Anne of Carversville

1. Artist Valerie Hammond via Design Sponge
2. Hand shadow puppet
3. Silhouettes by Karen
4. Porcelain by by Ekin Buyuksahin
5. You are a Gift by Shelley Lane

“My hands are my eyes are my hands”, I once wrote in my journal, in a script that I invented. As an artist, my body is my instrument, and my hands are the closest that I can physically get to my work. So I take good care of them, in the same way that a singer must never do anything that might harm the throat and the chest, in the same way that a pilot must never do anything that might harm the eyes.

The hands are such an expressive part of the body, in so many different ways. We gesticulate, we touch, we hold, we conduct, we dance, we create. Mani-pulate: to arrange with hands, stemming from the Latin word for hand, manus.

Fitting that the thing which creates so much beauty, is in itself, beautiful.

These days we spend a lot of time pushing buttons, as everything goes digital. Not that I’m a purist— I love all the new digital media and tools of creation— but of course handmade things are always different. You’re taking something from your mind and making it concrete with your hands, there’s a physical connection with the work, there’s a more tangible flow of creativity.

When was the last time you made something with your hands?
When was the last time you wrote someone a letter in longhand, and mailed it in the traditional way?

Love,
Feanne