It’s been a while since I last posted. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking throughout the past year about what contributions jewelry and artwork in general offer to the world, as well as my own contributions. During that time, my daughter challenged me to begin to articulate what I consider to be the benefits of handmade items.
It’s true that machines can make beautiful items far cheaper than those made by artists by hand. I even acknowledge that a lot of creativity goes into setting up systems to mass-produce beautiful items. And I even enjoy the benefits of those economies of cost. However, as I get older, I find that I enjoy being a part of and experiencing human endeavors. I enjoy going to live performances, but only when I am close enough to really see what each performer is contributing to the whole. I am amazed by athletic feats because I now know the amount of time that goes into achieving such perfection. And I enjoy collecting and appreciating items made by hand, because they are all unique!
Throughout my life I have enjoyed dipping my toes into many different areas. I’m fascinated by how things work and how the final product comes together. Humans and their creations are really magical. But I have never really taken the time to explore any one area in depth. I’ve seldom stuck to one thing long enough to really improve my skills.
In my childhood I traveled a lot and grew up in different countries. One talent I have is learning languages. However, I never considered using this talent in any productive way. After having been able to speak 5 languages fluently, I now struggle to speak most of them well. I am trying to learn Japanese now, with a very patient teacher, but I seldom put enough energy into mastering this difficult language, so progress has been slow.
All this is to say that in the past year I began to make a concerted effort to focus on making jewelry and honing my skills. I take this challenge on while also raising a child, working part-time, and taking care of my health and my family. Not as easy as it seemed at first!
When I enter my studio, I feel a calm descend over me. I enter a realm that is all my own. I find this invigorating. As I look through my bits and begin to formulate an idea, I seldom consider how I’m going to bring my vision to reality. Over time, I’ve become better at learning how to put the pieces together, but every project reaches a point where my lack of skill and experience leads me to having to make some sort of creative leap to bring the project to a successful conclusion. This is the point where handmade triumphs over machine-made. These solutions lead to the production of truly one-of-a-kind pieces of art. There is a lack of perfection injected with human creativity that cannot be repeated by machines. Handmade items often end up being somewhat asymmetrical, slightly askew, bedazzled with something unexpected. Here is where the artist works their magic. In the end, everything may appear intentional. And for experts in the field, perhaps everything is. But in my experience, even the experts delight in finding a challenging moment that allows them to play with their medium along the way.
Every handmade piece of art contains the story of the artist’s moment of inspiration, their understanding of how to bring the materials together, the time they’ve invested not only in that individual piece but in all their works through the years. As I look around my dining room table and see the chair backs of 6 chairs, each distressed in exactly the same way by a machine in exactly the same place, I appreciate the randomness, unexpectedness, and beauty of items made by hand.
The photo shows a ring that I am currently working on. A wrong touch with the soldering pick at the wrong time brought about some unexpected results. However, I believe that my efforts to move forward with the project despite changes in what I had planned will actually produce a better final product. Only time will tell, if and when someone decides the piece speaks to them. I hope that person will hear and appreciate the many hours that I put into the ring – cutting, planning, soldering, trying new techniques, setting stones, sanding, polishing, and finishing.
I hope that everyone who looks at a piece of handmade art considers the artist in the same light they many would a performer or athlete who has invested many hours into honing their craft.
