Why I Love Hands...

I have always loved hands for as long as I can remember. People have asked me over the years what I think my best feature is. (it's usually after I make a comment telling them what their best feature is"). I have not always responded with 'my hands' but more often than not, I think of hands first.

When I think about 'why' I respond with hands, its likely because I so often observe people's hands and in doing so, think about all the things that they create. 

In addition to being many other things, my grandfather loved to build things, often out of wood, but sometimes out of cement, dirt and stones. He built the stone and tiled patio at our Adirondack camp in upstate New York, the larger than average wooden picnic table that sat by the firepit overlooking the lake, the chairs that brought us from the front porch down to the water's edge, a walking and swimming dock, a series of donkey carts that housed flower and herbs and so on. The list goes on.

And he knew how to fix things. It was a remarkable thing to watch - one minute my barrette or bike was broken and an hour later, they were fixed.

My grandmother, like most grandmothers, also used to create with her hands. She crocheted and knitted sweaters, scarves, hats and gloves. In addition to being an amazing cook and seamstress, she was also a nurse (which no one really knew), a mother and a piano player.

Like my Uncle Alton and others in the family who put music first, she would play nearly every night when I wasn't practicing myself. I'd sit perched on the floor not far away and whenever I looked up, I immediately looked for her hands - what were they doing? how were they transcending that very keyboard that I banged on myself only hours before?

It's not surprising that at PopTech this year, where they seemed to have more 'performers' than previous years, I noticed the hands of these creators. How could you not? Below are a few shots I took to capture my own memories of these remarkable artists.

The hands of Zoe Keating

The hands of John Legend

The hands of Kelly Joe Phelps

The hands of Vanessa German

The hands of Bora Yoon