Hands+in+Art

=**Hands in Art **=

//"A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute." –Edward Gibbon//
Hand surgeon and research fellow Amy L. Ladd writes, "Art is that unique synthesis of the human brain and hand" (p. 1). The hand creates: it is the agent of the artistic mind, "marrying," in Ladd's words, "the intellect to the soul" (p. 10).



The hand is often associated with our first memories of art-making. Tiny fingers grasp crayons or swirl thick paint freely across a smooth surface. Small hands are dipped in paint to stamp hand prints. Children are encouraged to elaborate on their hand prints to create fanciful creatures and designs.

Parents treasure the small, printed hands of their children, some capturing the child's print—and the moment in time—in plaster. How fitting and poignant that textile artist B.J. Adams should choose children's reaching and grasping hands for the memorial quilt Too Brief, in honour of the 19 children lost in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (Flannery, p. 286).



The hand is an ancient and powerful symbol in art. At its most basic level, as in Adams’ embroidered canvas, it signifies, 'I was here.' The hand was "the subject for Neolithic society's first public gallery spaces – cave paintings more than 20,000 years ago" (Whangerei, p. 1). The in Argentina is a stunning example of both printed and stenciled hands by ancient artists.

The evolutionary use of hands—first for survival (for climbing, scooping, scraping, hunting and defense), and later for creation (of tools, objects and images)—is deeply embedded in the imagery of the hand in art. "The hand, open, is an instrument," wrote anatomy artist and teacher George Bridgman. "The hand, closed, is a weapon" (p. 275).

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