Hot Coal Carrier c. 1940

Editor: Here we have Oscar Bluhme's "Hot Coal Carrier," created around 1940, using watercolor and charcoal. There's a lovely stillness about it, almost a reverence for a mundane object. The texture practically invites you to touch it, feel the warmth... What catches your eye about it? Curator: Ah, "Hot Coal Carrier," a humble hero! I see stories whispered from the hearth, tales of keeping warm in the cruelest winters. It reminds me of my grandmother’s stove. Bluhme gives the object this gorgeous luminescence with such subdued color, a sort of inner light. Have you ever wondered about the comfort found in such simple tools? It almost makes you forget it was made to carry hot coals! Editor: It definitely does have that quality! Almost comforting, thinking about the purpose and labor of keeping things heated. Did they mean anything symbolically, carrying coals? Curator: I think that depends who you ask. In my world? Absolutely. But maybe not for everyone. Every object bears the weight of its utility but it’s beauty exists by allowing itself to be recontextualized; Bluhme has already started the transformation for us. Its rusty color and stark portrayal gives it a melancholy quality as it reflects stories of work and hearth, perhaps fading memories of simpler times. What do you think the silence of the piece has to say about how art changes us? Editor: I think its capacity to be filled - whether that is hot coals or a space for reflection - means that it changes its value with the holder. Thinking about its creation in the 1940's and the coming decades definitely adds complexity... Curator: Indeed! It just keeps getting hotter, eh? I've thoroughly enjoyed stoking our little coal fire. Thank you for your lovely interpretation and company! Editor: Thanks!