what my hands know.

When my friend Summer asked me what I wanted for my birthday I told her I wanted a dictionary. "That's not very exciting," she told me. From this reaction I realized this was not a gift anyone would want to give me. So I took my lanky self down to Black Oak with an empty book-bag. When I called them I quizzed the salesperson about the O.E.D. I had seen one at Dog Eared Books, but it was the condensed version. Very condensed, like when you opened a page it looked like Chuck Close meets Jackson Pollack. It came with a magnifying glass the size of a graham cracker. O no, I thought, this is not for me. When I spoke with the Black Oak fellow he said that the full OED could be ordered for me. It would be $1200.  I gasped! Words have become so expensive.

And words are heavy. I walked away with the second best, the Webster's New International Second Addition. He said that the 2nd addition was the one. That Webster's had messed up the third edition and it was not to be trusted. A believer of experts, I handed over my money.

When I was sitting on the dusty wood floor at Dog Eared I looked up the same word in all their dictionaries. INEFFABLE. This is when you can see that not all books with words in them are created equal. A few dictionaries completely left out this word, and others left you feeling like you might walk away misusing the word for the rest of your life. Like nonplussed. It doesn't mean what you think it does. But people like to misuse it because it sounds like it should mean something less than ambivalent.

Decadent is not a nice thing to say. Please don't ever put it near any of my desserts, even really dense chocolate ones. And once I tried to say that my pudding was unctous but I had to change it to suave when I finally believed my mama that unctous was not a compliment to my pudding. My mother is a walking OED. She knows about grammar and spelling and words like no body's business. You can count on her to find the typos on a menu in under half a nanosecond.

I recently wrote a small email to the reporter who covered the amazing work of The People's Grocery in the SF Chronicle. The subject line read, "one word's usage." But it bounced back. Too bad, I was really looking for an answer. The word healthy is constantly misused. Food is never healthy. People are healthy and food is healthful. I wanted to know if he intentionally misused the word because we lazy Americans have changed it, or if the change is official and I can stop being mad at all my food magazines.

The word that I have been thinking about a lot lately is CRAFT. I graduated from a college that recently chose to butcher its name, excluding this very word. I have been a bit forlorn about it, and sometimes downright angry. I guess that according to them craft is not very sexy, sleek, or modern enough to bring them into the next century. I take offense to this. What this stolen country needs more of is craft and the humble respect for it. In my dictionary the #1 definition is one simple brave word: STRENGTH. "2a. Art or skill; dexterity as in some manual employment; aptitude; skillfulness in planning or executing. "

In art school craft meant useful as well as pleasing aesthetically. So what does useful mean? In pottery it means that the vessel can hold water. But photography has turned out to be pretty darn useful, n'est pas? And what about dance? Or music? For me all art has proved useful. From an early age I began to think about art as language. But delving deeper, that as creatures we speak thousands of languages. In movement, voice, love, commerce, (monetary and not), touch, taste, ad infinitum. When cats and dogs meet they touch noses. They are exchanging information, this is a silent language. Elephants mourn their deceased and have entire physical rituals that they perform on their loved ones' grave sites. To me, this is language.

A chef I worked for recently said that for her it was important to get very quiet in the kitchen. So that she could hear the food, it's communications. I have a hard time putting words to my food until I feel I have completed some sort of thought process, and a joining with the ingredients. Stonemasons learn stone, electricians befriend electricity. As craftsmen we work to understand our medium, we both work to take dominion as well as let the organic nature of our substance turn around and continue to teach us. For every one question answered and supposed to be understood, a thousand more question spores bloom. Our bodies and minds become a vehicle for the transmission of inspiration, and we remain forever humble.

CRAFT, the word, the meanings, are my continuing theme of eggbeater. Look at the old eggbeaters. Completely beautiful in design, form and function.

Craft is what I do in the kitchen. It's what I do when I knit, and write. Craft is the language from which I get my words to talk about how much I love what eggs do, how butter tastes, how salt heightens flavour, how a sharp knife is as beautiful as the most sensual caress.

Craft is being the apprentice and becoming the master. It's learning the hands teaching the mind. It's body memory.

Comments

[Dr. Biggles]

Hey,

Bring it on sister, let it flow.

You're having fun, huh?

