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
Fantastic - so the stuff on here is no good, and simple to make to boot. I'm off to buy a glue gun at Walmart so I can felt myself that scarf I've had my eye on - should be a piece of cake.
Deep breaths, deep breaths....
Posted at 8:36pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
Hey, not to be the fly in the Ornament...er I mean ointment, but if yer gonna be an artist, critiquing and reviews are part of the entire art scene.
Pull up your artsy pants etsians, and take it on the chin like, true artists. No whining when critiqued or your "gallery" is critiqued. Show 'em you can take it.
Posted at 8:36pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
ChristinaPerdue said:
I don't believe he's saying 'everything on Etsy is crap'.
We have a lot of great artists & crafters here and we have some not-so-great artists & crafters too.
The issue is the media (and Etsy itself) has positioned it as a place to 'make a quick buck selling easy crafts'.
So with this positioning you see an increase of people who don't learn their craft well and therefore aren't producing quality products.
__________
I agree.
Posted at 8:36pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
Etsy is a non-juried site, by design. That means that it has everything from high-end fine arts to glue gun whatever and everything in between. It will never be accepted as an elitist institution. It isn't meant to be.
Posted at 8:36pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
Umm... I know you guys don't agree with him, but calling him a 'prick' on the Etsy forums is in no way going to help Etsy's image.
At least he expressed himself somewhat professionally.
Posted at 8:37pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
The internet and its opportunities are very threatening to the establishment. THEY are the ones who are supposed to say when artists get to be artists or writers get to be read or filmmakers get to be seen.
They don't like it when we go around the established rules, which they worked so hard to win at, and just show our stuff and put it up for sale, and actually sell things.
How dare we claim to be artists when we haven't been blessed with an MFA and gallery representation!
Posted at 8:38pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
I think you need to give us the address to Ornament and let's all write letters. It doesn't matter if they print themor not. Let's slam their mailbox with protests!! I may not be the most fabulos of jewelry makers, but there are some very amazing artist here on Etsy!! Give us their address!!
Posted at 8:39pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
I got a sale in my other shop from a reader of the New Yorker. :)
Posted at 8:40pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT
This kind of attitude has been going on forever.
It is the difference between academy trained artists and folk art.
Guess what; folk art is the one that actually defines society, times, trends and the real world.
There is a place for both, but it does not mean that one is better than the other. Merit is not the point here.
Posted at 8:41pm Mar 31, 2009 EDT