Shaker Coverlet 1935 - 1942

Alois E. Ulrich made this watercolor of a Shaker Coverlet, and what strikes me is how he’s turned something so functional into something so visually engaging. The blue and beige pattern might seem simple, but look closer. The texture, the way the light catches the threads, it’s all there. The shadow cast by the fabric gives it a ghostly volume. He is using watercolor, but the way he renders the folds and frayed edges, it feels like I could reach out and touch it. The loose threads along the edge are painted with so much care; they give the piece a kind of vulnerability, like it’s revealing its age and history. The precision feels Shaker-like in its dedication. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin's grids, that similar interest in the meditative repetition of form, but grounded in the everyday. It’s a reminder that art is everywhere, in the things we use, the things we make, and the way we see them.