Presenting 2.0 technologies at the Professional Development Seminar was an effort on the part of Andy Cooperman, Don Friedlich and myself to showcase new marketing trends to the SNAG Conference audience. The subsequent discussions about 2.0 in the Open Space forum were serendipitous and spontaneous. We were pleasantly surprised that Bruce Metcalf, Andrew Wagner and other speakers picked up on this topic during the rest of the conference.

What is most surprising to me is that people on both sides of the conversation, “established” and “2.0 people”, felt attacked or judged. This is not conjecture on my part. They told me and I have to acknowledge the sincerity of their sentiments from both sides. The topic certainly initiated fervent discussion.

Personally, I don’t think anyone intended to offend others. If any offense was perceived, I hope that everyone will be a little more tolerant as the community tries to learn more about and perhaps eventually embrace these new channels. Many “established” people are still digesting these new ideas even though “2.0 people” are already quite comfortable with 2.0 and blogging. For a lot of people in the audience, they were hearing about this for the FIRST TIME. They were a little shocked, taken aback, wondering where do they fit in. They are wondering …will the 2.0 Marketplace offer us a place to show AND SELL our work. How do I do this? Where do I even start?

Perhaps, there are two kinds of people in SNAG, the “2.0 people” and the “not yet 2.0 people.” The goal of PDS, Open Forum and the SNAG Conference is to reach out to help our community, even if the learning seems a bit rough at times.

Overall, we have much more to learn from each other. Deb Todd Wheeler showed a flock of geese at the end of her lecture. She informed us that the birds actually take turns as the leader of the V-shaped formation. The one bird in front breaks the wind for the others, making it easier for all the other birds. From time to time, other birds take a turn to take the lead and buffer the wind. This is a very powerful metaphor for this discussion. Leadership, whether from the old guard, the avant guard or Etsy always takes a little extra risk and effort. The goal is to share the information to help the community.

Perhaps people are reacting to the anthropological tone of the lecture. Maybe any attempt– especially by the established old guard– to classify or put a lexicon to an “underground” or grass roots movement must by definition be unhip. Maybe the Indies and the Alt-crafters just simply don’t want to be categorized. Who really does?

The concluding paragraphs of Bruce’s lecture really hit home. I think that there is a great deal of truth there. Even though it may be in our DNA, as many have said, to pigeon -hole and to judge and it is true that juries have become a necessary fixture on the landscape of art and craft we need to be wary of the insidious nature that each presents. It is so easy to allow the critical and judgmental voice to ring too loudly too early in the process of making. It can and does short circuit too many possibilities.

The craft world won’t end, I think, if nothing really new happens but, without the freshness of alt-craft or something like it, it will become a sad and prissy dowager. And without the realization that they are part of a long history and members of a diverse family outside their immediate community the Indies may never be all they can…

i’ve stated time and time again that i see that bruce meant no offense (see comments in original post). though this is true, i’m not going to deny that i WAS offended. let me state for the record: i was not the only person in the room that day to feel this way.

i think garth put it really well in his comment. He says, “After the NCECA lecture, I can well imagine that Metcalf’s tone overshadowed his intention at SNAG.”

Might I also mention that Bruce, in his words to me, “edited this transcript lightly for readability”. It seems that Bruce has removed the sentence or two where he tells us that he walked around the Brooklyn Renegade Craft fair and found that only two exhibitors held B.F.A.’s

hmmm

I was there, as you know, and heard his tone. As Don said, Bruce is no Obama. I also remember his reference to BFA’s and what I heard was more a questioning of the basic need for a BFA. And, again, I don’t have one myself….

I also read Megan’s definition of Web 2.0. I stand by what I said originally.

A

I commend Annie for voicing her opinion (which she has every right to have) and for starting a clearly necessary conversation.

Megan said: To follow up, I think running for the SNAG board is a great option, but there are many other ways to get involved with SNAG besides running for the board. I encourage indie crafters to find ways to get involved with SNAG, and for SNAG to reach out more to indie crafters. I know I am trying to do both.

Action, interaction and understanding all go together. As chair of the SNAG Nominations and Elections Committee, which provides the slate of board candidates for the membership to vote on, I invite anyone to contact me if they would like to know more, kbeeler@lbcc.edu. Megan and Corey – we’ll be talking.

