SNAG Conference: Day 2

Day2 of the Snag Conference in Philly-Thursday
At 9 am the conference officially started with a welcome and opening remarks, followed by a presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Stanley Lechtzin. Stanley gave a moving speech expressing gratitude for all who helped him along the way, most especially his wife who, "is the solder that holds all his parts together." Its always nice to hear people give recognition to those in their lives deserving thanks.

Stanley then gave his talk as the keynote speaker on, "American Metalsmithing Revolutionaries". Stanley's talk consisted of video (no idea where it came from) of some early educators in the field who he felt were revolutionaries in the field. The video was hard to follow, mostly due to the quality of the sound, and I felt the talk would have been better received if Stanley had simply quoted relevant parts and discussed why he felt each individual contributed to a revolution, while also showing each individuals work and contributions to the field. What was nice about the video was being able to see people I have only read about in books...being able to put faces with names. There was very little dialog from Stanley himself which I found disappointing. He concluded his talk with a light call to action for educators saying, “This is not a dress rehearsal. When they [opportunities] come up, grab them.” And also, “Those who CAN, Do. Those who can Do it Better, Teach.” Overall Stanley seemed like an individual with relentless dedication to the field and his students. It seemed like he was very deserving of the award and it was awesome to see an overview of his 40+ years of metalsmithing.

Dr. Sandra Alfoldy – Imagining Ourselves: Looking into the Future of Craft

This was a well spoken talk about craft today and where it is heading. I think a meaningful part of her speech was when she addressed venues like etsy and the roll they play in the future of craft. Although I wasn't at last years conference, it seemed to me (in reading on blogs in the aftermath) that last year it was implied that things like etsy would be the downfall of "fine craft". Obviously...I wasn't there, this is just the vibe I got from the grapevie. Dr Alfoldy proclaimed the opposite, encouraging us to embrace these new technologies to educate the world about what Craft (with a capital "C") is...to educate people that Martha Stewart does not = Craft.

Leo Caballero who is one of the founders of Klimt02 gave a lecture that afternoon about the website and its mission/purpose. From what I gathered he is a philosopher who founded the company with a metalsmith. His talk was heavy with theory, high diction and hard to understand due to his thick accent (he is from Spain and this was the first lecture he has given in the states...brave guy!). He spent almost an hour on two powerpoint slides that were just text in bulletpoints. I wish there had been more images to keep my interest up simply because it was hard to follow what he was saying. He did play an awesome video at the end that made the first hour worth the wait. Too bad its not on youtube or you could watch it too.

The student exhibition and slide show were AWESOME, but lacked one thing...work from ASU!! Arthur Hash did a great job putting the slideshow together (and had an awesome soundtrack...wish I knew what the music was!)

There was not a single ASU student represented in either the show or the slideshow. Why not? Because not one of us even applied. LAME. I have to admit, I applied the first couple of years I was a student, never got in and got discouraged. This year (after finally being able to attend the conference) I realized how important it is to be represented in those shows. I promise to get ASU people to apply next year because we have a great program with some really talented students with work that deserves to be seen! I am so bummed that we flaked on that (bummed about not submitting myself especially).

Anyway, I wish I would have taken photos of the work in the student show...but I wasn't sure if that was appropriate or not so I didn't. I made the assumption that if I looked them up when I got home I would be able to find their work online. Not so. It is 2009 people...with free/inexpensive sites like flickr, crafthaus, blogger, etc. there is NO EXCUSE not to have your work on the web. Why?? Why would you not?? I don't get it.

See some images from the show here on Emiko Oye's Blog.

Anyway, last but definetly not least on Day 2 was, my favorite part of the conference...

The Exclusive Evening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jewelry in Motion

So glad I paid the extra $$ for this event and it totally made me want to have something like this at ASU...hmmm.

I am actually going to make this event its own post because I have so many pics.Stay tuned!