Sacred Objects:
Seven Thimbles
by Harriet Lobdell
There is high art. There is low art. There are beautiful objects. There are useful objects. There are artists. There are artisans. Some objects are so simple, so economical in their design, that they acquire a kind of beauty that you won't find described in art history books. We call such objects "tools" and, because we use them all the time, it's difficult to see them for what they are. Whenever it was that we started putting skins together to wear for warmth or protection, we started learning to sew. Somewhere, sometime in those dark forests and caves, someone realized a covering for the finger that pushed the needle through the material would be helpful. Thimbles appeared, and we've been carrying them with us ever since, out of the forests and caves, into the cities, across oceans, into battles, into space. Even as we added decoration, the basic shape remained and always implied an unseen sewer and the nobility of simple, necessary labor. Seven thimbles: One
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