Silver Chalice c. 1936

Lena Nastasi made this study of a ‘Silver Chalice’ sometime between 1855 and 1995, in pencil, ink, and watercolor on paper. It's a real delicate dance of light and shadow. The way Nastasi has handled the limited palette to suggest the gleam of polished silver is pretty great. I love how Nastasi uses soft washes and tiny, precise marks to make the metal look shiny and reflective. The way the light bounces off the chalice is really beautifully captured. The inscription "Calvary Church, Santa Cruz, 1871" has been meticulously rendered, which to me speaks to the artist’s attention to detail, as well as to the object’s potential historical importance. There is something about the simplicity and quietness of the piece, a sense of observation, of stillness. It reminds me of other painters who were interested in the beauty of the everyday, like Morandi, only here the everyday is touched by the sacred. Art is such an incredible way for us to pause, to look closely, and maybe, see the world anew.