Culture
Exploring Danette Pratt’s SeriouslySickSocks™
By: Emily Votaw
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Danette Pratt is the creative mind behind SeriouslySickSocks™: playful, cute, “horrible” sock creations that take discarded socks and turn them into artful dolls. Pratt is a textile artist, fine artist, and retired biological illustrator who has resided in Athens for most of her life. About 12 years ago, one of Pratt’s friend’s children misplaced their beloved sock monkey, right around Halloween.
“To which I said, ‘well, it probably turned into a zombie,'” laughed Pratt in an interview with WOUB Public Media. “and he was mortified.” Pratt utilized her skills as a a textile artist to craft a zombie sock monkey for the boy that Christmas, one so fine that it inspired envy in her adult son who said “I also want one of those!” Her son took the undead simian along with him to the uptown bar he was working at. Soon after, started coming home with orders from folks who patronized the bar who were impressed by the (slightly) deranged sock monkey.
From about 2008 to 2014 Pratt crafted a number of popular SeriouslySickSocks™, from one that was inspired by George A. Romero’s 1968 classic The Night of the Living Dead, appropriately named “Brainy”; to one based on the classic Lovecraftian Cthulhu; to one resembling Point Pleasant, WV’s own patron cryptid, the Mothman; to one with the monkier “Disturbed,” who takes his likeness from the cover artwork of the Chicago-based heavy metal band of the same name’s massively popular 2000 album The Sickness, and many more. Pratt took a break from 2014 to 2017, but now she’s back, boasting a variety of new styles, one of which is based on the villainous skeksis of Dark Crystal fame.
Last year, Pratt’s was a featured artist in both Art Doll and PRIMS Fall 2018 magazines.
On Friday, July 26, at 10 a.m. Pratt will be the guest at Creative Mornings at Art West (132 West State Street, Athens), speaking on her variety of sock designs, including a look at her prototype SeriouslySickSocks™, and more. Complimentary breakfast and coffee are included as a part of this free event. You can register for the event here.
On Saturday, August 3, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Pratt will be featured artist during ReUse on Union’s (751 West Union Street, Athens) monthly open house. For more information on her SeriouslySickSocks™, you can visit this link, and for more information on her fine art work, you can check out this link.