Plates c. 1936

J. Howard Iams made these plate designs, probably as watercolors, at some point in his long life that stretched almost a century and a half! The way he teases out these forms with delicate brushstrokes makes me think he was really in love with the process. Look at how the fruit seems to glow, like he’s layering the color to build up a kind of inner light. It’s so subtle, but it gives the pieces this dreamy quality. And the way he sketches out the details, like the leaves around the pear – you can almost feel him feeling his way around the shapes. The colors are muted, there’s lots of pinks and greens, which makes it feel very intimate. There’s an unfinished quality that feels open and exploratory. Iams reminds me a bit of Charles Burchfield, another artist who found beauty in the everyday and wasn’t afraid to get a little weird with it. It’s like they’re both showing us how seeing is really about feeling.