Shaker School Desk c. 1936

Ray Holden made this watercolor drawing of a Shaker school desk sometime after 1855. I imagine the artist working methodically, building up the image in layers, carefully rendering the wood grain and the subtle shadows that define the form. It's interesting to consider what Holden might have been thinking about while making this picture. Was he interested in the Shaker's commitment to simplicity and functionality? Or was he simply drawn to the desk's clean lines and elegant proportions? I am fascinated by that subtle palette – the warm honeyed tones and the way they describe a surface. Holden probably knew that he was participating in a longer history of artists representing furniture and domestic objects, and how these objects are part of our lives and culture. Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We're all in conversation with each other across time. What I see, feel, and respond to inevitably works its way into my own paintings. It's all connected.