Calico c. 1936

Grace Halpin made "Calico" with paint and paper, sometime between 1870 and 1920. Look at how she created a repeating pattern that's so playful and intimate! I can imagine Grace in her studio, playing with these floral motifs, trying out different arrangements, and thinking, ‘How do I create a surface that feels alive and energetic?’ Each little flower, with its delicate pink petals, seems to be reaching up, like it’s part of a secret garden. And the funny loop attached to each of them? Well, I can only guess! It gives each flower character. Grace’s design reminds me of earlier textile patterns by William Morris, yet it has a kind of naive, oddball energy that belongs only to her. It’s like she's whispering to us, 'Here’s my little world, full of colors and shapes.' And as viewers, we get to enter that world and bring our own meanings to it.