Wall Pocket c. 1938

Curator: Our focus here is "Wall Pocket," a drawing by Beverly Chichester created around 1938. It's rendered with colored pencil on toned paper, lending it a warm, antique feel. What are your first thoughts? Editor: Immediately, I'm drawn to the handcrafted aesthetic, it’s attempting to portray—the dense wood carving, the pocket itself...it evokes a sense of pre-industrial, labor-intensive processes, despite it actually being a drawing. The contrast between representation and reality intrigues me. Curator: Absolutely. It's mimicking folk art traditions, particularly in its symmetrical composition and decorative flourishes. The lion head at the top and the stylized foliage carry a heraldic quality, don’t you think? They remind me of medieval tapestries, with their emphasis on lineage and status. Editor: Yes, there's definitely an aspiration to that historical weight, yet the piece is essentially an image made with modest materials – pencil on paper. It calls into question ideas about the value assigned to "authentic" craft versus mere imitation or illustration. I’m thinking about who owned it or intended to own it and the social meaning a wooden carved piece had for them. Curator: A powerful tension indeed. Notice how the central circular scene, which is painted in a contrasting fashion, perhaps with watercolor, seems to depict a couple in 19th-century attire, further embedding the piece in the past, even earlier than when it was made. They could represent romance or innocence. What’s your take? Editor: Possibly, but it feels staged, almost performative. Is it really about simple, sentimental love or a commentary on historical costuming, maybe nostalgia about earlier modes of making and more leisurely, idealized living? It feels like looking back is almost a commodified gesture itself, one embedded within a decorative and utilitarian item—this wall pocket. Curator: An astute observation! The act of creating and viewing the drawing also becomes a consumption act in a sense, re-staging the original experience and history associated with carved wood and crafted folk traditions. It does raise a lot of important questions, like about the hierarchy of materials. Editor: Exactly. Analyzing "Wall Pocket" reveals that while objects can promise permanence or nostalgia, we're usually seeing representations constructed through available means. Curator: It challenges what is real and unreal about our traditions and relationship to history. I think it is worth holding these ideas as we explore this gallery. Editor: Indeed. Let’s delve into how value and perception intersect to affect meaning and status through materiality as we move forward.