Final Snag Post

Day 4 of SNAG began with the panel Revolution/Evolution moderated by Helen Williams Drutt English, with Marianne Aav, Fritz Falk, Liesbeth den Besten. When I read the program and it called this event a "panel" I assumed it would be a discussion. It was not. Each of the speakers gave a lengthy description and historical overview of jewelry in the last 50 years...but only really up until the mid 1970's. It wasn't at all what I thought it would be, or what it could have been. I guess I was a little disappointed with this one.

Albert Paley gave a talk on his work that afternoon which was awesome. His talk was refreshing, inspiring and honestly motivating. He talked about his evolution from goldsmith to blacksmith, to making monumental sculpture and public art. It was nice to hear from someone who has been hugely successful but is still very involved in the field and has a passion for the making. I really loved hearing him speak. I also really liked seeing his sketches. Made me realize how far I have to go in that department (as well as in many other areas!!) Great talk!

The last event I attended was the Education Dialogue. I wish I had been able to stay for the whole thing but I had to catch my flight back home and only stayed for the first hour. Unfortunately the first hour was pretty much spent arguing over the definition of Craft and where metals fit in the academic world...in a crafts dept. or a fine arts dept. Not as productive of a discussion as it could have been. Maybe it was better after I left.

Overall, SNAG was an AWESOME experience. I met many people but not as many people as I wanted to. I was shy and didn't introduce myself to people I wanted to meet. That was dumb. Next year I will be smart and get some guts. I feel like I got tons out of the experience and definitely plan on going back. I may not agree with some of what is said, may not agree with the politics, and I may not like some of the speakers, but I think you get out of it what you want to. I went in with no expectations and had a genuinely wonderful time. I saw lots of great art, met lots of great people, ate lots of great food and had tons of fun. Thanks for a great time SNAG. Ill be back next year.

SNAG Conference in Philly: Part 3

On day 3 of the SNAG conference, Neri Oxman started the day off with her lecture, "Craft by Ecology." Although mostly over my head, her talk was captivating, energetic, and really really interesting. She discussed the differences of design in nature and the man made world. She talked about how we as humans design by separating environmental concerns from structural and functional concerns. Nature has no such distinctions. She gave the example of an egg and how when squished vertically, the egg won't break, but when squished horizontally the egg cracks immediately. This is because a hen needs to be able to sit on the egg, but when the chick needs to hatch it breaks through the side of the egg. She talked about how she has been researching how to design by letting the materials dictate the form of the object. By programming complex algorithms into the computer, she lets whatever materials she is using control the form of the object she is creating. The chair above is one of her more recent pieces.

Neri Oxmans talk was very interesting and even though not directly applicable to metalsmithing (or at least the way I work) it was definitely worth attending.

Camille Paglia spoke next on "Art and Sex." I opted not to attend this lecture and instead went to the Fabric Workshop. It was an awesome space with work by tons of my favorite artists, but my favorite piece was a 52 foot felt whale (inflatable inside) made by Tristin Lowe. Thanks to sokref1's flickr stream for the photos. The Fabric Workshop was definitely worth the trip!!! It was awesome! That afternoon was Myra Mimlitsch-Gray's talk, "Anti/Icono/Clastic". Myra showed images and talked about her work, focusing on her recent residency at the Kohler Center. There was so much of her work that I had never seen and it was sooo great to hear her thoughtful explanations behind the pieces. Here are some images from her flickr stream:

That night was the Gallery Night tour, which was tied with the Jewelry in Motion show for my favorite part of the conference. There were sooo many shows to see, we didn't even get to see half of them, but we saw SO much work!! Among my favs were Wexler gallery and Philadelphia Art Alliance.

Stay tuned for one more post (Day 4) and my post conference thoughts.

Jewelry In Motion

My favorite event at the SNAG conference this year was the exclusive evening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Part of the evening was a fashion show called "Jewelry in Motion" curated by Gail M. Brown. It was awesome to see some of this stuff in person! Check out the flickr set of my snag photos for more! 1. snag79, 2. snag73, 3. snag64, 4. snag61, 5. snag36, 6. snag38, 7. snag59, 8. snag56, 9. snag54, 10. snag52, 11. snag50, 12. snag46

At the museum we also got to see the Arms and Armament collection, which had some awesome metalwork in the form of weapons and armor. Photos of that can be seen in my flickr stream as well.

SNAG Student Show Video

Arthur Hash just posted the slideshow he made of the student work...now you can all see it! Isn't the music he chose great?!

SNAG 2009 slide show from arthur hash on Vimeo.

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!

Off again...

Today I leave for Philadelphia for the annual SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) conference. I wanted to get SO much more done before I left...like make little portfolio flipbooks, get better business cards printed (mine are ugly), get my new website up and running (its close!) and lots more...

Now I will just be lucky if I can get packed and to the airport! Too much to do!

Look forward to a full report when I get back...there will be lots to say Im sure!!