The Palmer Museum of Art

The piece that drew my attention was Working Horse, Hauling, 1994 by Kate Javens.  It is an oil painting on canvas and was created in 1994.

I believe this piece relates to the working class of every generation.  It is not specific to a certain time or place because its message is about work and struggle.  There have been specific moments throughout history where work has been especially tough, such as during the 1800s, the time of slavery, or during the Great Depression.  Slaves were treated like animals and were worked to death whereas those who had a job during the Great Depression did everything they could to keep it.  Those who weren’t so fortunate to have one struggled to find work.  Javens’ piece relates to the inner “workhorse” of all of us.  It relates to our moment in time right now.  People are still competing to find and keep jobs.  People like single parents work especially hard to provide for their families and will take certain jobs that they may not like to do so.  I believe the social comment this piece is making is that there are many people out there unhappily working for something or someone that means more to them than their own happiness.

This piece had a very strong effect on my emotions, which is why I chose it.  Once I walked up the stairs and was greeted by this immense creation, I immediately took a picture of it.  I call my ex-boyfriend pony and once I saw the piece “pony!!!” came right to my mind.  I instantly took a picture of it and sent it to him but as I continued to look at the piece it reminded me more and more of him.  He is the definition of a “workhorse.”  He works for his dad’s lumber company all the time and only takes off when he really has to.  The horse in the piece looks sad which brought to my mind how he doesn’t really want to inherit the lumberyard; he’s forced to.

After a while the piece started to make me think of my dad.  He is another “workhorse.”  My dad doesn’t necessarily like what he does but he does it to support our family.  He works hard all day for six days a week.  This piece connected to the feelings I have for two very important men in my life.  It made me realize how much I value and appreciate the hard work these people do to support not only themselves but others. 

Kate Javens is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  She has had solo exhibitions in cities such as Philadelphia, Atlanta, and New York City.  Kate has won many different awards for her art, which is displayed in many different museums and showcases throughout the country.  She is known for being able to connect her piece to a person through empathy, which is exactly what this piece did to me.  I felt sad for the horse and I related it to people I knew who reminded me of what I believed this horse was going through. (http://www.marciawoodgallery.com/artist/javens/intro.html)

I think this piece is making several claims.  One of them is the reality that many people do not enjoy what they do for a living but they must do so in order to maintain their living status.  It also makes the claim that we are all dealing with struggle, whether it is because of work or something else.  We have all felt like we were being held back or too exhausted to move on but we have to.  To me, this piece can make many claims depending on how someone is interpreting it.  For the claims I have seen through this piece, I believe they are very persuasive.

I am a big museum-goer.  Being from a town in New York extremely close to the city I have visited museums such as The Museum of Natural History, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I love going to museums and I really enjoyed the Palmer Museum of Art.  It was my first time going there and I would definitely go back a second time to reevaluate and absorb the art again.  The art there was powerful and there were different genres, which I loved.