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Story by
Vanessa
Published on July 25, 2008 in Events |
Photo by Vanessa |
The American Craft Council (ACC) hosted a lively talk last night at their Salon series in New York: a conversation between the Chanel Kennebrew of Junkprints — representing the "whipper-snappers" — and jewelry designer and educator Bruce Metcalf — representing the "old fogeys" (Bruce's words).
Bruce had sparked debate at the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) conference this past year, and subsequently, imogeneANDannie's orginal blog post reacting to his comments at the SNAG conference served as the starting point for last night's event. At SNAG, Bruce had challenged the DIY or "alt" craft movement and publicly reflected on the perceived differences in methods, training approaches, economic models, and values of his generation and peers vs. those represented by Etsy sellers and the digital crafting era at large.
Last night, the ACC brought Chanel and Bruce together to work through some of the disconnects between the two sides and to see what we all have in common. Some major differences: the highly rarified and exclusive gallery and private collector system vs. a non-juried, searchable, "cluttered" venue such as Etsy...The intensive investment of time and resources into a refined, expensive object vs. the iterative, speedier process of making relatively affordable yet unique handmade objects... Graduate school, advanced degrees and formal critique vs. peer advice and informal education through online community. Above all, Chanel underscored that one can't really make assumptions about Etsians — since they come from so many backgrounds — and she emphasized the need for today's artists to "find their own paths"...
At the end of the night, it became clear that we have a lot to learn from each other's perspective despite very real differences — and also that face-to-face discourse is much different than online!
We were on hand with a live Virtual Labs broadcast last night, but in case you missed the event, we wanted to point you to the ACC's Zoom blog. Here's the podcast embedded below. You can also download it through iTunes for free.
Thanks to the ACC for including us and thanks to both Bruce and Chanel who aren't afraid to voice their opinions and listen to those of others.
For more events of interest, please check out the Storque's Events Section and pencil in the September 18 Salon talk on politics and craft with KnitKnit and Rob Walker! Details here.
| Tags | ACC, American Craft Council, Bruce Metcalf, Chanel Kennebrew, debate, generations, New York, podcast |
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18 comments Login to add your own!
loadedhipspress
Haven't listened to the whole pocast but this is really interesting, thanks for posting.
arabafree
that is the most AMAZING necklace EVER in the top photo! Who made that?!?!
MadArtjewelry
ArgyleWhale
I think that this is a really important discussion and I really appreciate the time these two put into talking it over.
However, while I feel that Chanel is very smart and talented, I don't really understand why she was chosen to represent the "whipper snappers" in this dialogue if she doesn't really believe that the Bruce Metcalf's comments from his lecture were worth talking about. (I'm referencing her confusion over why we crafters would bother publicly disagreeing with the lecture on annie's blog when we could be making stuff.)
I hope this gets talked over again and again!
ps. I wish I could hear the questions.
sewfly
kimmchi
I can't wait to have a listen! It's a very interesting topic. I love that he's wearing her shirt and she's wearing his jewelry - nice camaraderie !
ShopClementine
This was very interesting, thank you for posting it.
I agree, though, it's a shame not to be able to hear the questions from the audience.
Around the 62 min mark, someone in the audience said something that Bruce said was "a *great* idea" Now I'm so curious as to what it was! maybe next time questions from the audience could all filter thru a central mic, like on Oprah or something.
catherinechandler
staroftheeast
I love Chanel's necklace!!!
Ooops shall listen to the podcast now :)
Vanessa
The "Great Idea" was that Bruce should open an Etsy supplies store where he sells his scraps instead of throwing them away!
Vanessa
PS
I think Chanel thought it was very constructive to have the discussion with Bruce and that's why she was there. But I think she is also of the mind that you can't let generational differences and/or one man's opinions hold you back. You have to keep doing what you believe in. (but this is just how I interpreted what she was saying)
dogties
dearbirthday
this is really great--thanks for sharing. i think chanel was the perfect counter to bruce and they both made strong points for their views on the nature of making, etc. awesome. more!
monicahampton
Hello all and thank you for listening to the podcast. It's great to see all of your commentary, too! We just wanted to clarify the intent for our July 24th presentation "Connect/(Dis)connect"...There were a few reasons that we chose Bruce & Chanel. We selected Bruce because Andrew Wagner, Editor-in-Chief of 'American Craft Magazine', had - in preparation for a presentation given with Bruce at the SNAG conference - begun to explore the differences and similarities amongst the broad spectrum of makers today. The idea has deep resonance for many of our constituents and for the field and so we felt that this concept would make a great topic for our Series. Bruce was an obvious choice for a presenter because of that...and Chanel was actually nominated by Etsy to participate because of her perspective and expertise in selling on Etsy. We felt that she was an excellent person to join the conversation. We didn't intend for this program to be simply a rehash of the discussions that stemmed from SNAG - or to dig into old wounds (for lack of a better phrase!),but to explore other aspects of the relationship between the “new school” and the “old school.”
I hope you all found both speakers as engaging in their own right as individual makers as we did - and we hope that some of the points that were raised between Bruce & Chanel were of interest to you all.
We hope to see you all at our next program on September 18th for 'The Politics of Craft'...
rifferaff
thanks for sharing this. btw, great pic at top of bruce and chanel. :)
Lunaversoul
PalleikoDesigns
I studied under Bruce Metcalf in college and am also a member of the Amercian Craft Council. He is a fantastic artist and I was thrilled to see this posted here on Etsy.
Previous Page
Rats! I totally forgot about it - But I appreciate the podcast & info posted here - Thank you! Andy & I will be listening to it hopefully this weekend :)
-Nancy