When you become involved in the creative work of making useful, beautiful objects and gain a personal understanding of what is meant by the intelligence of the hands, it transforms who you are and how you think.

Miguel Gomez-Ibanez, Past President of the North Bennet Street School

When I think of strong, working, doing hands I think of my Lebanese grandmother, Lulu Rizk. Her arthritic hands were thick and gnarly, bent in place, the kind of hands a child might be scared of, but to me her hands were beautiful, dark, olive skinned, strong, and capable. I loved those hands they made me feel safe, taught me things, and were always working, never idle. They made dresses, crocheted blankets, embroidered linen, rolled grape leaves, kneaded dough, they held books, newspapers and the bible, they wrote letters on thin onionskin airmail stationery in shaky English handwriting, they caressed grandchildren. They were hands that didn’t give up, hands that were always working, doing, moving, touching, making, active, alive. They, like my grandmother, were intelligent, full of life, learning, and possible. It was those hands that taught all the women in my family how to be in this world. Every woman that is descended from my grandmother is a doer. When you watch someone who struggles with their body so gracefully and elegantly without complaint or excuse, who did as much as my grandmother did, then you do the same. She set the pace and set the example. There was no being lazy and no complaining. She inspired you to do things and sometimes-just plain made you, but it was that attitude that contributed to my being a lifelong doer, especially with my hands.

As result of my grandmother’s inspiration and tutelage I have always been a maker of things. Whether it’s cooking, crafting, sewing, costume making, I have always worked with my hands. It is working with my hands when I feel the most connected. I love the solitariness of the task, the rhythmic and repetitive movements of the hands at work. I love learning a new skill and how practicing that skill makes you improve each time. I love the challenge of the work, the process, the patience it makes you muster and the feeling of accomplishment and perseverance after the frustration. I love the focus it makes you have and the balanced and centered place it takes you to. I love the end result. I love the instinctual innateness I have when I use my hands. I love the confidence, pleasure and joy I feel when I have created something with my hands. Like my grandmother showed me, I want to show children the beauty and strength and creativity and capability of their hands and how working with your hands to create something practical, beautiful integrates your whole being.