Card for Spinning Wheel c. 1938

Maud M. Holme made this drawing of a Card for Spinning Wheel, likely with watercolor or gouache. The way she meticulously renders each bristle feels almost meditative. It’s less about depicting an object, and more about capturing a process of seeing. The brown of the bristles against the muted wood tones creates this quiet harmony. Notice the little variations in color, the way she builds up the surface with tiny strokes. It’s so delicate, yet there's a real physicality to the way she’s handled the medium. Holme coaxes texture out of a relatively flat medium, pushing the limits of what watercolor can do. Look at the way the bristles have been individually drawn. The image is more than the thing it represents; it is the sum of a series of incremental movements. This piece reminds me a little of some of Agnes Martin’s drawings, in the way that Holme uses repetition and subtle variation to create a sense of calm and order. Artmaking is, after all, a conversation across time, an ongoing exchange of ideas.