In the spirit of Halloween, this month the MOA is celebrating one of nature’s most enigmatic creatures: cats! Curious and cunning, simultaneously wild and refined, cats are often strikingly individualistic while remaining predictably alike. In terms of cat/human relations, it is never quite clear who holds the upper hand. As a subject for the artist, cats can provide a unique opportunity to consider our world from a different, shorter perspective.
In this lovely woodcut print, Florence Frandsen has tapped into the psychology of her young subjects. One kitten braves the brim of a water-filled bucket while their sibling watches on apprehensively. Whatever the human-intended purpose for these buckets may have been, it has been cropped out of the frame, presenting them instead as just another curiosity for the cats to freely explore and utilize. Drink up small adventurers!
Frandsen was a local artist and educator who studied at BYU, receiving both her BA and MA here. She worked in several media and was a prizewinning printmaker.
