'Identity through object making and the creative process'
An essay - Steve Butler
When I was eleven years old my Mother gave me my first guitar. I would spend hours practicing until my fingers were sore and bleeding. Eventually I became proficient at it. My Mom told me that "if they could put my school work to music I'd be a genius." Through music I made a lot of friends. I did finish school, not at the genius level though. Maybe Mom was right.
When playing guitar the hours went by as quickly as minutes. I could travel to distant shores and far off places. I could visit mythical legends and heroes. I lost myself in music, it was hypnotic. I felt whole with music in my life. It kept me centered and balanced and provided me with a creative outlet. I found the creative process of writing a song to be therapeutic. If something was bothering me I would write it down and it would no longer bother me. I have replaced music with object making, I still play occasionally.
The teenager practicing guitar in his bedroom is now an adult building furniture. I love the studio. I love building furniture. Making gives me identity. I spend hours in the studio, not necessarily building but tinkering, collecting my thoughts and letting my mind wander.
My work as an object maker is alway evolving. I am always a student, observing and learning. As makers and designers we build for many reasons. we build for fulfilment and for the love of building. Some objects we build have developed through copious sketches and with a great deal of thought going into them. Others are built just for the sake of building them. All objects we build are in some way very representational of ourselves. they each have a piece of us in them. It is fair to say that in each piece we build a bit of our heart and soul and our life's experiences are contained in them. I feel the building of objects gives us identity.
As a craftsperson I'm considered to be lucky by some. " How wonderful it is that you can build things" " I wish I had that talent." I believe all humans are creative and express themselves creatively. Their creations might not resemble mine in form or function but we all create in someway and achieve identity through the creative process. I believe we have to look at ourselves, at human nature. Not in the usual psychological, political or economic sense, but in a Darwinian biological sense. It is only by knowing where we come from in human evolution that we can know what we are and thus have some idea of our identity. I believe that object making and the creative process is an inherent quality or sense that we all possess, that we are all born with.
Untapping and utilizing this sense depends on our environment and influences. Since the beginning of time all human civilizations have created and made objects. Each object or creation had an intent or purpose. Civilizations have created objects as part of a ritual ceremony, a celebration or for self expression. Object making has given groups of individuals identity, creating communities as well as singular identity, acknowledging the maker.
The activity of object making stresses the socio - cultural function, funerary figures, masks used in healing ceremonies, musical instruments for initiation rituals, bowls painted with sacred symbols and jewelry used to indicate social status. We humans are tribal and create a hierarchy within our tribes. We surround ourselves with others who share the same interest or who have the same belief, therefore creating communities or tribes. We have Morris and friends, the Bauhaus, and in the 1960's we had a back to the Earth movement which saw groups of individuals with similar interest develop self sufficient object making communes, defining their identity.
Past civilizations and present ones make objects to be used in rituals. Rituals are performed in order to affect an uncertain situation, to restore or assure prosperity, health, victory or a successful passage to a new state of being. Rituals are not performed casually. Words, voices, actions, movements, bodies, surroundings and paraphernalia are made as impressive or sacred, beautiful or extraordinary as they can possibly be. As with tools or weapons, the objects make the ceremonies work better and thus create an identity to the group conducting the ritual.
Since the beginning of time we humans have gained identity through the making of objects and the creative process. For example: We can begin with body ornamentation. Everywhere humans to some degree make their bodies different from the way we came into the world. As early as 70,000 years ago people artificially elongated their skulls, as we see in ancient Egyptian statues and in some present day African tribes. This may not sound like identity through object making but it is identity through the creative process. The body is made special, different from the everyday, giving it it's own identity.
Hair was plaited or bound as it is in every human society, to make it different from animal fur or hair. Skin was painted and ears pierced. Everywhere the transformation creates an identity to a certain group, therefore creating communities, influencing individuals by the community environment.
Tattooing and piercing the body is quite common in today's society but we don't show off our tattoo or pierced body parts the way our ancestors did. We tend to conceal them but they still give the individual a personal identity. It is what makes a person different from another. Humans from the earliest of times have had to create and make objects. In Colonial times crafts such as spinning and weaving, joinery and blacksmithing were performed out of necessity but it did give the craftsperson a place in the community, thus creating an identity.
