Baptismal Font c. 1936

Florence Huston made this drawing of a baptismal font at an unknown date using ink on paper. It’s like she's thinking aloud with her pen. There's something so immediate about a simple line drawing. Huston’s touch here is really great – she uses hatching to give depth to the bowl of the font and the swirling base. You can almost feel the coolness of the metal she’s depicting. It feels really grounded, as if the curves of the base were reaching back to the earth. Look at those hatched lines curving around the shape of the bowl and base, the way it gives volume and weight to something that’s just ink on paper. The variations in the line – thick, thin, dark, light – create an almost tactile surface. I’m reminded a little of Agnes Martin, in the way Huston finds so much with so little. They both share this sense of restraint and discipline, but also a kind of openness, inviting us to bring our own experiences and interpretations. Art is always a conversation, right?