While in Nebraska City last summer at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, I started a hands on project… so to speak. Nebraska City is a small and somewhat quiet little nook of a place right on the eastern edge of Nebraska. Home of Arbor Day and the beginning of the Oregon Trail, Nebraska City had potential. Like any small town, the businesses were half empty on the main street. I began to notice a common thread within the city- The olde timey pointing hand. A vintage finger pointer, touristy and friendly in feeling, it could be found throughout town on signs.
I began to think about what this symbol actually meant, and what it could do. What if I used them to guide people on a certain path around the city, kind of like a dotted line. The olde timey hand is essentially a friendly arrow. It says: hey, go this way.
If I printed out hundreds of hands and used them to create a path around the city, would people follow them?
For a week I printed out hands… hand made hands. Sure, I could have photocopied them. Would have saved me a lot of time. But I wanted to keep my hand in it. I wanted to produce them myself. I carved the hand based off the Wildwood sign, and printed them one by one, on the proofing press.
If I printed out hundreds of hands and used them to create a path around the city, would people follow them?
For a week I printed out hands… hand made hands. Sure, I could have photocopied them. Would have saved me a lot of time. But I wanted to keep my hand in it. I wanted to produce them myself. I carved the hand based off the Wildwood sign, and printed them one by one, on the proofing press.
If you really made the commitment to follow the hands and traveled all the way down the alley, you would find at the very end of your journey… a giant thumbs up. And a pile of take-away of thumbs ups.
