There was an article about the way the art world is changing in the
Atlantic.
I’m not entirely sure what I think. Opinions?
One of his notions is that instead of focusing on one artistic
discipline, the upcoming wave has no discipline, and dabbles in
everything, not deeply. Largely as a side-effect of the unstable
economy, and the need to diversify. Lord knows I’ve given just that
advice to younger folks: “be a good all-around’er”
I have a ponderment of this trend as it relates to metalsmithing:
the barrier to entry to the ‘serious’ club is so high, both in terms
of study, education (knowing what you’re doing, not sheepskins) and
equipment, that at the higher levels, we may well be safe from the
dabblers. Just too hard to get anywhere without serious investment
of time, sweat, and money.
I have a ponderment of this trend as it relates to metalsmithing:
the barrier to entry to the 'serious' club is so high, both in
terms of study, education (knowing what you're doing, not
sheepskins) and equipment, that at the higher levels, we may well
be safe from the dabblers. Just too hard to get anywhere without
*serious* investment of time, sweat, and money.
Yes, which may be precisely why some people don’t join this
exclusive club, but find other ways to make jewelry, such as the new
tech methods, 3D printing etc.
There’s some very interesting work being done in metal clay cut on
the Silhouette Cameo cutter, a computer controlled cutter meant for
paper and other thin substances. If you can put aside any negative
feelings about metal clay for a moment, it’s a cool development!
My thought is that the dabblers who do not rise to the top, stay
toward the bottom for a couple of reasons. One is that many of them
like the idea of being that talented artist but don’t have that
artistic talent that they need, if you follow me. The second is that
most of the rest of them, the ones who do have the talent, don’t put
the 10,000 hours of very focused work in that it takes to get really
good at it. Most are a mile wide and an inch deep, it’s usually
better to be the other way around.