Clam Rake c. 1936

William Mills made this Clam Rake sometime in the 20th century, using pencil and watercolor on paper. The muted palette, dominated by grays and browns, gives a utilitarian feel, a sense of something made to be used rather than admired. And yet, here we are! Look at how he’s rendered the rake. There’s a real attention to detail. You can almost feel the weight of it, the tines digging into the sand. The rendering of the clam and oyster, included for scale, feels slightly different. They’re softer, more rounded, less precise. The contrast is striking. And then there are the annotations to the side, almost like an engineer’s blueprint. It reminds me a little of Charles Sheeler, who took a similarly analytical approach to everyday objects. But there’s something more intimate here, something personal. This isn’t just a rendering of a rake; it’s a portrait. In the end, art shows us that everything is worth looking at and there's always more to see than we first realize.