[Jewelry making - Article 00234] - Re: [Orchid] Metalsmith's Exhibition in Print

[Marya DeBlasi]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

    I have been following the conversation about Metalsmith=92s EiP
    closely and would finally like to be permitted to say a word or two. 

    When we speak of "metal-smithing" as a broad subject, there are just
    about only 2 ways we can approach the subject. Either practically or
    aesthetically. On the whole, it seems that there is only so much one
    can say about the practical matters of metal work. What is the tool
    or material, how does one use the material? Quite a lot of our
    discussion, quite a lot of important discussion, takes place along
    these lines, but it is not exactly discourse. Once one knows the
    several ways to anneal metal, and how they apply to each
    circumstance, there is not much left to say. 

    Aesthetics is a far richer vein to mine, one can talk for hours
    about beauty, and truth, and worth. That is what our lively
    conversation has ultimately been all about. But as conversations
    about metal-smithing fell away to two categories, the objects
    separate themselves loosely along similar lines; pieces that are
    largely a result of process and pieces that are aesthetic
    explorations. In this case the categories quite overlap, which may
    be what makes us so itchy. But in the extreme a ladies ring of
    diamonds and pearls has very little, except process, in common with
    a ring that concerns itself with the "concept of ringness". Still,
    when we stop to discuss the subject, there is far less to say about
    the most beautiful diamond pave creation than there is to say about
    the more esoteric creation. And the artists who are making the
    esoteric jewelry are at an advantage because they are continually
    having that conversation internally. A clear problem with some of
    the artists working in the field is true of all other artists, they
    do not have the technical skills to make art in metal. A further
    problem, perhaps my own prejudice, is that they have been raised in
    a television world where non-interactive communication has made them
    intellectually lazy. This does not mean that academic work is bad
    per se, just that bad work, work about which there is really very
    little to say, is being done. 

    There is a place, as I mentioned above where the two extremes of
    metal-smithing meet, the place where many of us are working,
    privately if not publicly. The place Andy Cooperman resides. This is
    a very important frontier. This is what makes American jewelry
    interesting and innovative. Who among us was it that said that she
    did not find that sort of work in Europe, there were not the kinds
    of shows, or the aesthetic that allows that kind of work to
    flourish. Jewelry was beautiful and conventional. 

    It is fine to discuss the merits of the EiP, but it is pointless to
    yell back and forth at each other if we don=92t why we are yelling. If
    we are insisting on a separation between the two concepts of metal
    art, we are doing ourselves an enormous disservice. If we are
    yelling across the divide so that more artists hear about technique
    (wearability is their business) and more technicians think about
    innovative design, then we will have accomplished something. 

Sincerely, 
Marya DeBlasi
Columbus

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________