Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library | foundation ~ a_not_so_very_small

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Open today from 9am to 9pm • March 19, 2010

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A (Not So) Very Small Thing

By Sherry Best, Gallery Manager

The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library

Alice C. Sabatini Gallery

What do a squirrel’s tooth, an airplane pin and an acorn have in common?

According to Ron Hamilton and his seven-year old daughter Emma, a squirrel’s tooth, airplane pin, and a tiny acorn have quite a bit in common. But of much greater significance, they discovered time shared together at the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery’s Very Small Objects Exhibit last fall proved to be no very small thing.

During the “Brian Collier’s Master Collection of Very Small Objects” exhibit, The Alice C. Sabatini Gallery hosted a community archiving project to collect VSO’s (Very Small Things) in Shawnee County. After reading an article in the Topeka Capitol Journal about the exhibit, Ron and Emma decided to attend the opening. Emma came prepared, having collected a variety of small things, ranging from beads to an airplane pin she had received in her Christmas stocking, to a baby squirrel’s skull she had found in her yard. Father and daughter enjoyed the reception, and looked at the art together, then made some selections from Emma’s collection to contribute to the project.

Emma made her selection very carefully, and settled on the airplane pin first. She thought about this selection for a long time, because she understood that she’d be giving this piece to the library, and wouldn’t get it back. In the end, Emma decided that she wanted the library to have it because the project was important to her.

Emma and her father also later contributed a tiny acorn, and one of the teeth from the squirrel’s skull, because the whole skull was too large to qualify as a “Very Small Object”. She and her dad did the processing together, treating the items like a scientist: measuring, documenting, drawing, and naming, following Brian Collier’s process.

Ron shared with staff his opinion that the exhibit was really fascinating and that Emma had enjoyed being the “scientist” while processing her objects. He added that their participation caused them both to look at their world in a new way. Ron remembered watching ant hills and being interested in the things around him when he was a child.

Gallery staff members were touched with Emma’s spirit of generosity. They could see her thinking about making her gift; the pin was something precious to her, and yet she decided to give it to the library.

Sometimes what seems at first to be a very small thing —a visit to a gallery exhibit at your public library— can turn into something so much more…. · A treasured memory of time spent together by a parent and a child;· A spark of interest that points a young mind toward a career as an artist, scientist or researcher;· A view of the world not previously perceived;

· The quality of selflessness gained by virtue of giving up a treasured object to a greater good.

No small thing indeed….!