HSACA Auction Item • POP Theme
The Story of
“Baby, Fly Away with Me!”
A mid-century suitcase, a Pop Art love story,
and two Hot Springs artists stepping outside their usual work.
Meet the Artists
Two Artists, One Suitcase
We’re Daniel Cassity and Diana Garrison, married artists living and working right here in Hot Springs. This fun project had both of us stepping outside our usual work. Dan is an internationally recognized oil painter specializing in narrative still lifes, and Diana is known internationally through social media for her monoprinting and gel printing videos. (Scroll down for links to see more of our work.)
Jump to Artist LinksFinding the Perfect Piece
HSACA gave us the mission of finding a used item and repurposing it with this year’s POP theme. Two afternoons of flea-market searching left us wondering if we’d ever find the perfect piece.
Then, at the very last estate sale on our list one fine Saturday, there it was: a round, mid-century American Tourister suitcase.
Isn’t it cool?
Before: the estate sale find
Before: the original quilted lining
Now What?
With a nod to American Pop Art, Roy Lichtenstein, and his use of imagery from romance comics, we settled on an idea for the main image.
From Comic Concept to Paint
Diana researched mid-century romance comics and developed the concept, then handed her ideas over to Dan, who simplified and reworked the imagery and painted the design on the suitcase.
More photos and videos of the process coming soon!
The Luggage Labels
Next, Diana picked up her iPad and designed a collection of vintage-inspired luggage labels for the back, continuing the story of our traveling lovers.
Where did they go first? We’ll let you decide.
What’s Inside?
It’s a secret, but it contains part of the story.
Okay, okay. We’ll give you a peek below. After all, you are deciding how much you want to bid on it, right?
We’ll be keeping the suitcase locked during the auction so the contents don’t get lost or scuffed up.
And yes, it still has its original key!
If you’d rather actually use the suitcase as luggage, everything we added inside can be easily removed. The original lining does have some staining. How could it not after all these years? Otherwise, the fabric is in remarkably good shape.
A peek inside the case
Happy Bidding!
Thank you for reading our story. Want to see more of what we create when we’re not painting suitcases? Explore our work below.
Daniel Cassity
Internationally recognized oil painter specializing in narrative still lifes.
See Dan’s WorkDiana Garrison
Known internationally through social media for her monoprinting and gel printing videos.
See Diana’s Work
