Chopping Bowl c. 1941

Hester Duany made this ‘Chopping Bowl’ on paper with watercolor and graphite, and you can almost smell the wood, right? Imagine her in the studio, head cocked, squinting at the real thing, trying to capture that rustic, handmade feeling. I get the sense that she wasn’t trying to make something slick or perfect. Instead, she’s interested in how light catches on the rough edges and the way the grain swirls around in unpredictable patterns. The color palette is muted, mostly browns and yellows, but it works. I can imagine Duany thinking about how the bowl might have been used, the hands that held it, the food it once contained. It’s like she’s trying to tell the story of this object, not just show it to us. It reminds me of other artists who are drawn to the everyday, the overlooked. It is an ongoing conversation, this business of making art! Each artist picks up the thread from the last, adding their own little knot of meaning. And that’s what keeps it all alive.