Consider the colostomy bag, perhaps you have not considered it as an aesthetic object?
OK, now I’m curious. Guess I’ll have to get a peek at this issue (I
must have let my membership lapse, since it has not arrived at my
door).
Is there no one on this forum who is prepared to say good things
about SNAG, whose needs are being served?
Noel
Beth:
What could be asked is, what is jewelry? What is ornamentation? If we agree that architecture can be as traditional as a box with a pointed roof, or it can be the incredible structure of the Bird Nest at the Olympic Stadium in Bejing, or Frank Geary's phenomenal Bilbao Museum in Spain, why is that OK, but SNAG as envelope pushing jewelry art is not? Who are we to judge?
For me there is great satisfaction in stretching my view in a
direction or taking me down a path where I have not traveled. It
might not be my cup of tea, but the journey in finding the leaf has
value.
Beth, how very well put. I have not entered into this argument
(discussion) because I don’t subscribe to Metalsmith - though I
occasionally buy a copy of it.
However, I am old enough to remember the outrage and awe of Frank
Lloyd Wright’s architecture, the incredible deviation of styles in
painting - abstract art versus “conventional”, the comments that
surrounded an exhibit on photography (Oh well, anybody can take a
picture of a tree,…BUT painting one - now that’s ART) and yet today
the art world is wide open. Just when I think I’ve SEEN it all, along
comes Metalsmith with some far out design.
Granted, I may not wear it, but isn’t it wonderful to have your
imagination piqued to this extent - I often think "Wow, who would
ever have thought adornment would include xxxxxx (whatever it may
be).
Why do we cling to only one style - diamonds in platinum for
engagement rings that “should” last forever - is the love it
represents any longer lasting that that represented by a plastic ring
made from a tooth brush handle? I’m not advocating that we all go out
and create such “far out” things that are almost unwearable, but
simply we all need to open our minds to the fact that materials can
be used in different ways.
We need only look at technology to see how far things have come -
from the crystal radio set (and yes I owned one) to the Ipod with all
its versions (and yes I own one of those too - an Ipod shuffle). I
marvel that I can “download” dozens of music CD’s onto my very tiny
Ipod shuffle so that I can hear MY choice of music while I walk on
the beach - It doesn’t replace attending a concert with a full
symphony orchestra and experiencing the orchestra “tuning up”, but it
does allow me to enjoy a classical performance of Bach while walking
on the beach.
Now the creations in Metalsmith Magazine may not be “conventional”
as we tend to think of jewelry, but isn’t it wonderful that they
present still another view and not the “same old, same old” thing we
see in most publications.
Nobody said you have to wear what they present, or even like it -
not everybody likes Sushi, but do we think people who do like Sushi
are weird - that they are practicing some strange food cult? Does the
fact that you don’t or wouldn’t eat Sushi make it an abhorrent food
style? I don’t think so, and yet there was a time when I too cringed
at the thought of eating “raw” fish - but I’ve come to love it. Do I
eat it every meal? Hardly, but now and again it is wonderful.
Now I may not ever wear any of the “far out” creations I have seen
in past issues of Metalsmith, but it has awakened my thinking to
possibilities I may never have entertained before. It all has its
place and many ideas that originally were total anathema, have become
quite commonplace today -
I’m thinking here of neoprene (rubber) cord and tubing which we now
see paired with precious gems - or concrete to wear or found objects
paired together as a bracelet - so I think Metalsmith may be just
what we need to wake up us and get us out of the doldrums.
Just as I don’t eat the same food every single meal, I also don’t
want to “see” the same thing in every magazine I pick up.
K
Two of my sons want to follow me in the business. I would like them to have college educations, but I honestly think I could home-school them in the craft as well as any college will train them.
To me, this does not seem like an unreasonable alternative, though
the supplementation of the college experience does not necessarily
need to take place at home. Summers could be used for career
training like Revere, apprenticeship to you, etc.
In my opinion, college is intended to train people how to think, and
to work productively, and to expose them to a wider world of
possibilities so that they may find the direction(s) they wish to
pursue. Further education should hone and refine those skills.
But then, I got my undergraduate degree from the University of
Chicago-- I used to joke that it prepared me to discuss anything
intelligently at a cocktail party. Bizarrely, no one (including my
mother) once asked me what I was going to do after I graduated, and
I really didn’t have a clue. I’m not endorsing that! Three of my
four children have also graduated from the U of C. The one with a
religion/philosophy degree is now (1 1/2 years after graduation)
succeeding spectacularly as a financial analyst as a direct result
of a summer internship.
The point here is that a college education is not intended to train
you in a field, it is to broaden the mind and to teach you to think.
You then have the tools (one hopes) to acquire whatever is needed to
pursue the field of choice, from lobsterman to jeweler to brain
surgeon.
I like to say that the intellect is like a searchlight (well, a
flashlight in some cases)-- it illuminates whatever you turn it
toward. But first it must be focussed.
Noel
Before there was Beadfest, before there was Jewelry Fest, before Clasp, before the PMC Conference, there was a SNAG Conference. It was here I met Oppi Untrach, Charles Lewton-Brain, Alan Revere, Kiff Slemmons, Mary Lee Hu, Albert Paley, Fred Woell, Michael Good, Cynthia Eid, Thomas Mann and Tim McCreight. These people and their careers in metalsmithing inspired me to take risks, to challenge my perspective and to stand up to criticism.
I have not seen the current EIP.
