Take a look around your living space. What does that velvet painting of dogs playing cards say about you as a person, as an American? Is it an ironic comment on the sophistication of your personal taste, or a sincere appreciation for an underappreciated art form?

What one person finds worthy of display in the home, another might find worthy of lining the inside of a super can. Family heirlooms get passed along as much for their sentimental value as any intrinsic monetary value they might have.

What you have in your home says something about you. There is a larger story here, too. Trends represent American culture in the process of evolving. Who we are as a people, what we think of our society, are things that can be deduced from the products of our contemporary culture.

In academic circles, these products of our culture are known as the Decorative Arts. Historically, they were distinct from the fine arts, which were considered intellectual pursuits. The mechanical arts were for artisans who made functional items for everyday use.

You might not have given this as much thought as has Susan Rawles. She volunteered at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for 13 years, nine of those as a research assistant. Now, Ph.D. in hand, she is the new Assistant Curator for American Decorative Arts.

Her job is to know what an object reveals about the period in which it was produced (she specializes in the 18th century), how it was made and who the owner may have been.

As construction on the new wing progresses apace, so too does excitement among the museum staff. More gallery space means more items can be pulled out of storage and put on display. A lot of important pieces in the American collection have not been seen by the public because there hasn't been room to display it. That will be changing soon.

The American gallery will essentially double in size when the new wing is completed. Rawles new position is one part of the museum's long term expansion plan. She's been busy going through the collection, doing research and overseeing the procurement of new pieces.

In addition to pulling things for the new wing, she is involved in the preparation of a catalogue of the American collection. This will highlight about 120 of the collection's most representative pieces. The catalogue's appearance will coincide with the opening of the new wing in 2009.

Rawles was involved in a project to re-upholster 14 pieces which were held in limbo until they could be repaired. A chair matching one the VMFA has in its collection was found in Brooklyn, complete with the original upholstery.

Negatives were taken of the fabric and sketches were made of the design. A company that specializes in reproducing textiles on a period loom matched the fabric. The reupholstered pieces will be on display when the new galleries open.

Recently, Beth Ahabah approached the museum about collaboration. The museum owned some silver pieces fabricated by famed colonial New York silversmith Myer Myers. As luck would have it, Ahabah had recently come into possession of Myers' family bible. The upcoming exhibition will feature the bible together with his silver work.

Rawles is fascinated by objects, both for their aesthetic qualities and for the story behind them. She explained, "Painting and sculpture seem to be more straightforward because their primary purpose is to form a cultural description or idea of some kind. The decorative arts are more of a puzzle. The object is first a chair, then we think about how that chair relates to who we are, or how we live."

She pulled out an image of a recent acquisition (see picture). This ornate urn is one of six known to exist, made by Tucker Factories of Philadelphia. On the vase are two painted scenes, one thought to be inspired by a scene in a novel by James Fennimore Cooper.

Rawles has been reading Cooper's novels but so far hasn't come across the scene portrayed on the vase. But she'll continue looking until she's found the information she's seeking, "You always try to put a story to a piece. I really think people used objects to shape a narrative for themselves, a personal narrative. On a larger scale, communities did the same thing. The great thing about art history is the way you see these narrative shifts play out on the historical landscape. History and culture are manifest in all forms of art objects."

Her specialty is the 18th century, but I was curious what she thought about contemporary decorative arts.

She sees a trend away from ornamentation, "people not wanting clutter, or excess or fuss. Maybe we want things simpler, cleaner. We are overtaxed, physically, emotionally, and psychologically. We want clean lines and smooth materials. I think it's part of the green movement bringing things back to a human scale, away from things that are oversized and overscaled."

So take a lingering look around your living space. If what you see looks like thrift store cast-offs, maybe you need to change your personal narrative. Or maybe you just need to buy a new rug.