There is something calming about the rhythm of doing something by hand. This cadence was once much more pronounced and universally evident: scythes whispered back and forth in the fields, hammers landed in regular turns on anvils, and churn handles worked up and down in dairies.
The regularity of these employments had its benefits. Eric Sloane addresses one benefit in American Barns and Covered Bridges: “The American seems to think things out best while working. . . . The thoughts one thinks while sawing a tree or making a stone wall are surprising” (p.19).
Entering the “Zone”
Still there remains a rhythm in art studios and glassworks, at sewing machines and quilting frames, at potters’ wheels and, yes, carving benches. Every art and craft has its own rhythm of physical work. Some use more repetitive motions, like the back-and-forth of the beater bar in weaving. Others have few such regular movements.
But they all have this cadence in common: a regular pattern of effort and reflection. Before I even go to the carving bench or the lathe, the pattern starts. I put on my leather apron or my smock. I get together what I need for the job at hand. Do any “pre-work,” such as planing a block to be carved.
Then I go to my bench or lathe. I look at what I have done so far, stand back and imagine what needs to happen next, and then take up a tool. A few moments of using that tool and I am “in the zone.” This state is what I mean by being “engrossed in carving” (https://thelindenwoodstudio.com/about/). I’ve read that the phrase refers to the television show The Twilight Zone. Perhaps. Maybe it’s a sports reference. Anyway, it does describe that focused time when distractions fall away and I am totally absorbed in working.
Staying in the Zone
Then I pause at a point and assess the progress. Step back. Look the piece over. Touch it. Think. Wonder.
After a few moments, I take up the work again, hoping my hands can carry out the idea in my head. Effort and reflection. Effort and reflection. This is what keeps going: the rhythm of work.
The Work of Rhythm
But there is the work of rhythm too. That is, how the steady, focused effort works on me. I benefit from the flow state, as it is often called. I am calm, relaxed, and yet challenged. I am working on something and something is working on me. In a good way. (Here’s an article on how the body and brain respond in a flow state: https://medicalnewstoday.com/articles/flow-state .) Being in the zone not only improves the work, it also improves the worker. I may have been born a century too late . . .
