Does It Speak To You

6/26/2021 2:24:35 PM
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I like to peruse the articles, photos, etc. on the Google Arts And Culture App. This morning there was an article, "Remarkable British Women and the Objects That Inspire Them," from the First Among Equals exhibit at the Foundlings Museum. It was about British women who are first in their fields and objects from the exhibit that spoke to them and made them think.

I started wondering if I had objects in my home that speak to me and make me think. I certainly have objects, many of which I have collected because I find them interesting. Do they speak to me? I have objects that have memories attached to them of people and places that I have been. I immediately saw an enameled pill box shaped like a bird. It's head swings open to show a small compartment that holds the pills. My granddaughters liked to put a small cat figurine in it and then laugh in delight that the bird swallowed the cat. I opened the bird and saw the cat.

I thought about a pot that my uncle made and gave to me. He is an artist that lives in Oakland, California. I thought about how he helped nurture my love for art as I grew up. Any time I visited his house he would take me to art exhibits around the bay area and talk about the art he loved.

I could go on reliving memories like that about various objects around my house. I enjoy it and yes they make me think but it was when I looked at the shelves of books that I have collected over the years, that I knew that they are what make me really pause and think. I love a book that makes me stop reading in order to contemplate and wonder about people, history, ideas and events.

After looking at the books, I spent more time looking at objects and smiling at the memories. I realized then that they speak to me just as much as the books but in a different way. It's an exercise that I need to do more often.