Assorted Tumbled Stones

Unknown manufacturer, ca. 2007

Amethyst, white agate, red goldstone, blue agate, and green agate

Dimensions variable

Gifted from Cheryl Evans

Personal collection

Since a young age, exploring the unexplainable and searching for adventure defined my character. As I grow older, diving into the unknown became less accessible and finding whimsy in the mundane more challenging. These five polished stones reflect a simpler time and have provided me with companion objects that I associate with family and this fleeting childhood.

My family had the seasonal tradition of visiting my grandparents on their farm in northern Ontario; the property had copious forests and gardens to stimulate my never-ending restlessness. One day, when I was around seven years old, my grandmother sent me on a scavenger hunt. It was simple enough: I would walk down the long gravel driveway and search for rocks that didn’t look as though they belonged. Ever so rarely there would be a polished stone shimmering in the light and sitting in the driveway like a diamond in the rough. A friendship blossomed between my older cousins and I as we worked together to refine our eye for these outliers, developing critical vision.

This search for treasure became an extension of the traditional farm visit and my grandmother would never admit to hiding the treasure herself. This aspect of suspicion without conformation was a crucially important aspect to the hunt. For any seven year old, space for interpretation regarding any scenario can lead to infinite imaginative possibility. While this kind of task no longer incites my conspiracy-ridden mind, it reminds me of how I manifested my early sense of self.

These stones have come to represent a defining character trait through a meaningful family memory. As I grow older I unreasonably dread losing opportunity and connection with those a care about. These stones reflect that while we can look to past for explanation and guidance, we shouldn’t waste the present trying to go backwards.

This memory suggests we all need look back and find the polished stones in our gravel driveway of memory. Right now it is easy to look at the past longingly or with despair, and I myself find it difficult to escape these dark periods of thought while in quarantine. This artifact of my life is meant to ask you to find silver linings and to search for happiness in small places.

Gabriel Evans-Cook