Small Table c. 1937

This watercolor of a small table was made by Majel G. Claflin, who was working in Taos, New Mexico. The wood is gray and pink, like the desert at sunset. I imagine Claflin sitting outside, squinting in the bright sun as she painted, trying to capture the particular angles and textures of the wood. Maybe she’s thinking about the craftsperson who made the table, wondering about the life it has seen. The tabletop is made of uneven planks with knotholes, and the legs are joined by supports with zig-zag cutouts, like folk art gone wild. Claflin's brushstrokes are loose and impressionistic, focusing on the light and shadow, and the raw materials. It makes me think about Agnes Martin, also in Taos, simplifying and distilling the landscape into fields of color. Artists respond to place; they breathe in its spirit and translate it through line and form. Painting is a form of embodied expression, a way of embracing ambiguity and uncertainty. Each artist contributes to an ongoing conversation, inspiring new ways of seeing the world.