The Art of Making
There are few things more satisfying that making something – putting in time and effort and having something tangible, something you can hold in your hands, when you’re finished. Fewer and fewer of us find ourselves doing that kind of work. At the end of the day, there’s isn’t much many of us can hold on to. It doesn’t mean that what we’re doing isn’t worthwhile, important, or have significant consequences; just that the fruits of much of our labor is intangible.
Which might explain why I liked the following video so much. In just over three minutes it shows 299 hours of labor – along with a lot of wood, sweat, experience, and passion – that go into making a flamenco guitar. The craftsman is Vasilis Lazarides; the filmmaker Dimitris Ladopoulos; the music in the background by Edsart Udo de Haes. The result is simply breath-taking
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It is easy, I realize, to romanticize such an endeavor, particularly when we see it condensed into three beautiful minutes. 299 hours is, after all, a heck of a lot of time. Most of us have neither the time nor the patience nor the experience to contemplate such a venture.
But part of what is so enthralling, I think, is that at the end there is something tangible to show, something that is made. The name of the video series of which this is a part is called “The Art of Making,” and I think that it points to the joy of creating something that can be not just touched and felt but also given. In my experience, when we create, it is almost never wholly or even largely because we want something to keep. Rather, it is the sheer joy of creating something pleasurable, often followed by the other joy of giving it away.
Which puts us in touch, I think, with the nature of God. The One who creates out of joy and love, and gives to have that joy and love made complete.
Perhaps this is why I think it’s important for all of us – even those of us who work with information, or language, or people and therefore never quite see an “end-product” – to connect with tasks where we actually make something, even if only once in a while.
So perhaps this weekend you can find time to cook a meal not because you have to get food on the table but because you want to prepare something, make something, that gives delight. Or perhaps you can pull some weeds or plant some seeds in the garden. Or maybe you can do some finger painting with a child or relearn the craft of sidewalk art. Or maybe you can make a simple card – make it, don’t buy it – and send it to a friend. Or maybe it will be as simple as mowing the lawn and, when you’re done, being able to stand back and admire the labor that has resulted in something that is, at least for the moment, well tended.
It doesn’t have to be much, but you might find yourself renewed by the act and art of making and connected, again and perhaps differently, to the God we confess is the maker and giver of all good things.
A word of thanks to Open Culture where I found this video featured.
A little gem of a reminder. Thanks for passing this along; the grass awaits.
And that is why I fell in love with weaving. The blending of creation and activity with beauty and a meditative state coupled with the fact that I can do it while watching a baseball game — makes life perfect!