Can you Hold a Hand?

Yorkshire Artists Sam O’Brien & David Lewis are in the process of kicking off a massive nationwide arts project that promises to grab the attention of everyone in the country.

The Artists are to send out over 32,000 sculptures of 1 “high Hands into the general public! Intrigued? Well so you should be, nothing like this has ever been attempted until now. The Hand is cast in white plaster and is ready to be made into whatever the ‘Handhold’ wants it to be. The Hands will be sent out into the public in a number of different ways:-

1. Some of the hands will be sent to groups of people who will work both individually and as a group.
2. Some will be place around towns and cities for people to find randomly
3. Some hands will be available from the web site and numerous outlets (galleries, museums and some festivals)

Each hand comes with instructions of how to register and what to do with it.

Local press will be informed before the HoldaHand team comes to town so people can be prepared to search. On the given day hands will be placed around the cities and towns throughout the day for lucky people to find.

Each HandHolder is given the opportunity to hold the hand for up to a year and be creative with the sculpture in which ever way they want. Trials suggest that in the first instance people will take the hand with them as they travel around the world, taking photos and decorating the hand. But as time goes by and people exhibit their work other creative responses develop into painting, writing, sculpture, design and fashion. “we believe that the project will take form as a movement, people will see what others are doing with their hand and take inspiration, then in turn someone will take inspiration from them” say’s Sam O’Brien “It is like a artistic chain letter, people all over the country will be watching out for hands and wandering what people will be doing with them next”

Holdahand has ‘exhibition space on Face Book, YouTube and other urban networking sites, as well as a space for exhibiting photos of hand on the Holdahand web site a national paper has agreed to show images on a regular basis too.
It is important to both the artists that the communication within Handholds is creative. They are both Dyslexic and understand the importance of a creative language, “we want to share and encourage creativity, weather it is artistic, musical or purely expressing oneself verbally, it is surprising how many people want to be artistically free yet feel they are not worthy or able to do so.” The artists are encouraging ‘Handholders’ to display their hand as often as possible to send the message that they support artistic freedom and accept anyone’s creativity without judgment.

“We will give general folk a chance to be an artist without fear of rejection. It is very important that everyone’s work is accepted. In fact people do not have to put their names to the hand and can just become a number. This allows for freedom of art making.”

After the year has passed the artists will call all ‘handholders’ to return their hand. They will be hosting a massive exhibition that holds all the hands in a gallery. Every hand will have a space and each handholder will be given a map of the exhibition so they know where to put their sculpture. They may also be able to visit other hands that they have seen exhibited in the months before.

“We are aware that some hands will not return to the ‘fold’ and some may be returned broken or damaged, but this is important as we feel the spaces will be as powerful as the hands. Even if hardly any of the hands are not returned we believe the installation will still be a very powerful environment.”

It is important to us that we keep the exhibition in the north as we feel events like this are primarily in London and the south. The artists are currently in talks with the new Hepworth gallery in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, due to open in 2010,
The project is calling on all, (not just designers, artists and performers although they are welcome.) to decorate hands, you can get one by logging on to www.holdahand.co.uk the project is due to be officially launched in the Autumn this year but hands are available now.

Holdahand are looking for a sponsor to champion the project, the project aims to touch the entire county and has great potential to reach even wider. To find out more or for press and media please email info@holdahand.com. All those wanting hands or work with the hands as a group can contact us through the forms on the website.