Silver Beaker c. 1936

Lawrence Flynn made this drawing of a Silver Beaker with ink on paper. There’s a certain grace to the lettering, a controlled hand carefully looping and bending to create a pleasing form. This echoes the calm precision of the Beaker itself, a simple container of clean lines and careful symmetry. Look at the place where the letters form the words 'First Deacon', those letters falling at a slight angle. To me, this is where the human element comes in, where the drawing reveals itself as the product of a hand, not a machine. It’s in those small imperfections that the drawing comes alive. It reminds me of Agnes Martin's drawings, the way she used a simple grid to create a space for quiet contemplation. Like Martin, Flynn finds a kind of beauty in simplicity. It shows us something about the nature of making, that even the most controlled, precise forms can still hold space for the hand and the heart.