Generational Creativity

My Great Grandma turned 91 this year. I recently visited her for the first time in over a year and a half because of the pandemic. She’s tiny now and her eyesight has deteriorated progressively over the last few years so much so that she can no longer see the tv, read books, or do her beloved creative hobbies. A keen beadsmith and dressmaker throughout her younger years, she made beautiful beaded jewellery and dresses. She was also a medium, which she didn’t talk about often, except to tell us when we’d been visited by spirits.

My first foray following in her footsteps was at 16, when I took up textiles at sixth form college. My mum bought me a sewing machine and my first year project was a gothic tulle skirted dress. I wish I had a photo I could show you because as I recall, the finished piece was pretty crap. I got kicked out that summer for bad grades all round. All was not lost. I rerouted and went on to get a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in the end, but dressmaking never re-entered my artistic canon.

In all honesty, I didn’t really do anything creative in my early and mid-twenties. I dreamed about writing and making jewellery, but I did very little of either. Studying, partying, travelling and working to do so instead.

My Great Grandma made gorgeous, intricate beaded jewellery which growing up never seemed fashionable to me, but which I now see more and more makers doing similar designs. Unable to teach me herself anymore, she’s handed over most of her equipment, including a beautiful Japanese bead collection, findings, scissors, thread and other sundries, so that I can teach myself.

This has been an equal parts frustrating and rewarding process. I wish that I had started earlier when she would have been able to show me techniques and pass on decades worth of knowledge. I’ve learnt that beading is more complicated than it seems on the surface, with one piece of thread at your disposal, if you mess up and get a knot you can’t undo, or mis-stitch so badly you can’t back track your way out of it, an entire project can be ruined just like that.

But when I finally crack a design that has taken days and multiple attempts and pick up the scissors to cut the excess thread, signifying the finished piece, there’s a glorious feeling of triumph. Beginners tip: stay away from earrings for a while - the matching pair is a bitch.

Every culture we know of has used beads, and universality is a theme I love. Beads have been used throughout history, some say dating back to the Neanderthals and that they may be one of the earliest art forms, used to symbolise various social markers, as art, and in prayer. Some early materials that were used include teeth and bone, before becoming a valuable trading commodity.

My mum started painting last year and something she always talks about is how she goes to sleep now thinking about paint colour combinations instead of today’s stresses or tomorrow’s worries. Inspiration is my primary motivator, so how lucky that the women in my family inspire me. Creating is escapism, focus on the present and happiness. There’s also lessons in patience, perseverance and concentration. An extra dose of these intangible, dopamine-filled qualities of life are greatly needed in our jagged society.

My Great-Grandma just spent a week in hospital after a fall. She’s incredibly resilient. She bounces back every time. This time I beaded and tried to channel her connection with the spiritual realm as a good luck charm. Whatever bearing this did or didn’t have on her recovery, she’d have liked this idea.

So here’s to being inspired by the people around us and passing creative skills on to the next generation. Here’s to the quirks and creations that make up a person. Here’s to finding the inevitable happiness that comes from creating - a salve for the mind in our modern world.