It is a uniquely human propensity to carry things with us long term, over long distances.

While I have been exploring implications of this, I have been feeling myself pushing against a kind of new-fangled minimalism that moralizes having or carrying “too many” possessions — perhaps forgetting that it is such a fundamental part of the human animal’s nature.

But as I painted this fishwife apron as another thing made for carrying, I was also thinking of a favorite poem by Edna St Vincent Millay called Never May the Fruit be Plucked, which indicates that a hoard is antithetical to the process of loving, and includes the lines:

Nothing in the apron,

Nothing in the pockets.

Never, never may the fruit be gathered from the bough

And harvested in barrels.

Original 8x10 gouache on cotton rag paper

Framing option includes hand-build light natural wood grain 1’’ frame with plexiglass (no matting) from Signed & Numbered in Salt Lake City, UT