Gestures of Energy

The more you slide down this slope of thought, the easier it is to understand how we might come to the conclusion that everything made by hand is seeded with a sort of infinite, way-finding type of energy; the same kind that's in an atom, an apple or a bass-line of thunder. This kinetic frequency is as limitless and mystical as it is obvious and mundane; magic right under noses. When you boil it all down, what the human hand is capable of — literally and emotionally— is simple proof that we must've won the larger half of a wishbone in the cosmic sense.

From sleight of hand and pinky promises to thumbprint cookies and the art of the Yo-Yo, there's nothing worthwhile that doesn't trace back to the lifeline of our hands and the power they hold. It's this endless idea that inspires us to remain devoted to a craft that could never exist without considered handling.

In this spirit, we've rounded up a few of our favorite hands on the internet:

Bruno Mari's quirky classic, Speak Italian: The Fine Art of the Gesture

In this pictorial guide, the legendary Italian artist and graphic designer Bruno Munari, teaches its reader how to express themselves with two thumbs up when visiting his native land.

Robin Moore's portrait series of students and their string figures

Reaching beyond a basic Cat's Cradle, this handy pastime of string-play has captured people's attention for centuries. In this series from a talented amateur photographer, designs that are as complex as wild spiderwebs are seen in the hands of students in a math class sometime in the 1980s.

Shadow puppetry of the 18th and 19th century

Back in the day, shadow puppet theatre was a ballet of effort with characters hand-crafted on tall sticks and brought to life behind silk screens. We yearn for those days, but we also appreciate the lesser-art-form of the trade where pointer fingers morph into wolves in the night at the stroke of a flashlight.

Pinch pots and finger painting

For a rainy day, we can't recommend this enough — explore the internet archives of art education for kids 1-6. No matter the medium, it's expressionist joy at its absolute finest.