Oval Pin c. 1937

This 'Oval Pin' was crafted by Tulita Westfall, though we don't know exactly when, and it gives me the feeling of a kind of ecstatic process. It's easy to see her building up the image, one step at a time, through colour and geometry. Look closely, and you'll notice the surface is quite matte, almost chalky. The way she builds up the image with repeated motifs makes me think of patterns within patterns. There's an interesting contrast here, between the darker star shapes, and the pops of gold stars, and arrow shapes, like an insistent rhythm. It seems so humble and unassuming, but there is a great tension between its simplicity and the implied complexity. It calls to mind Hilma af Klint, who was similarly interested in cosmological imagery, and her process-based mark-making. It makes you think about the way we construct our world through images and symbols. It leaves you with more questions than answers, and that's a good thing.