Pa. German Plate 1935 - 1942

This Pa. German Plate by Hedwig Emanuel is a folk art piece, a painted earthenware with a delightful image of a bird surrounded by plants and decoration. I love the earthiness of this piece. I imagine Hedwig carefully applying the pigments, mixing them just so, and then tracing around the drawing of the bird. What did she feel when she made it? Did she make it as a wedding gift? Or for someone's birthday? Was it a ritual object? Maybe she painted it just for the joy of painting. I feel like she would have made it in a single sitting. There’s a real generosity of mark-making here, a lot of hand-painted individuality. It's part of a long tradition of people making plates as gifts or as a show of affection. Artists are always in conversation, in dialog, sharing ideas across generations. And it’s not just artists, it’s all of us! We are all in this together, inspiring one another, taking old forms and making them into something new.