I think we have just been insulted......
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Original Post
So a couple of weeks ago etsy was in the New Yorker. It wasn't a bad article. Basically it was about making things here in the good ol' US of A. A couple of sellers were mentioned (lucky them).
Well....I just got my recent issue of Ornament. There is an article about Lloyd Herman, director of the Renwick Gallery. And we here at etsy have been really insulted.....
He says and I quote: "...it is encouraging to see so many do-it-yourselfers making everything from quilts and knitted toys to jewelry and furniture....those would-be craftspeople, who buy their supplies to craft decorative items for their homes, may learn to appreciate the skills and talents of professionals and come to appreciate and even collect the work of professional craftmakers."
He goes on....."he also worries that many people today confuse what he calls "cyber-craft", meaning much of the work that is on websites such as Etsy.com, with studio craft. Cyber craft undermines the work of university-trained artists....things on Etsy tend to be on the cute side, not very challenging...I think of it as almost glue gun technology and it is usually not very good. From what I can see, most of the people on etsy are totally ignorant of the studio craft movement...
Is he kidding? Does he have any idea of the talented artists on here?
I was pretty pissed when I read that arrogant attitude. What does he say about the Gees Bend quilters? Were they professionals? Did they go to university to learn to quilt? I think not. Their art is from their hearts and hands.
Not everyone learns their art at the university.
The pomposity!
Sorry I just had to vent that one.
I will write to Ornament although they don't print letters.
Posted at 8:16pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
Responses
Sounds like a man who is threatened by the competition to me.
It is very disrespectful.
Posted at 8:25pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
Back when I sold paintings..I once had a professor walk up to my table with a group of college kids following behind him and he launched into a speech about how wonderful & talented my work was..and as he went about boasting the art program of the local college and asked where I trained.. I informed him that I was self taught and he stuck his nose in the air and said, "Well...then...you are not really an artist!" and walked away!! I never forgot that. How could I be talented one minute..and a "nothing" the next? Like the others said..snobs will be snobs :(
Posted at 8:25pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
LOL! You were a tiny bit faster than me, embellishedlife.
Posted at 8:25pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
Sounds like the attitude of every art professor I had in college. Thank goodness I didn't chose art as a major and have to deal with these people every day. I remember vividly that unless you were an art major, you basically automatically failed a few of the classes because the professors automatically assumed because you weren't "gifted" so you couldn't possibly do anything worthy.
Let me clarify that I'm not saying all professional artists are that way. I don't know all of you out there in the world. :) I'm just referring to that small group of them who happened to be at the college I attended.
Posted at 8:27pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
i bet he's never even looked on etsy,he couldn't have and said that.
Posted at 8:27pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
everyone's entitled to their opinion.
I wouldn't worry about what others think.
Posted at 8:27pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
What a giant Dbag! I think that just like so many people here my work is art!
Posted at 8:28pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
That is one thing that makes me dislike the art world---why do people have to be so darn snobby? Maybe he feels threatened by the fact that so many people are creating such wonderful things without the rigors of academia!!?? I thing it's great that so many people are being so creative and that Etsy has made it possible for crafters/artists to sell directly to buyers--this empowers all of us!
Posted at 8:28pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT