Wood Box c. 1953

Curator: My first thought looking at this rendering is that I would be ecstatic to keep my small watercolors in that box. Editor: I agree, there's a whimsical utility to it! We’re looking at "Wood Box," a work on paper from around 1953 by Betty Jean Davis. It incorporates watercolor and colored pencil. Curator: What is fascinating is the simulation of wood grain through delicate drawing, challenging our assumptions about materials and techniques. The use of colored pencil on what appears to be paper feels almost deceptive, mimicking the texture and form of wood. Editor: It really draws our attention to the socio-political context. These rendering were displayed at the settlement houses; there is something about uplifting an object like a box in an environment designed to uplift and provide access that speaks to a goal beyond basic skill-building, a sense of higher aesthetic values being inculcated within a community. Curator: Absolutely, it connects to a broader narrative about labor and artistic value, raising questions about whether its ultimate value derives from pure function as storage, or as an object to contemplate, thereby subverting the distinction between applied art and decoration. Editor: Thinking about Davis's position as an African-American artist working in the mid-20th century, do you read anything specific into that vibrant palette of colors that seems deliberately decorative rather than, say, mimetic to real world painting styles, as if this box contains within it Davis's refusal to be hemmed in? Curator: I find the color choices to be really intriguing when considering the material aspect of watercolor production at the time, questioning accessibility to various pigment shades and what impact these resources may have had in expressing personal aesthetic vision. This piece feels deeply intentional and confident. Editor: Reflecting on Davis's work here, the "Wood Box" becomes not just an artistic rendering, but also a statement. A reminder of the many avenues open for art education as empowerment. Curator: For me, it pushes past the expected form into material explorations.