Underlining Megan’s statement, I would say that volunteering is the ultimate method of breaking down barriers. I encourage my students to get involved in indie events in the LA area and I would encourage anyone wanting to know more about SNAG to contact the volunteer coordinator Michelle Pajak-Reynolds, info@michellepajak.com.

I would add just a couple more thoughts:
First, I hope everyone who initially invested in this conversation is reading Bruce’s lecture. I sat in the room during the lecture and at the time I thought, “Oh wow, he’s really going to piss off somebody.” It never crossed my mind that it would be the alt-crafters. From my perspective, I heard someone who, like me, was engaged by the energy and charmed by the fearlessness of this movement. The education market holds little glamor and less hope for students. I try to prepare mine to become functional professionals in the studio. Alt-craft is now one facet of the field that they must know about in order to do that. If you listen to the tone of Bruce’s words from that perspective, I think you’ll find a whole-hearted supporter. If, like all of us, an imperfect one.

Second, I have to agree with a number of folks here including Don that this, unfortunately, is not a new conversation. Us/them conversations have always existed (in our group/any group) and will continue to cause deep rifts in groups that can’t sort out differences quickly and amicably. To pick up on Don’s political analogy, creating one side shouting “CHANGE” and another shouting “EXPERIENCE” currently does not have good play and is ultimately unproductive to both sides.

If allowed, the positive results of these conversations can long outlive any hard feelings caused by some misplaced or misunderstood words. Going through this long list of postings I can count between at least 10 and 15 actionable items that could be done to build bridges and make everyone’s position stronger. All they need are people willing to take them on.

I’ve managed to lose my reply TWICE, but will try one more.

Anyway, my remark about the BFAs @ Renegade must have been off-the-cuff, since it wasn’t in my written speech. It’s true I only found two BFAs among the many people I talked to @ renegade. However, Faythe Levine says about 1/3 of crafters have BFAs. Since she has dome a LOT more research than I, it would be best to assume her figure is correct until further info shows up.

As for my tone: even my best friends say I can sound pretty arrogant. It’s never my intention, so it must be a blind spot I have. I’m sorry I offended you, Annie, or any other people who identify with the alt-craft world. My intention was to provoke the SNAG mainstream, and I could have lived with pissing them off.

The exchanges on your blog suggest that a certain friction flares up between mainstream types like myself and certain citizens of the alt-craft world. I think this has to do with language, at least in part. Not so much with intentions. In the future, I hope that people will ask for clarification BEFORE they get pissed off.

Anyway, my sense is that the future of studio craft lies in the hands of alt-crafters. They have the energy, the enthusiasm, the numbers, the growing marketplace, the taste that young people respond to. They are web-savvy and know how to build great communities. They make some terrific work, too.

At the same time, I think the mainstream craft world has to reach out to alt-craft communities. The mainstream has the money, the platforms, and the institutions. But we may be clumsy, you know? I would ask everybody to be patient while we learn to speak each other’s languages.

Some alt-crafters might ask: What’s in it for us? We’re fine by ourselves. But the mainstream is a tremendous repository of technical information, as well as business experience. Issues that alt-craft is already facing has been dealt with many times in the mainstream craft world: How to raise price points. How to maximize the efficiency of your labor. How to break into upscale markets. At the same time, the mainstream has made plenty of mistakes, which alt-crafters may be interested in avoiding.

The mainstream is also the repository for the history of the field, and a lot of wisdom about why to make things by hand. Very useful knowledge, for those who seek it. And they have done some terrific work.

If I have learned anything in this exchange, it is to collaborate with insiders the next time I try to represent alt-craft. I also am excited to see how articulate many alt-crafters are, and how engaged they are in this debate. My generation would mostly sulk, muttering dark things in private. This kind of exchange is infinitely preferable.

And, for those who might want to take their shots at me in the flesh, I’ll be at one of the ACC’s salon events this July, along with Chanel Kennebrew of Junkprints. It should be quite an evening! Come loaded for bear, and we’ll see what happens!

July 24th, 6:30 PM “Connect/(Dis)Connect”
Jeweler Bruce Metcalf in Conversation with Indie craft artist Chanel Kennebrew.

http://www.americancraftmag.org/zoom-entry.php?id=2126

We of course would love to have you (all of you!) as guests so if you can make it, be sure to RSVP. Hope to see you soon…

- Andrew Wagner