Pie Plate and Cup Plate c. 1938

Editor: Here we have Cora Parker's "Pie Plate and Cup Plate," created around 1938 using watercolor and ceramic. It strikes me as a fairly straightforward design study, quite decorative and feminine, given the floral motifs and the prominence of the colour pink. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It's easy to dismiss this as merely decorative, but Parker's work taps into complex social and historical contexts. Consider the era: the late 1930s, during the Great Depression. The emphasis on domestic objects, like pie plates and cup plates, speaks to a renewed focus on home and hearth, traditional gender roles, and finding beauty in everyday life when resources were scarce. Do you notice the architectural elements sketched alongside the plates? Editor: Yes, those little outline sketches on either side. Are they part of the same artwork or added later, by someone else? Curator: They appear to be contemporaneous with the ceramic designs, included to situate the decorated plate as part of interior schemes. The rise of industrialization allowed mass production, making decorative arts more accessible but, at the same time, arguably diminishing the value and social status of the applied artist. In her pieces, Parker elevated decorative designs. Her chosen media is also noteworthy: using watercolor to capture the colours and patterns suggests a valuing of a distinctly female artform, particularly given watercolours association with feminine pastimes, whilst nodding to more recent forms. This links her practice firmly to that of her peers. Parker negotiates traditional gender roles through her elevation of ceramic pattern design within the male-dominated industrial context. Editor: That makes a lot of sense! I never considered how deeply embedded those simple objects and choices of representation are within their historical context. Curator: Precisely. By considering social factors, we start to grasp that even apparently innocuous pieces engage with pressing questions surrounding domesticity and identity. Editor: I see how Parker's designs speak volumes about a period and a certain societal positioning. I’ll definitely think differently about ‘decorative’ art going forward.