Spoon Holder c. 1939

May Hay's 'Spoon Holder' is a work of art, born from pencil on paper. It shows us that artmaking is about process. Here, the material itself takes center stage. Look at the way Hays uses graphite, building up the tones, creating an image of the glass that is almost as tangible as the real thing. There is a sense of care and a lot of hard work, and you can see the commitment of the artist in every mark. The way the artist has depicted the birds sitting on their branches is charming, with the glass itself acting almost as a kind of cage. This makes us think about fragility and the value of simple, domestic objects, especially those that have been lovingly rendered by hand. Thinking about the precision of draftsmanship here, it makes me think of Agnes Martin, but of course, the subject matter is very different, which brings its own energy to the table.