Lunch with Andrew Wagner

On a personal note, despite advocating for young practitioners to become commentators (in my last blog entry) as a young person you cannot help but be star struck sometimes. I remember being in an elevator with Harlan Butt at my first SNAG conference and reading his name-tag. I turned bright red and when the doors opened I ran out to tell my girlfriend I was just in the presence of THE Harlan Butt. In my humble experience it always starts out that way. I, for one, am certainly not experienced enough to be above this feeling. And so it began...

In the first five minutes I knew Andrew Wagner, the Editor in Chief of American Craft Magazine, he knew I had a blog (this one) and that I found his collaboration with Bruce Metcalf suspect. After about 10 minutes I realized he was not some demigod above talking to me, and quickly I realized he was not who I thought he might be. In the last entry I said it was a bit confusing on the surface. Since the relaunch of American Craft there has been a marked shift in the content. After talking with Andrew here are the main points that are relevant to the dialogue here:

1. Andrew Wagner and by extension American Craft employ a holistic approach to cultural production in general and to craft. That means (in my not so humble opinion) that it is a good fit for Andrew to be commenting on socially driven studio practices in the employ of craft artists. Andrew is like Switzerland (means neutral) and talking with him made me feel a little reactionary, which I am consequently. He is not for or against working or talking about anything, but what he did stress in abundance was personal responsibility. American Craft is to be a tool for people to educate themselves about craft in whatever form craft may take. There is in an egalitarian feeling that once you have enough information you can form a responsible interest in craft. Andrew I am on board.

2.As for the odd couple that will be giving a presentation at SNAG, all I can say is wait. I want to see what happens before I pass judgment on this union. I did get the impression from Andrew that he was scratching his head a little bit too. I never asked Andrew whether what we were talking about was on or off the record, but I never really thought is was that kind of lunch either. Flat out I think Bruce Metcalf is using Andrew Wagner's position and expertise to legitimize a presentation that would otherwise be ethically questionable. Andrew put it like this, "Bruce is going to do his thing, and then he asked me to show some of the wildest stuff I have seen." So in large part it is the Bruce Metcalf Show. It is clear that Andrew Wagner is not responsible for the theoretic content of the presentation but for the examples of the application of this content.

Onward to SNAG. I hope that I am blown away by their presentation and that I have to write a big fat apology post for doubting, but all evidence to the contrary so far...

-Gabriel