The Beauty of Analog Art: Human Made

Artwork by Lam Gray

I'm not one to forego the conveniences of our digital world, but like gardening (and farming) there are reasons and seasons for patiently experiencing.  Today I am writing this newsy-letter on my laptop, but soon I will go out to the garden to thin lettuce plants, cover the peppers for the coming frost, and gather squash for storage. Gathering the fruits of seeds planted and plants cultivated reminds me that the art that we cherish appears from the patient experience of artists turning their learned practice with paint and pottery into art works suitable to also "store up,"- with which to feed our souls.

Artwork by Cora Smith

The image above intrigues me and I hope it does you, too. Analogue. "A thing which has characteristics in common with another." This is not far from the meaning of analogy, a bedrock principle of philosophical inquiry. (See Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)

Fruits of an analogue method. Last Friday those who gathered at The Artists Hand for our reception honoring the artists who made The Artful Letter Exhibit were treated to nearly 50 pieces of artful lettering. All of them made in an "analogue" method. That is to say, not digital. Like an "old fashioned" clock being a system of gears that imitates and expresses the passage of time, or a sound wave imitating the fluctuations of a violin string, the pens and brushes used to make these works express a likeness to the letters and images on the page. Calligraphers describe their practice as one of developing "the hand." Not so much writing letters as drawing them. Learning over time to express the idea through choices of form (the font), media (ink? guache? watercolor?), and surface (various papers,  

Here is a fun thought experiment. Is the world you live in comprised of seemingly endless possibility and infinite expression? Or is it comprised of discrete, finite states of being? On-off. Black-white. Ones and zeroes. Digital data has brought us many marvelous marvels. But for today, I'm content to gather my tools and head out to the garden to weed, seed and harvest. It's the beauty of how we care for our soil, our spaces, and each other. When I stop in the Artists Hand Gallery and see the original artwork of local artists, my soul feels and reflects the way no machine can replicate.

It's special to have artwork that is human made.

Stop by to feed your soul.

We're Open

Monday-Wednesday 9AM-5PM

Thursday-Friday 9AM-8PM

Saturday 9AM-5PM

Closed on Sunday

Artwork by Mandi Moerland

Sincerely,

Brian Jones

Art Gallery Owner