Hand Loom c. 1936

Frederick Jackson created this watercolour called Hand Loom, but we don't know exactly when. It looks to me like a carefully planned, technical study, and his colour palette is understated, dominated by warm browns and creams. I’m intrigued by the weave-like detail around the edge of the main loom, the herringbone effect. It makes me think about how artists often borrow techniques from different crafts. Jackson gives us not just the object but also the plan: he’s showing us different views, and he’s thinking about how the loom breaks down into different parts. I can imagine the whole thing as a kit of parts that could be taken apart and put back together. The fact that this is a loom – something that makes other things – makes me think about the conceptual idea of artmaking as a generative process; there’s the thing you make, and then all the things that thing helps you make. This resonates for me with the work of someone like Anni Albers, who was thinking about design, craft, and painting as different kinds of weaving.