Shaker Sewing Table 1935 - 1942

This is William Paul Childers’s “Shaker Sewing Table,” made with watercolour on paper. The colour palette is muted, almost meditative, with browns that speak of earth and wood. I’m drawn to the way the artist captures the essence of the table, not with hard lines, but with softer shapes. The table exists in this space, a testament to function, the Shakers believed in simplicity and utility in their design. See the way the paint pools in certain areas, the edges softly blurred, this adds depth and suggests the passage of time. There’s a sense of humility in the artist’s touch, as if he approached the subject with reverence. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin, but with an eye for furniture rather than landscape. And like Martin’s grids, Childers finds beauty in simplicity, the poetry of everyday objects.