Ceremonial Apron 1935 - 1942

Mary Berner made this ceremonial apron, using colored pencil sometime in the 20th century. The drawing, you see, is a kind of proposal, an idea, or memory, and not the thing itself, but it points to a making, a doing, a process. The surface is intriguing. There is something about the contrast of the light ground with the red snake that draws my eye. The red snake is not just red. Look closely, it is a band of red and yellow dashes that seems to weave across the apron in its horizontal path. I keep imagining Berner making each short dash, a very physical process. It seems to be about mark-making, but also about some code, or system, a way of seeing and knowing, specific to this artist. Berner's work reminds me of other artists such as Agnes Martin and Hilma af Klint, each of whom used their work as a language. Like them, Berner found her own path, and, as is so often the case with good art, the meaning is never completely pinned down.