Hooked Rug - Center Design c. 1936

Editor: Here we have Ruth M. Barnes's "Hooked Rug - Center Design," created around 1936. It looks to be mixed media including watercolor and drawing. The geometry feels balanced. What do you see in this piece? Curator: What I see is labor, pure and simple. Notice how the technique mimics the repetitive actions of hooking a rug, the building up of the design stitch by painstaking stitch. The visible marks and the obvious hand of the maker is foregrounded. Think about the historical context of the 1930s, and how handcrafts gained popularity during the Great Depression, and consider this piece as a social commentary. Does this level of craft elevate the commonplace to high art? Editor: That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought about the element of labor so explicitly. But what about the fact it's not *actually* a rug? It’s a drawing *of* a rug. Does that change anything? Curator: Not at all! The *representation* of the rug-making process emphasizes the artifice, and how art and craft continuously borrow from each other. By using the aesthetics of rug-making, Barnes acknowledges the beauty and labor involved in the everyday. It becomes a meditation on production, doesn't it? Editor: Absolutely. So, by focusing on materials and process, we can move beyond the surface to understand the cultural and social values embedded in the artwork? Curator: Precisely. It challenges us to reconsider hierarchies, blurring the lines between craft and fine art, and appreciate the skill in what might be otherwise overlooked. Editor: This has given me a whole new way to look at decorative arts and the way we value different forms of making. Curator: It's amazing how examining the tangible aspects of a piece opens up wider conversations.