Food for Thought: the Beauty in the Ordinary

Saturday's Commercial Appeal had an article about fasteners, aka paper clips.  Seems the National Ornamental Metal Museum has been binding its grant application to ArtsMemphis with a special binder every year.  Here's an example:

You can read the entire story here.  These fasteners look more like jewelry than paper clips, don't they?  Which made me wonder:  How many other everday things do we never really look at?  What else, with just new eyes, would be beautiful?

By the way, the first grant to the Metal Museum by ArtsMemphis was in 1985 and was for $30,000.  The article listed the grants from 2001 to the present and they total $913,117!  If you aren't familiar with ArtsMemphis, go to their website and check them out.  This is an amazing organization that has raised millions of dollars to support artists, art institutions, and art education in Memphis.  The president and CEO, Susan Schadt, is a neighbor and friend.  She and her staff do an absolutely amazing job.

A poster of these fasteners would be so cool!  (I've already put a bug in Susan's ear!)