Shaker Straw Bonnet c. 1937

Editor: This colored pencil drawing, "Shaker Straw Bonnet," created around 1937 by Mona Brown, has a delicate, almost textile-like quality. The rendering is very precise, like a technical diagram. What do you see in this work? Curator: I see a fascinating commentary on the labor and materiality inherent in Shaker crafts. While often viewed through a spiritual lens, their production of goods like this bonnet was also deeply rooted in economics. Brown's choice of colored pencil mimics the texture of the straw and fabric. Editor: So, you’re saying the drawing itself echoes the original production? Curator: Precisely. Think about the process – growing, harvesting, weaving straw, spinning and dying fabric, and then the skilled labor required to assemble the bonnet. Brown meticulously replicates this in a drawing. We must consider what value we assign this representation, versus the object itself. Is one more intrinsically valuable than the other? Editor: It makes you wonder about the social context of the drawing itself. Was Brown celebrating Shaker craftsmanship, or simply documenting a fading tradition? Curator: Perhaps both! By depicting a humble object like this, Brown elevated it, while also commenting on the broader forces of industrialization threatening these hand-made items. What did making art like this mean at the time, when folk crafts were being replaced with industrial production? Editor: It is interesting to think how an apparently simple drawing can reveal such complex issues of labor, production and value. Thanks for illuminating that for me. Curator: My pleasure. I will remember the questions you've asked me in our discussions about similar works in the future!