WHO AM I?
Hi! I’m Ann-Marie - a passionate embroidery designer and teacher based in Perth, Western Australia. I’ve spent the past decade growing my creative business, Beautiful Stitches. I started teaching locally in 2012 and gradually grew to offer workshops interstate, overseas, and online. I’ve also had careers in science and education. They have had led me to here, a place where I am exploring and celebrating the extraordinarily important connection between our hands and our minds. I love what I do!
WHY "The Hands Manifesto”?
In my former professional life I was a research scientist working in physics and geoscience. I’m naturally curious and the unexpected connections between things delight me. I started wondering how much we know about the role our hands play in learning, understanding, connecting, wellbeing, and a host of other things.
What do we know?
We know quite a lot about the connection between the cerebral (mind) and the haptic (hand). The complex collection of muscles, tendons, bones, nerves and skin at the end of our arms is nothing less than an extraordinary extension of our brain. But a lot of that information is buried deep in obscure academic language. It’s not very easy to access and digest!
what is the problem?
At least in the Western world, manual labour suffers from a major image problem. It is usually seen as a second rate choice when compared with cognitive labour. I believe that by making this division we do a disservice to both craftsmanship and academic learning. A balance is good for both individuals and society.
What can we do?
We need to raise the profile of hand work. I don’t want any child in any school to think they are somehow “less” because they are more skilled in the wood workshop than they are in the maths classroom. Equally, I don’t want a child who writes good essays to think that a cooking or jewellery making class is a stupid waste of their time. I want to see a society where we value manual labour and cognitive labour equally - in education, in careers, and in life.
What can you do?
I would love you to join me on this journey. I want to hear and share your stories. I want to share some of the fascinating things we know about our hands and their connection to our brain. I would love you to discuss these ideas with your friends, so that as a society we redress the balance. Help me make this change in the world!
