikes. And then there?s Jackson Pollock. When he first started dribbling paint on a canvas, people said he was crazy. (And he was.) But he spawned a whole generation of artists dribbling paint. At the same Des Moines Art Festival, I saw children being encouraged to dribble paint over a glob of other dribbles. My mother would have called this a mess, not art.

So, what other forms of abstract art can I make out of all these sewing machines? Let?s see, how about a ?Sewing Machine Windmill? or ?When Sewing Machines Fly? or ?Attacked by Killer Sewing Machines?.

What?s your idea?

Give Swarm a call at 319-217-0526, email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com, or visit his website at www.empty-nest-words-photos-and-frames.com.

Swarm also reads his stories at www.lostlakeradio.com.