Canton High students explore their ‘many heritages’
By Guest
Visitors at the Canton Heritage Fest explore the exhibit inside the barn. (Moira Sweetland photo)
A handwritten recipe for lasagna. A doorstopper shaped like a cat. Bracelets from Cape Verde. All are examples of the family heritage of several Canton High School students, and all are currently part of the “Our Many Heritages “ exhibit located at the Paul Revere Heritage Site, future home of the Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation.
Members of the community, including over 20 CHS students in Patricia Palmer, Sara McDonald, and Heidi Olson’s classes each submitted a photograph of an artifact tied directly to their family’s heritage and included a story about their artifact or object.
“I had heard artist and educator Adriana Katzew talk about a grant she received to do a similar exhibit based on Jewish heritage,” said Joyce Stenmon, a board member for the Revere & Son Heritage Trust and co-chair of the museum’s Committee on Collections, Exhibits and Education. “After seeing that exhibit, I thought we could do this for Canton’s Heritage Days with members of our community.”
Stenmon was able to procure a grant to bring Katzew, a professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, to Canton. She met directly with a group of students taking both Spanish and Photography classes.
“Dr. Katzew shared her own family’s immigration story with the students, which helped them understand the importance of heritage, identities, and cultures,” said Heidi Olson, Canton’s PreK-12 world languages coordinator, who also teaches Spanish. “Adriana comes from Mexico, which provided my students the opportunity to interact with her using Spanish. My students looked for their artifact at home and then met individually with Adriana to speak with her about the object and the story it told about their family heritages.”
Students were tasked with both photographing the piece they chose, as well as writing about it. Then Katzew creatively assembled and framed the artworks for each participant.
Samya DaSilva, a Spanish 5 student, shared bracelets that once belonged to her Cape Verdean great-grandmother that have since been passed from generation to generation and are now one of her most prized possessions.
“These bracelets remind me of all my grandparents’ stories and immigration here,” said DaSilva.
“My maternal great-great-grandmother was supposed to be traveling to America on the Titanic,” wrote Spanish 5 student Matthew Lesser. “However, her sister fell ill just before the ship took off, so she took this boat instead.”
The boat Lesser is referring to is the Cunard White Star, which his ancestors sailed on from Ireland in the early 1900s instead of the ill-fated Titanic. Lesser chose to photograph the poster of the Cunard, which hangs in his home as a reminder of what might have been.
Stenmon said the exhibit has brought many attendees to tears.
“There’s something about this exhibit that connects you on a deeper level,” said Stenmon. “That’s what we were hoping for, that it would make you feel like you could understand somebody that’s different than you. The beauty of the grant allows us to give the framed artworks back to the participants so that they have a piece of heritage to pass on.”
Patricia Palmer’s Photography 2 and 3 class also submitted work for this exhibit.
“I’m always looking for ways that students can create photography for a purpose that is beyond just learning about the technical aspects of photography,” said Palmer. “This project got them to think about their own ideas and how they communicate as well as who their audience is.”
Future collaborations between the museum and CPS students are planned, including a juried exhibit called “Site Inspired,” which will open this fall and run through February 2024. (See Datebook entry on page 13 for details.)
“I feel we are so lucky that Canton decided to redevelop this site with this museum space,” said Palmer. “It opens up a lot of opportunities for the schools and the community to come together. The arts are such an important mode of communication, and these community connections don’t easily happen unless you create them intentionally.”
“Our Many Heritages” is on display through the end of August in the Revere barn. The space is open to the public on Saturdays between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
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