The Hands are Leading the Way!

Crafts with Kemal Lowenthal and Simon Gillman

Besides teaching them to use their hands, Crafts and outdoor work make pupils explicitly responsible for what they’re doing. They are the tool and no one else has a hand in the outcome of their work. They must inhabit their thoughts, must think ahead, think flexibly and they must be present in their working. It is a perfect blend of thinking, feeling and willing. The goal is not to create artists. This work gives the student the knowledge that they can make things by connecting their thought with their inner life and their will. They can apply hard work and take something ordinary and turn it into something beautiful.

Kemal Lowenthal (US) has over ten years of experience teaching a variety of subjects in Waldorf schools, including: woodwork, clay, basketry, copper work, stone carving, math and block teaching. He is an active green woodworker and potter whose children now attend Green Meadow Waldorf School.

Simon Gillman (F) taught gardening, forestry and green woodwork to 8-16 year olds for over 20 years at Michael Hall School in the UK. He has developed original land-based curricula and led workshops in Germany, China, France and Spain as well as in the UK. He currently lives and works on the west coast of Brittany.