Senior Biggles

[sfmike]

Sam Breach sent me over here and I just had to comment on what a really good writer you are. I also share your respect for the word "craft" and the distaste that the very rich kids' art school you used to go to has taken the word out of its name. It will probably be renamed the Osher/Koret/Rich Family Foundation University any day now.

One grammar mistake that you and seemingly half the country makes did stand out. You wrote "butcher it's name" when it should be "butcher its name." When you are contracting "it is" the word is spelled "it's." When you are using the word as a possessive, there's no apostrophe.

Again, it's a nicely written piece.

[Sam]

Happy Birthday Shuna - so sorry to be eating eairline food instead of your birthday pot luck :(

[color me curious]

I really appreciated your writing on craft, both the concept and the value of the word. As an art school educated potter who went on to graduate school for painting, the value and perceived value of craft have long been big issues for me.
The craft esthetic that came from the Arts and Crafts Movement formed the basis of my ceramics training in the 70’s, and I have been struggling to honor those principles ever since. The romantic celebration of the anonymous craftsperson who labors with grace and humility is hard to reconcile with the celebrity worship and cult of the new that fuel our contemporary culture. In graduate school in the 90’s, my theory heavy training seemed bent on devaluing not only craft, but anything that went on outside the head. We were taught that the epitome of artistic achievement came with the “dematerialization of the art object”. In other words, only the ideas matter. That means, of course, that the value of an art object comes not from the artist or his/her work, but from the critic, historian, or curator who provides the context and the meaning. The artist is just a dumb laborer; the art work is just the by-product that serves as raw material for the real work of the art theorist. Craft and good craftsmanship have no intrinsic value; their results can only be elevated to the higher status of art by the efforts of the theorist. The class struggle rears its ugly head, and once again labor is devalued.
These days I stay away from the fine arts world and toil in the decorative arts. I find the values I hold dear to be more respected by those who appreciate beauty: cooks, gardeners, anyone who works with their hands in a creative way.
It seems to me that this lack of appreciation for craft, beauty, and honest labor lie at the heart of what ails our society. I am hopeful that the interest in honest food and the domestic arts I see blossoming in the generation that follows mine is a sign of change, a paradigm shift, if you will, that will help us to reclaim our humanity along with the appreciation of craft.

[Summer]

Hey! This is Summer, the one you quoted in your March 16th Blog - or should I say MISQUOTED! I can't imagine I would have said that that is not an exciting present as I am myself a dictionary lover and seeker of fine definitions. But its ok, I probably did say that, or maybe it was Max, it sounds like something he would say. I'm not doubting your memory Shuna, I'm doubting mine. I'm glad you got your dictionary. And I do enjoy your blog. ok bye

[Summer]

Did that last posting sound mean? I didn't mean to be mean. love you shuna!

[Katrina]

Shuna!
I asked for a dictionary for my birthday too.
Only no one got me one. I will, much like yourself, have to buy myself one.

You are truly brilliant.
I love your posts.
I love how you are sharing yourself now in such an expansive way as this. You have so much to offer in way of advice and simple thought.
You are so talented that it humbles me to eat your food every single time I do.
Much like reading every word you write. Humbling.
I, also, love the layout of your blog. It is so very you and reminds me of your room.
And it certainly is in someways your room isn't it.

[Donnalyn]

I get the sense that your writing on craft springs directly out of the source of your creativity. You carefully mine the words directly from the hot and dark core of inspiriation. Thank you for sharing your experience of craft and the creative process - it is helpful to everyone who has ever made the trek to find their own muse.

[shuna]

Donnalyn,

thank you for visiting and making such a thoughtful comment. I am glad that we met over gingerbread. It's proof that food brings us together and inspires so many of us to inspire others.

When I wrote this it all poured out of me and I could not stop until I was done. It's been fantastically scary to share my words with all who care to glance or read.

Hope to see you again here soon!

[Kris Fleitz]

Old post but I loved the title. It struck me after I read it how I really need to find something that occupies my hands and my head. I think too much and it exhausts me. Working with your hands purposefully slows you down. I think it is why I've stayed in the tech thing for too long. Initially it helped to integrate the two but now I need something else to fill me up.

Thanks for the thoughtful posts. Hope you are well.

Kris

[i love you!]

i am sooo interested in your beautiful story,, please tell me more about yousrself.?? i have msn, write me an email and we can chat sometime or add me.
kirstie x x