In this critical studio course, we will investigate the significance of everyday objects through reading, writing and making visual works. In this way, we will examine the multiple and sometimes conflicting meanings hidden in objects and how the ways we collect, select, and curate our “stuff” is a reflection of selves, cultures, and the times we live in. We will begin the semester by looking into the idea of meaning in everyday objects; building understandings and analyses of the ways in which meanings are assigned and associated, and paying particular attention to the ways we organize, curate and create archives. This will include an exploration of both analog and digital platforms and the expectations assumed or produced by each. Through these modes of inquiry, the class will focus on the how and why of making things and the ways making is a form of research and testing that can become the basis for written work, no matter one’s field, discipline, or material.