Wooden Spoon c. 1937

Wilbur M. Rice made this drawing of a wooden spoon, most likely with watercolor or gouache. You know, the way the spoon floats there on the page, so delicately rendered, I can almost feel Wilbur at his desk, carefully studying the object, lost in its simple beauty. It's like he's saying, "Hey, even the everyday can be extraordinary, if you really look." There's something so tender about the way he's captured the grain of the wood and the curve of the spoon, it's almost like a portrait of a person. I can imagine him thinking about the history of the object, who might have carved it, what meals it has served. Maybe it reminds him of his own childhood, or his family. You know, it makes me think about other artists like, say, Giorgio Morandi, who found endless inspiration in the humblest of objects. It’s that act of looking, that slow, meditative process, which transforms the ordinary into something profound. In the end, it's all about connection, isn't it?