Dear Orchidians.
Last night I had the wonderful pleasure of attending the Orchid
dinner at the SNAG Conference in San Francisco. We had 44 Orchid
members in attendance. Many thanks to Molly and Sam for arranging
such a lovely event. And thanks to Brian Marshall for the excellent
suggestion of an Orchid Dinner in the first place.
-karen karen@metalwerx.com
Hanuman sent along his thoughts by letter which was read to the
whole group:
Once again, I couldn’t be here with you tonight, but I am very
happy and proud that the events of Orchid meetings are
becoming a tradition. We just had the seventh dinner at Tucson
Gem Show, the third MJSA meeting in New York, and here tonight
the informal dinner at the SNAG Conference. As Sam Pataina said
“if we had a get-together in Vegas, we’d have all the major
events covered”. It is a good signal of healthy, active, mature
community.
Tonight meeting is a somewhat different though. Again we have
the opportunity of meeting each other, putting faces to names
and cultivating our friendship. Tonight’s gathering, however
also emphasizes the parallel visions of SNAG and Ganoksin.
For the last three decades, SNAG is committed to provide a
platform for contemporary jewelers and metalsmiths; SNAG
dedicates its efforts to a free exchange of within
our field. It’s Metalsmith magazine features great content by
distinguished contributors, it recognizes outstanding creative
achievement and covers a wide range of topics, from technical
processes to aesthetics.
25 years younger, The Ganoksin project is a virtual gathering
place with a mission of promoting knowledge sharing through
communication in the jewelry and metalarts on a global level.
With such similar objectives, the collaboration between
Ganoksin and SNAG will surly help to broaden our horizons and
together we could make a major difference in our field.
The superb educational and human resources of SNAG along with
The global exposure and spirit of Ganoksin will create an
unprecedented powerful tool which will actively promote the
advancement of knowledge and skills in all aspects of jewelry
making and production.
In order to develop and expand Ganoksin’s goals preparations
are underway to establish a new concept of information
structuring and management - The GAP. The Ganoksin Archive
Project will work to organize the of the Orchid
archives by subjects and topics, and will provide ways to
retrieve in hierarchical manner. The GAP seeks to
become an unbiased, objective and free educational resource.
The Ganoksin Archive Project, will use a team of volunteer
editors who are experts in their field to create new navigation
avenues for Ganoksin^Ys knowledge base. We are working on the
creation of an interconnected network of subject based links
for tens of thousands of already archived articles.
The Internet reaches those who wish to learn, and provides
them with a wide range of learning resources and opportunities.
It is up to us Orchidians and SNAG members grasp these tools
and learn to use them in the most effective way.
Last but certainly not least, since you are now in San
Francisco, a city rich in cultural and natural wonders, I wish
you a fruitful experience at the SNAG conference, not only in
your professional path, but also in your exploration of this
beautiful city.
Hanuman