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Betsy
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| Posted: Sept 19 2012 at 10:46pm | IP Logged
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Wow! The article Making Wholeness heals the Maker in Crisis Magazine really hit home today. I often struggle to explain to people my need to create. They think its silly that I sew my own table cloths or knit dishcloths---because these items are only a few dollars at Walmart, right?
But, never before have I had the right words. This article has given me much insight into what my soul has always known.
Here are a few quotes that stuck me:
The creative act, a gift that comes from God because it is a human act that mimics exactly what God does, was cut off by the propaganda of industrial consumption.
We humans are constructed with the creative instinct, the need to create wholeness or coherence because it nourishes us, and we practiced this to nourish our bodies and souls for millennia, until “modern” times. Because of propaganda promoting consumerism we have ceased to create, and to generate life.
Rarely do we find a person today who is a creator, who works with materials with his or her own hands to develop an object, in order to release a form from the formless material, who dares to imitate the divine act that creates order from disorder. This individual takes great pleasure in the creative act, even when the product is modest, and it nourishes the creator’s soul and helps the body become healthier
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When handcrafting my work, I always pray that it will raise your heart to all that is true, modest, just, holy, lovely and good fame!
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Sept 20 2012 at 7:01am | IP Logged
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Love it! I hadn't seen that article, and it is just splendid. Thanks for sharing. 
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JennGM
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Wow, that is a great article! Thank you. I agree with everything, and have found it true in myself.
This argument ties in with the negative impact of the Industrial Revolution, but I can also see how even more removed and negative ramifications the electronic and digital impact will be in this area.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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CrunchyMom
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Is it awful to admit I was both relieved and disheartened to realize the article was first written in Italian, meaning this is a universal issue and not just an American one.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Betsy
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| Posted: Sept 20 2012 at 8:35pm | IP Logged
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Lindsay, you make an interesting observation. It so easy to think that all of these types of problems are strictly "American".
One of the things that I really felt justified in was to teach my boys how to knit. My Mom and FIL just HATE it!!! I mean really hate it. For me, as I have said till I am blue in the face is that I just want them to understand what goes into making something, anything. I really don't expect them to continue with much into the future. But, I am reassured that it is good for my children to create!
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ImmaculataDesigns.com
When handcrafting my work, I always pray that it will raise your heart to all that is true, modest, just, holy, lovely and good fame!
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Sept 21 2012 at 7:33am | IP Logged
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Betsy wrote:
Lindsay, you make an interesting observation. It so easy to think that all of these types of problems are strictly "American".
One of the things that I really felt justified in was to teach my boys how to knit. My Mom and FIL just HATE it!!! I mean really hate it. For me, as I have said till I am blue in the face is that I just want them to understand what goes into making something, anything. I really don't expect them to continue with much into the future. But, I am reassured that it is good for my children to create!
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Not necessarily encouraging, but one of my favorite quotes from a movie is from an older Hayley Mills movie, Moon Spinners, where the two bad guys are talking. The blue collar Greek thief says to the high brow British gentleman some disdainful comment about his "knitting" to which he responds, "I do not knit. It just so happens that I do a very fine petit point."
My husband LOVED the article. His hobby is carpentry, but he has traditionally had little time for pursuing it while spending most of his time doing household projects in our fixer uppers. While this is still somewhat creative, he looks forward to having more time to do more of the beautiful finish carpentry and furniture building.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JennGM
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Oh me, Betsy, I'm sorry to hear about your family's distaste for learning knitting. It might be that there's such a push for emasculating in society that they aren't comfortable. But if it's balanced with all sorts of life-building skills, I wouldn't blink an eye. Montessori schools teach this skill all the time.
I am teaching my son how to sew, how to cross-stitch, and I'll guide him in knitting and crocheting. There is a longing in everyone (as mentioned in this article) to create. My little one can't stand the fabric store, but I can see my older one "creating possibilities" with the fabrics he sees. He wants to create to give gifts, pillows for Nana and pajamas for Daddy. So those are our planned handicrafts for this year.
I remember our first blizzard when we moved to VA, and we were "trapped" in the house for a bit (especially being Southerners who had NO experience with the snow). I taught all my siblings to cross stitch, and my brother, 10 years younger, had the most beautiful, even, perfect stitches of the bunch! I will always be impressed by that.
I think knitting and crochet are skills to learn...just like other handicrafts. I know of many examples of grown men using talents in various ways. One local Catholic coach/teacher crochets (basic chain stitch) scapular cords. There has been theories that men were the first ones to create these skills -- fishermen knitting or macrame-ing or crocheting their nets, for example.
I see it being masculine by the choices the boys make in materials and projects they make.
AND, just to note, for children, it's the PROCESS, not the END. That is something I always have to keep in mind that as adults we are goal oriented, but the children want to just "do" and "be".
Lindsay, my husband isn't as gifted as yours, but he's done a few simple woodworking projects and is so buoyed by the creative aspect. He loves it, and always wants to do more.
