Telling the story by hand and meditation.
I can recall designing and writing out a phrasing by Michelangelo Buonarroti, “By hand, which follows mind and meditation.” It’s actually a telling that follows a longer contemplation:
“The best of artists never makes creation
That is not hid already in the stone
In marble fixed and yet the work is done
By hand, which follows mind and meditation.”
The point comes down to the notation that the spirit of the mind, and memory, in meditation — the contemplation of an idea, or ideal, that bridges and interweaves that translation, the transforming of dream to expression, pushing out the story and the invention of interpretation. If “illustration” as I recently told a group of brand + design students is about making something “shine;” and that “translation” — is a transferring [which inherently means a carrying or a ferrying], while transforming is a movement through form, the idea of the hand touch carries through each and each is a lensed treatment of the perspective of the soulful insight — these movements are signs, signals, signatures and sigils of — the person. As in the founding meaning of the word “interpret” is “to spread” — to explain, expound and understand — all of these are journeys in which the hand plays a part in the telling of that story.
A friend, Steve Heller, art director, writer, educator, publisher and scholar sent this link, his blog notations, along to me, a blog that he found relevant to my commentary, a non-digital laboratory in a wholly digital company; the analog lab at Facebook.
A key message from Heller’s discussions:
“Barry’s Analog Lab team art directs the physical spaces and signage programs to insure that design reinforces the Facebook culture. And recently an artist in residency program was instituted, where outside artists are invited to create work for a period of two to eight weeks. And quoting Ben Barry, the art director of the Facebook Analog Design laboratory, a kind of visual brand culture design propaganda messaging office: “To me the act of creating the work is as important as the work itself because we are a culture of hackers/makers/builders.”
The touch of anything, especially not contained in the enclave of a screen, is a meaningful deepening of holistic sensation. And becomes more…unforgettable.
The hand, matters.
Tim Girvin | Girvin Island Studios | Decatur Island
G I R V I N |N E W WOWNESS
INNOVATION WORKSHOPS
CREATING STRATEGIES, PRODUCTS,
IDEAS FOR CHANGE.
http://bit.ly/vfzyEU