THE BHC JULY 2013 PAGE 23
The Craft that Makes us We live in a world where we are taught to mindlessly consume, rather than to thoughtfully make. We feel the pressure or desire to be new, fresh, something different. Everything around us tells us that life is quickly moving forward, ever changing, and that we need to keep up. In all of this movement towards progress, there seems to be very little knowledge in the materials that we have to work with. Is this wise? We rarely stop to think about the materials that make up our world, much less appreciate them. So many of us thoughtlessly consume: our beliefs, our food, our relationships, even our art.
Make.
Let me try to explain it in crafting terms. Back in the day, if you wanted to be a painter, you needed to be able to draw. You could not even think about picking up a paint brush until you had mastered drawing from life. You needed to know the foundations before you could move on. If you are a maker of any type (and face it, most of us are) you can relate. You need to know your materials if you want to make something well. If you want to execute something beautiful and effortless, you need to know the material and have a foundation. The feeling of your materials need to be second nature in your being. The textures, sounds and feels need to be in your eyes, muscles, finger tips... to know the limitations of your materials and your limitations with them... to know how to listen to the material.