Blanket 1935 - 1942

Mary Edith Brooks made this blanket, and it's a study in color and process. The horizontal stripes, mostly red with some blue, create a rhythm. There’s this beautiful, almost off-white ground that makes the colors sing. Looking closely, you can see the texture. It's not just flat color; it has a dimensionality that invites touch, a depth you could get lost in. The physicality of the medium, whatever that may be, gives the work a life of its own. The little dashes of red and blue along the weft look like Morse code, or a heartbeat. This blanket reminds me of the work of Anni Albers. It has that same commitment to form, and honoring of craft. Like Albers, Brooks isn't just making an object. She’s having a conversation about materiality, about the ongoing exchange of ideas across time.