Design for a Grate 1800 - 1900

This is an anonymous design for a grate drawn on paper. The words ‘Raising the Maypole’ are scrawled across the center. The grate is an object that separates one space from another. This one likely intended to be a thing of beauty, but the fact that it has not been attributed to an artist makes me wonder if the person who made it had to be anonymous. The phrase, Raising the Maypole, connects the grate to the festivities and rituals of May Day, a celebration with pagan roots to mark the beginning of summer. May Day was a time for communities to come together, often involving dancing around a decorated pole. It’s a ritual rooted in the earth, in fertility and renewal, and in its own complicated way, it marks a boundary between winter and summer. This design allows us to consider boundaries – both those that connect and those that divide.