The black oval-shaped bowl is sleek and simple. It looks like it could hold a large bouquet of flowers or freshly-popped popcorn rather than toast, bagels or the occasional frozen chocolate chip waffle.

The bowl is actually a toaster, an everyday item that has artistic form and yet is functional. It decorates a counter with a shape that draws the eye as it fulfills the duties for which it was purchased. It will never rival fine art, but it's artistic enough to make the everyday interesting.

It's not really hard to find items that have artistic form but are still functional. It's the hand-held vacuum that resembles a contemporary sculpture or the wire chair with the wire twisted so the back resembles peacock feathers. They're there - you just have to look.

"You can create things in your mind that you haven't seen before," says Eleanor Thomas, a longtime artist who also teaches art classes at Saxton Riverside Care Center.

Whether it's the little spoon that opens into a kaleidoscope or the pattern in lace curtains that she decided to enhance with a pair of scissors, the 82-year-old sees the artistic scope of the everyday.

When you stop looking at a toaster as just a small appliance that browns your bread, you might just open your eyes and mind to the artistic form of the functional.

Destination station

For years, nobody really paid attention to the pleasing lines of this rubber stamp holder. It had a job to do. Mounted on the side of a cabinet in mail services at the News-Press, all you really saw were its metal tips and the stamps that it held: first class and third class.

"There was probably one that said 'Air Mail'," says Dennis Smith, who has spent all but seven years of his 23 years of employment with the newspaper in the supply room.

"I never used it, except right at the very beginning (when he started)," Mr. Smith adds.

Times change, he points out, and with it, the way things are done. The rubber stamp holder came down when the cabinets were removed. The stamps are long gone, replaced by self-inking ones.

But the rubber stamp holder has taken on a new shape and purpose. On a table with its artistic lines exposed, it is a funky paperweight. It can be mounted on a wall and used as a tea towel or paint brush holder. Or it can sit on a counter and hold recipe cards.

A new opening

When it's pulled out of a dusty box at the Habitat ReStore, some may see only a door lever that is marked $1. Yes, it can open a door and let you pass from one room to another.

But that wasn't why it was chosen. It wasn't the price or the burnished gold color. It wasn't because a door lever was needed. Its original purpose wasn't a consideration.

It was its lines, something that hadn't been seen before.

Turn it so the handle is facing up and there it is: a question mark. The swirl punctuated by the dot at the bottom.

The question mark seems to ask "So, what are you going to do next?" Perhaps the answer is to look at something in a different way.

"People think they have to do things they've always done," Ms. Thomas says.

The lever won't be used on a door, but it is open to a world of possibilities. It could become a towel holder of be used to display pot holders.

Or, it may just be mounted handle side up on a wall as a reminder to never be afraid to ask questions.

Switched on

With its glass shades, dainty beads and elegant scrollwork, this lamp certainly commands attention for its artistic form. But, turn it on and it chases away the dark. Form and function in one.

"They are treated as art," says Heidi Eggers, showroom manager of Long Lighting in St. Joseph, of some lamps.

"Tiffany is definitely art," she says.

Tiffany, with its stained-glass artwork, is hand crafted and handy all in one. But lamps don't have to be ornate to have artistic form. Contemporary also can be a treat for the eye, Ms. Eggers says. Perhaps it is the base of six crystal balls stacked on top of each other.

And what attracts the eye is an individual decision. It can be hard to describe.

"I'll know it when I see it" is a phrase Ms. Eggers hears time and time again.

But when form meets function, it's easier for some people to see the light.

Lifestyles reporter Cathy Woolridge can be reached

at cathyw@npgco.com