I am impressed with the students’ sketches of the antique objects I brought in from home today: my grandmother’s wooden coffee grinder, my great-grandmother’s coal iron, an oil lamp, a copper barber shaving set and a ceramic wine carafe from Castellaneta. Arranged in the centre of students’ table groups, the items look strangely out of place. Like rare artifacts from a museum, these everyday handcrafted objects take on a mystical presence. I continue to circulate the room, weaving around desks and chairs. The students are still sketching the still life in front of them. Mindfully, in their own way, they recreate on paper the shapes, curves and shadows they see. Then, I smile to myself as I think of my great-uncle Rafaelle and imagine what he would say about seeing my students, here in Vancouver, taking such care in sketching his sister’s old espresso coffee grinder.
From Awakening the Imagination (M.Ed. capstone), 2014