Rummaging through the nooks and crannies of the Columbus Museum of Art to find lost treasures for a new exhibit sounds like a lot of fun. And when Karen Shirley and Michael Jones (from Shirley-Jones Gallery in Yellow Springs) were given the nod to curate Far, Near, Here at the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery, that’s exactly what they were asked to do.

The task proved to be not only fascinating but surprisingly laborious. Not only did they have to pick out a select amount of pieces in a seemingly endless storage vault, but they had to develop and edit the pieces into some sort of organization or theme.

The tricky part was the only guideline: The pieces picked cannot have been exhibited in the museum for more than five years.

The result of their work is an exhibit featuring 64 works from diverse cultures arranged in a set of basic themes that relate generally to notions of far, near and here. They represent a wide range of media, from drawings to photographs to glass and ceramics, and hail from China, Japan, Korea, India, New Guinea, Mexico, pre-Colonial America and contemporary America.

The exhibit, fully titled Far, Near, Here: Selections from the Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, is on display through April 15. The goal of the exhibit is simply to share.

“One of the biggest challenges of being a collecting institution is that a fraction of its contents are on display at one time. Less than 10 percent of the Columbus Museum of Art’s works are on display – and that’s typical for museums. But museums are not archives, they’re about sharing. And every opportunity we have to embrace sharing what we have is a great moment for all of us,” says Nannette Maciejunes, executive director of the Columbus Museum of Art.

The items being shared are those that caught the eye and piqued the interest of the curators. Jones and Shirley opened the exhibit with contemporary work – such as Robert Swain’s Untitled, from 1975. The next area, however, is an abrupt shift in themes, focusing on the archaic, including photographic documents of desert environments that purvey a slow tempo.

Following is an area of written text as decoration, and then East Asian art which contains examples of contemporary abstraction in American painting. Intertwined throughout the exhibit is a collection of small bowls from various cultures. Also featured is a collection of miniature traveling shrines that pay homage to the notion of pilgrimage.

“The whole project was a pleasure and a challenge. We were entering a vast collection and looking and peeking and opening up boxes… We used our own interest and eyes, but then had to make sense of it,” Shirley says. “These pieces taught me that it is a wonderful and a complex world.”

The curators are hopeful that the seldom seen objects in this exhibit will offer unique insight into how the collection and study of objects from afar might influence contemporary artists.

A family workshop in relation to the exhibit will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Jan. 17. Children will be encouraged to explore the concept of collecting and make their own keepsake box. It is recommended for children ages 6-16. Supplies are included, but registration is required by calling 614-728-2239 or emailing riffegallery@oac.state.oh.us.

For more information, visit www.riffegallery.org or call 614-644-9624. Gallery hours are Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday from noon to 8 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

The gallery is located in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts at 77 S. High St.