Consider the mop, the Rodney Dangerfield of the hall closet. The broom, at least, can be a symbol of power. Baseball players break out the brooms to celebrate sweeping a series against an opponent.

Even a plank of wood has kinetic possibilities in the art of Tim Hawkinson, whose 2012 “Board Clock” tells the time with an altered knot in its grain, one ring counting the hours, the other the ...