Shaker Wooden Bonnet Mold 1935 - 1942

This Shaker Wooden Bonnet Mold was drawn by Charles Goodwin, sometime between 1855 and 1995; but when exactly I wonder? Look at the way the lines of the wood grain are rendered so tenderly. It makes me think of Agnes Martin’s grids, both so simple but so deeply felt. Goodwin really slows us down, so we can attend to the beauty of the simplest forms and materials. I can imagine Goodwin really looking at this object, meditating on its form. What was he thinking about when he made it? Was he thinking about use, about the bonnets the mold would shape? Or was he looking at the elegance of its form? Maybe he saw the beauty and possibility in the everyday. These artists are always teaching us how to look and see, aren't they? It reminds me that we are all in this ongoing conversation, inspiring each other across time.