In today's society we turn to object making as a way to express ourselves. We dance, write poetry and song, make furniture, paint, blow glass and create objects out of textiles. These are done out of choice and not necessarily out of necessity, even though one might say they need to create to be themselves. Why is it that so many of us feel the need to craft and create objects when we have the choice to do anything we want in this world? If we don't build and create objects are we losing a sense or quality that is inherent to us? Suppressing our true feelings and urges as human beings, hiding our true identity?
I believe that object making is our identity as humans, it's what separates us from other species. It is vitally and humanly important to us a species. It is well known that the earliest cultural artifacts of our hominid ancestors were stone and bone tools, implements used for obtaining, preparing food and other life's necessities. It is now believed that among the advantages of walking upright is that the already dexterous and flexible primate hand was left free to carry, to make gestures, to make tools, and unlike other animals use tools to make objects. This adaption is quite evident in infant development. Both monkey and human fetuses make reaching and grasping movements in the womb. The human baby is born with incipient hand movements. Their hand movements become expressive, like conversational gestures. Along with Baby's ability to use its hands communicatively, its drive to master the skills of tool use reasserts itself with increasing control and coordination. Reaching, grasping and investigating by eyes, hand and mouth is natural to an infant. It is the way they learn, it's instinctive.
Infant development of motor skills include using the thumb and finger to grip, which is unique to humans as is our rotating wrist. Manipulation is also developed in person to person object games , where babies and their parents hand objects back and forth. the handling and use of objects helps baby learn interaction and communication skills. The person and the object have meaning and identity.
Frank R. Wilson in his book 'The hand' says that like musicians, surgeons and jugglers, all crafters turn hands into the essential physical instrument for the realization of their ideas or for the communication of closely held feelings. Touch is, of all the senses, most 'In touch' with feelings. We embrace, shake hands, and give pats on the back. we use words such as feelings, tact, hard, soft, smooth and rough. All tie fingertips to emotions. Touch is the premier power in craft. With hands the crafted object is formed, and through hands craft is communicated.
There are many reasons why humans feel compelled to make objects. Some create to release fantasies, others for a hobby or to share an interest with another. It brings them together in an relationship, but all aspects help define the individual and make them the person they are. Everyone need an interests and interpersonal relationships, they help define individual identity and give meaning to a person's life.
Object making to me is very therapeutic and cathartic. When we make we are solely responsible for the decisions and choices we make, it's honest. It is all up to ourselves. we have to answer for our actions and judgements. When we build we are honest with ourselves. We look deep inside ourselves and do a self inventory. Making engenders a contemplative state where we feel centered and in tune.
I love building and creating for others, the commission process. The process builds social interactions and develops a personal relationship between the maker and patron. When you build a commissioned piece you create a history for all involved. The maker plays a role, no matter how small in defining their identity. Each piece has a story. It comes with a background. I love teaching. I feel passing our knowledge of craft onto others is needed in order for craft to continue and grow. I feel it is my responsibility as a craftsperson. Not only will it bring more awareness to craft but it will help foster our inherent sense in others.
Unlike children in the traditional societies of the past, children today grow up in an environment where handwork and object making are rarities. Our kids don't walk but ride in cars. They don't learn to spin, weave or sew their clothes. They don't need to cook, much less grow or spear their own food, but can open a box or push a button. What happens on television or computer screens are what is real. Modern cultures continue to emphasize vision at the expense of touch. Our social ways make little allowance for people's need to touch. Children are rarely idle or alone, without background noise so that their thoughts can come to the surface and surprise and engage them. They search for identity.
History must question whether our species can prosper if so many of its evolved abilities are not fostered, and so many of its evolved needs are not met.
Object making is not only pleasurable - It's our identity.
Thank you very much for reading this long post. It's a matter of opinion only and not meant to offend.
As always - Thanks for following.
Best
Steve
