Tavern Sign c. 1940

Curator: This mixed-media artwork is called "Tavern Sign," believed to have been created around 1940 by John Matulis. You see here carved wood enhanced with drawing and painting. Editor: Oh, that's interesting. I get a real, almost… maritime melancholy vibe from it. The colors are muted, and it’s split into two halves as if mirroring two ships passing each other in the night. Curator: Interesting interpretation! I see the two halves less as division and more as a diptych, typical of the folk art genre. Let's look at materiality: The piece blends wood carving with drawing—look closely, and you can discern traces of watercolor or perhaps thin acrylic paints. This intermediality subverts traditional notions about hierarchies between the crafts and the fine arts, doesn't it? Editor: Sure. It almost looks sun-bleached too, which sort of pulls me into that old seaside tavern. Is that ship supposed to be the USS Constitution? I swear, the air smells like brine and grog just looking at it. Maybe a lonely sailor carved this during a long deployment. Curator: Possibly! The symbols definitely carry patriotic and historical meaning. Think about it—the ship representing maritime power; then the eagle representing national identity. How they're physically attached to that plank of wood also means something; consider the material conditions of production, availability of wood, access to carving tools… Editor: Absolutely, absolutely! But those rough-hewn letters add to this idea that the piece was maybe, um, constructed more from a sense of urgency and genuine appreciation rather than fine art considerations. It is an announcement of place, but something also deeply felt! Curator: A point well taken. Perhaps what fascinates me the most is how something like this manages to embody not only national and folk themes but how these are intimately tied to questions around labor and even value itself! Editor: For me, it's how the artist imbued it with such raw emotion, just like sea spray in the face of those imagined patrons! That rough edge carving... it says so much more. Curator: It really speaks to how we continue to discover unexpected meaning from everyday materials. Editor: Truly. A reminder of the beauty in simplicity and the deep stories art can tell through time.