Pa. German Stoneware Flask c. 1940

V.L. Vance rendered this Pa. German Stoneware Flask, presumably with watercolor or gouache, using soft, muted colors that give it a dreamlike quality. You can almost smell the earth it came from. It's not just a depiction; it's a feeling. Look at the surface texture Vance creates. It's smooth, almost like a memory, but then you see these little imperfections, the way the blue lines of the inscription and the bird waver slightly. Those small variations, they tell a story of the hand, of the process. It's not about perfection, but about the journey of creation. The heart on the one side and the bird in a wreath on the other are so simply drawn, so direct, they remind me of Cy Twombly’s line work, but with a folk art twist. This piece feels like a quiet conversation across time, echoing the past while speaking to us in the present. Art is just that, isn't it? An ongoing exchange.