I know I mentioned it before, but I also know I HAVE to keep up my creative skills to give me peace. I NEED to have projects to keep my hands busy when I sit in the chair watching TV, going on car rides, waiting in doctors' offices... I always notice when I'm a bit down in moods I'm not part of the creative process.
And music and gardening would fit this category, too.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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BTW, Lindsay, I love "Moon Spinners"!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 21 2012 at 9:53am | IP Logged
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Well I'm apparently quite blessed by the people I've been surrounded by my whole life. My grammy was always ALWAYS doing something.. she sewed and crocheted but she was always learning a new something even into her 80's just before she died. And she would take the rest of us along with her.
As far as the boys and handcrafts. Elite groups of just about anything, but our experience is firefighters, put a very high value on those who can help them make their own equipment to spec. Each group has their own way of doing things and men who can sew, for instance, may be in very high demand for making line gear the way they want it vs the way it comes from a factory.
Sewing is still a skill that is taught in boy scouts. Starting pretty young actually, one of the electives in Wolves (2nd grade) is sewing on a button.
I also found it encouraging that the article specifically mentions that people don't even cook anymore because cooking is one of the easiest creative outlets for me. Not so much regular meals but the extras can be so fun. Not to mention the sweets and treats and canning and jelly making and... 
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JennGM
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Funny, Hodue, I was going to come back and talk about the cooking, too. That impressed me. It is one of the most simple but universal creativity.
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JodieLyn
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We have so much fun with cooking here. We've used a zucchini bread recipe and subbed carrots for zucchini once (love that) and then we tried beets. It came out good but it was odd.. the batter turned a bright pink but the bread came out light with the flecks of red beet showing through it. Anyway it was good but probably not liked well enough to do again. But the carrot.. oh we like that. And that's really nice because carrots are really cheap compared to zucchini and available all winter too when we don't have enough zucchini in the freezer
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CrunchyMom
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I think that people miss out on the creativity of cooking, not only by not experimenting with recipes but by not USING them. Most people today eat takeout or frozen prepared type foods.
People, including myself much of the time, also get their "entertainment" prepackaged. Almost everything in our society is oriented toward the passive instead of the active. People come over for a party, and you turn on a cd or have a "movie night." Not that those things are bad, but to suggest an evening where the guests are expected to be an active participant in the entertainment (by reciting a poem or performing a musical piece), you experience the same attitudes of shunning or disdain that he describes in the article.
My own friends and family are not cruel, but as Betsy described in the original post, attempts to deviate (or SUGGEST deviation) from these norms are met in the very least with puzzlement.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JodieLyn
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You know it's hard to do those things.. reciting or singing or playing an instrument when we're surrounded by "professional sounding" people. It's hard to compete with a singer.. especially recordings of singers where they can splice together many takes of a song to get it "perfect". People are afraid of even trying because "they're not good at it".
It's sad imo. Some things including singing or such should be done for the enjoyment, not for the perfection. But then I grew up singing. And that's one of our big entertainments during long car drives. We sing songs. I'm not good enough to teach us harmony but I'm teaching the kids to sing in a round.
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Betsy
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JennGM wrote:
AND, just to note, for children, it's the PROCESS, not the END. That is something I always have to keep in mind that as adults we are goal oriented, but the children want to just "do" and "be".
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I am just digging out of my weekend to reply to this thread! Yes, yes, yes! That is exactly it. It's a process. It's just to keep idle hands busy. It's just to learn what goes into making things.
Truly, it's not about se*ual orientation...as has been suggested.  
For what ever it's worth...my ds and I are knitting socks for our State Fair. I personally think that might be a handy skill to have some day (especially with the size of this kids feet right now  )
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Betsy
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JodieLyn wrote:
You know it's hard to do those things.. reciting or singing or playing an instrument when we're surrounded by "professional sounding" people. It's hard to compete with a singer.. especially recordings of singers where they can splice together many takes of a song to get it "perfect". People are afraid of even trying because "they're not good at it".
It's sad imo. Some things including singing or such should be done for the enjoyment, not for the perfection. But then I grew up singing. And that's one of our big entertainments during long car drives. We sing songs. I'm not good enough to teach us harmony but I'm teaching the kids to sing in a round. |
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I agree with this sentiment whole heartily!!!!!! We look at air brushed and photoshopped images all day and wonder why we don't look anythng like that. When in reality it's like looking at a cartoon and saying I am not perfect.
When we think of being creative we only think of perfection and money. If I can't make a million dollars why bother or if I can't be perfect why both.
Not to keep hounding knitting, but because mistakes are harder to fix we talk about them a lot. Learning to "read our work" to know when that mistake is really going to effect the final object and we need to rip out our work to fix it and when it just provides character to what we are working on. I think that idea is really an important one to learn in life...like the Serenity Prayer.
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ImmaculataDesigns.com
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CrunchyMom
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Betsy wrote:
Truly, it's not about se*ual orientation...as has been suggested.
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Yeah, well, IMNSHO, bullying someone for liking something creative that you don't understand and making them feel rejected for their tastes is likely a root of that issue, TYVM. Stepping off soap box...
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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4Real Forums : The Arts in the Everyday
Topic: Making Wholeness Heals the Maker
