On the Road to Mulberry c. 1935 - 1943

Sheffield Harold Kagy created this lino print, "On the Road to Mulberry," with graphic black ink on paper. I can imagine Kagy carefully carving away at the linoleum, revealing the design bit by bit, a meditative process almost. There’s a quiet drama in the stark contrast between the solid black shapes and the bright white of the paper. The rural scene unfolds with a barn, a windmill, and telephone poles receding into the distance. See how the lines create the texture of the grass and the road, almost like a field of energy leading your eye into the composition? It’s like he's inviting us to take a journey with him. The way the windmill is rendered reminds me of the Regionalist painters of the time, like Grant Wood, who were also capturing the American heartland. Each artist adds their own personal voice to the story of the land. It's a conversation across time.