There is an important balance to be found in the making of useful and beautiful things. If an object is not beautiful and well-crafted, meeting one's aesthetic considerations in how it looks and feels, it will likely not be treated with care or respect and will not survive. If an object is not useful, we may not find ways to adopt it into our lives. And then there is this:
"Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into are awake through years with transferred touch, and go on glowing for long years.The question then, is "What are wakened hands, and how do we wake them up?"
And for this reason, some old things are lovely warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them." -- D.H. Lawrence
Make, fix and create...
Wakening hands is easy in my view: give kids materials, tools and time and let them make things. They will glow with creativity, exhibit little feats of persistence and problem solving and shine with pride to display their masterpieces!
ReplyDeleteThis begins the virtuous cycle of making. The culmination of which is what Rousseau discovered: "Put a young man in a workshop, his hands will work to the benefit of his brain and he will become a philosopher while thinking himself only a craftsman.”
You taught me that Doug! Thanks!
Kim