Camel or Horse Trapping c. 1920

This 'Camel or Horse Trapping' at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a textile of unknown date and origin, isn't quite painting, but all that stitching and pattern-making feels related. I love to imagine how this piece came into being, shifting, emerging, through trial, error, and intuition. This 'Camel or Horse Trapping' may be anonymous but I really sympathize with the artist, imagine what it might have been like to create. What were they thinking when they made it? The work feels like a conversation between color, texture, and pattern. A physical and emotional undertaking that could lead to something beautiful. I feel like a lot of my own paintings, these feel like they could also be used for trapping, not animals, but attention, time, and thought. We're all, as artists, in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. This piece reminds me that art can embrace ambiguity, uncertainty, and multiple interpretations.