Great Design on the Great Plains
Wow! I had no idea how hard it would be to make time for this blog thing. If you feared I’d dropped off the face of the earth this past week, you were at least partially correct. I’ve spend the last 4 days traipsing/trudging around the High Plains of Wyoming (sortof) pulling a 300 pound handcart, (sortof) dressed like a nineteenth-century Mormon Pioneer. This little expedition proved once again that great design is to be found in even the most unlikely of places and rekindled my delight in the delicate play of form and function that almost always accompanies it.
Take, for example, a typical pioneer bonnet. Aside from the obvious (essential) functionality of this forgotten article—protecting creamy complexions from the unrelenting prairie sun—the soft lines and delicate embellishments convey a sense of undeniable femininity (honestly, could you ever see a guy looking right in something shaped like that?) and create a play of positive/negative space in the way they conceal/reveal the face beneath that, on several occasions, was nothing short of stunning.
Who knew?
