I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski OR Barack is for Change OR Starting a Dialogue

In my first real post I wanted to address an amusing trend, and put it in a wider context. The trend is pointing out the lack of dialogue in the field of metalsmithing (and crafts) and calling for a dialogue. The amusing thing about this is that there are many people calling for this dialogue, but very few are taking action. I recall the Coen Brother's film the Big Lebowski. When two people with different interests who share the same name sit down to discuss mutual business, it is the name that starts the collusion of an unlikely partnership . I want a dialogue, you want a dialogue so what do we do now? The second title: Barack Obama for Change is an allusion to Obama's current platform of change and reform. Barack Obama is calling for change, but will this change come?

So who's calling for change and who's actually in dialogue? Let's look:

(You don't know how I roll yet but let me tell you. I do regular research in order to catch up on what happened in the field while I was in diapers.)

Gatherings (conferences)

1. As early as 1999 people like Jean Johnson of the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada were attempting to start a dialogue. The result of their 1999 symposium can be found in the 2002 book Exploring Contemporary Craft: History, Theory, & Critical Writing.
   
2. The Craft Organization Development Association or CODA has had conferences centered around change since 2006. Conference titles include Create Value/ Provoke Change: The Future of Craft, 2006 and Craft Has No Boundaries, 2007.
3. Similarly New Craft - Future Voices was held in Dundee, Scotland, UK this past summer.
4. And closest to home The Society of North American Goldsmiths has titled their 2009 Conference, Revolution. Promising indeed...
   

Conferences are a great way to present research and subjective opinions posing as objective scholarly research. How else is dialogue happening?

Publications

1. Gert Staal and Ted Noten's In Celebration of the Street, Manifesto of the New Jewellry was published in the most recent issue of Metalsmith. Read it, seriously. (image above)
   
2. Also in Volume 27 no. 5 of Metalsmith, Corey Ackelmire and Megan Auman published an opinion article about blogging and internet presence where they pointed the finger at the fogeys who have been leading the field sans digital lifestyle. (image above)
   
3. Glenn Adamson, Deputy Head of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, just published his call and contribution to dialogue with Thinking Through Craft. This dude is seriously smart and has created new ways of explaining things we know all too well. (image above)
4. Speaking of Glenn Adamson, he will be the editor of the first peer reviewed craft journal, The Journal of Modern Craft. It will be out in March. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. Go Brother!
   
5. Lastly, the redesign at American Craft has definitely yielded interesting results including a blogbeat section (oooh pick me) and a weblinks at the end of each article. They have just brought themselves to the table in terms of being a relevant participant in deciding the future of craft. Finally. (image above)
   

The SNAG Forums

• The Society of North American Goldsmiths launched their online discussion forum recently. I have been posting often. It is kind of a free for all. I don't think people are using it to perpetuate a critical dialogue about the field and its future, but it only takes a few other people to get that started. I will continue to try.

I have written a couple of essays that I will post here soon but to excerpt one of them:

It is up to the young and idealistic practitioners to reinvigorate and bring the field of Metalsmithing into the 21st century. Active change can be brought about through the dissemination of critical writing, the active participation in dialogue, and through the commitment of practitioners who are cognizant of current trends in metalsmithing, jewelry, design, art, and general culture. I propose that the self-determined practitioner/ theorist is crucial to the vitality of our field. While our techniques may be thousands of years old, and our history and heritage is of vital importance to our identity as a field, if we do not evolve and stay relevant to prevailing cultural trends, we run the risk of becoming increasingly insular and irrelevant to our patrons, our viewers, our audience, and alas ourselves.

More soon,
Best,
-Gabriel