TAKE NOTE - Arts and Crafts

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Arts and Crafts Movement that followed the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800’s.  Oh sorry, have I lost you?   Allow me to give some context.

We’ve lived in our new to us home for one year now and despite pretty well no cell coverage and only decent land line reception I’m very glad to be here.  In trying to live a wee bit quieter life I feel that we are beginning to bring that about.  Of course, no cell coverage and everyone leaving the nest also helps that tremendously!  As you are likely well aware, there is a lot of buzz around “simple this” and “slow that” and for very good reason.  Our culture is so BUSY and our mental health is suffering in direct correlation to it.  

I discovered from reading about the Arts and Crafts movement that people were reacting to how machines had taken away the joy of handmaking things along with the simple life and the fellowship that people used to savour in slower times.  And this was over 100 years ago!   What in the world would they think of our pace now?!  William Morris (of the amazing wallpaper) helped start the movement by declaring that there wasn’t enough beauty around anymore.  He advocated for making things by hand both for everyone to enjoy and also to slow down and revel in something that you made yourself.

My new thing, which really is just a reworking of an old thing, is not only to make art but to share any art, craft or making adventure that slows us down.  A good old fashioned, make something with your own hands, gab with someone while you do it, slow down thing. I’m embracing a business that focuses on art in a slow way.  I’m certainly with William on this and my little contribution is to provide a place for the frazzled and fresh alike to make something.

Slow art making for the masses!

“It is the childlike part of us that produces works of the imagination. When we were children time passed so slow with us that we seemed to have time for everything.”  William Morris