The Wonder Blog

My cultural probe box greets me

A few weeks ago, a student at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (yes, it's a long name for a place to work - we call it DJCAD)  took to the email listserv asking for volunteers for his senior project on Wonder.  His methodology was the cultural probe, which, to my knowledge, is a little bit like anthropology in a box or an envelope; no ethnographer doing interviews, but a variety of materials to think about, and to respond to through various means.  I got a disposable camera to snap pictures of everyday wonder, a wee diary to record information about my "wonder camera" snaps and other thoughts, an instruction to write a letter to my childhood self about wonder, and a set of postcards with images to which I was to record my responses. The last bit, which I want to share here, asked me to put together a collection of images related to wonder.  The instructions for this were very object-focused, and as I tried to collect the images, I found out that I am not a terribly object-focused person (though Paul would disagree, given my pack-rat nature...I hang onto things but I don't really care about them, I guess). Below are the images I chose, with the prompt in the caption:

Evokes a sense of wonder (2)

Evokes a sense of wonder (1)

The object on the left is a glass block commemorating the christening of  a ship at the Newport News Shipyard. My dad gave it to me when I was 4 or 5. It is also a prism, and is currently on my daughters' windowsill to make rainbows when it's sunny.  The object on the right is a partly finished sock monkey. I make sock monkeys for babies - if you know me, your child may have one! This one is being co-sewn by Audrey and I for her teacher who's set to go out on maternity leave in December.

Environment that evokes a sense of wonder

East Sands beach, St. Andrews.  I like it because beaches are sources of rocks and shells (see later picture) and also because of the St. Andrews Cathedral in the background - wonderful architecture.

Object you do not tire of exploring: rocks and shells!

Object that brings you joy

 Paul made this for Valentines Day one year early in our marriage, a little sculpture with our initials.

Object you find beautiful for its aesthetics: part of my egg collection

Object you find beautiful for its intrinsic qualities: one of Claire's first recognizable drawings

Drawn just a few days before her third birthday, she says it's a bug eating an apple and darned if it doesn't look like that.

An object that inspires joy and discovery: books, of course!

I didn't include these in my image collection but they are a few more wonderful things:

Audrey trimming the Christmas tree, December 2013

A rainbow that ended on Magdalen Green near our house, October 2014

I hope you've enjoyed a peek into my Wonder Blog.  Please leave a comment about the things or environments you find wonderful!