Baker's Mixing Spoon c. 1939

This is Paul Poffinbarger’s ‘Baker's Mixing Spoon’, a watercolour made sometime before he died in 1995. I love how the light catches the spoon's surface, all those subtle gradations from pale cream to soft grey. You can almost feel the smoothness of the wood, worn down by years of use. I imagine Poffinbarger carefully rendering each detail, from the faint wood grain to the utilitarian string tied around its handle. He must have been trying to preserve something of the past. Maybe he felt it slipping away. What was he thinking as he painted? Was it a portrait of a simple tool, or of something more? I am so drawn to folk art because it’s often about preserving or remembering something. There's a tenderness, like holding onto a memory before it fades entirely. In the end, that’s what all artists are doing. We pass on a gesture from one to another.