Sailboat, Rockport 

Editor: Betty Parsons’s "Sailboat, Rockport" is a vibrant painting of a boat at harbor. The oil paint applied "en plein air" really gives it a fresh, immediate feeling. How would you approach an interpretation of this piece? Curator: It's intriguing how Parsons employs "plein-air," seemingly embracing Impressionist fleeting moments, yet the application reveals so much more about her process and perhaps even a critique of leisure itself. What labor goes unseen in this idyllic scene? Think of the shipbuilding, the transport of materials for the houses, the actual production and distribution of oil paint during that period. Editor: So, you're focusing on what’s implied about the broader context, like the industrial networks involved in even this seemingly simple scene. How does the style connect with this perspective? Curator: The style is important because the visible brushstrokes, almost aggressively present, remind us of the physical act of creation. It’s not about disappearing into a perfect illusion; it's about the paint, the brush, and the artist’s hand, which shifts the focus to the labor of making art, much like the unseen labor that sustains the world depicted. Are we celebrating the sail, the craft of sailing and seaside vacationing or its economic base? Editor: That's a different lens than I expected, seeing the material reality behind the impressionistic surface. Does the location – Rockport – play into this reading? Curator: Absolutely. Rockport has a history as both a working harbor and an art colony. Parsons is inserting herself into a lineage, but her rough application feels deliberately distinct from traditional landscape painting; It doesn't ignore Rockport's economy, nor the broader, capitalist trade and extraction which defines that region of the U.S. Editor: That's fascinating. I will remember to think about these dynamics next time I stand in front of an landscape painting!