The issue seems to be Metalsmith did not show metalwork. Have any of
the above mentioned people used the materials featured in the work
shown in the current EIP? From what I have read on this forum, I
think the answer is no. My question is, did this issue provide
connection or disconnection between the organization and the
members? I remember the complaints over time when Lapidary Journal
significantly changed it’s content and it is no longer around.
I have a friend who has his work in a lot of jewelry books, his work
is in some of the most prestigious galleries in the U.S., has a
piece in the Smithsonian permanent collection. I happened to mention
how many negative posts there were on Orchid about the EIP. He said
he opened it, looked at it, and it went right in the trash. He is an
art jeweler with decades of attendance of SNAG conferences. As far
as references to the display of emotion about this issue of EIP, I
have found that when there is strong emotion about something, perhaps
it is a good thing to pay attention. When my wife has strong emotions
it usually behooves me to tune in, not to try and give advice about
how it is “pushing the envelope of creativity”. I have heard it said
that SNAG serves the needs of a small group of those that run the
organization. There is no doubt that from the number of posts I have
read so far, they are alienating their membership. Trying to
convince the membership that they need to broaden their vision might
work…Ha Ha!
Richard Hart
After reading the majority of posts on the subject of the newest EIP
it seems to me that the sensitivity and emotionally charged responses
that another poster mentioned lie primarily on the non-SNAG side of
the fence…
It is disappointing and I’m left wondering just how much Orchid
applies to my life in the field. I’m actually thinking about
cancelling my Orchid membership…
Andy
the top sellers in order; rings, pendants, earrings, bracelets then pins (brooches).
Earrings, earrings, earrings.
Women will always buy earrings to feel better. Kinda like in the
Great Depression, my mom was a beautician and women would spend a
quarter to get their hair done to feel better.
Nancy Goodenough
Too true. I've been an advocate for including practical stuff in all art course work, as well as requiring basic bookkeeping and business taxes.
This thread is an important one to me. Many years ago I forced myself
to read an article in Metalsmith Magazine because reading one of it’s
articles did not come easily for me. I found it to be academic
wanking which during the SNAG conferences I loved but in print it
fell flat. SNAG conferences inspired me, the magazine beat a dead
horse. I also advertised in Metalsmith for a time and did so until I
couldn’t figure out what their market was (I’m a slow learner). I
still can’t figure out their market.
I put the above quote in my post from Judy in Kansas because it’s
the distillation of my business experience. When I take on an
apprentice I harp on business for a good third of our time together
because the lack of business knowledge has almost killed my dream
over and over through out my career. There was little else that has
sapped my creative energy than business and my attempts to learn it
on my own, I thought I was smarter than the market and business was
secondary to creativity. Marketing and business will destroy your
dream until you accept the necessity of both.
I find the unrealistic nature of Metalsmith Magazine tiring and
uninteresting. I surely don’t want it to become Lapidary Journal or
Art Jewelry but have an academic slant to the art of jewelry, that’s
my wish for Metalsmith. Academia is the fresh air in the jewelry
world but you can’t plant in air.
Sam Patania, Tucson
If the EIP is about pushing the envelope, it is a great success,
because not only has it succeeded in offending the unwashed (no
great feat) but it has also turned off quite a lot of people who
consider themselves art-sophisticates enough to be SNAG members. Make
bold and risky artistic statements, OK, Fine, but accept the risk.
Maybe this thread is ruinous, but didn’t the Metalsmith editors know
they were playing with fire?
A whole lot of people not looking to learn from unfamiliar ideas, but rather, looking for any excuse to dismiss the things they don't understand. It's kind of a national phenomenon, I think, on many levels. Politics, fundamentalist religions, school programs presenting intellegent design as science theory (in apparent complete ignorance of what constitutes a scientific theory), and many more. We're turning into a nation of scaredy cat non-thinkers, lashing out at anything we don't already agree with, and finding ways to call it demeaning names, even when it's got something to teach us.
I am glad that there are some who are willing to defend SNAG on this
forum because it is not much of a discussion if we are all just
affirming our agreement with Jim Binnion from the Amen pew. Peter’s
comments (above)in one way misses the point but in another way IS
the point. Nobody is objecting to this crap for religious or
political reasons, so what’s that all about? Dismissing those who
either object or “don’t get it” with name calling and stereotypes is
not an argument. But it is exactly how the avante garde have
traditionally congratulated themselves for being more enlightened.
How can it be true art if the benighted and conservative masses are
not confused, or better yet offended?
The point I believe most of us are making is that this stuff, such
as what is represented in the EIP, is not what we joined SNAG for and
we have been getting progressively less and less of what did expect
from SNAG. I don’t want to banish the body artists or whatever it is
they are called. I just don’t see a meaningful place in SNAG for
someone like me anymore.
Stephen Walker
Thanks Nanz. You eloquently stated the part of what I left out. If
you don’t like what is happening, help change it. Get involved.
Change is good because it is the only constant.
k
Granted, I may not wear it, but isn't it wonderful to have your imagination piqued to this extent - I often think "Wow, who would ever have thought adornment would include xxxxxx (whatever it may be).
For some, it can be. I’m interested if it’s genuinely creative, and
not just stupid. Unfortunately, for every great artist, there are
thousands of terrible artists. Of course, in the realm of
goldsmithing and making jewelry for sale, a far more practical
reality rules. Conceptual art is of limited value in this area. Even
what the jeweler thinks looks good is of limited relevance. The
important matter is what the customer wants to buy.
Paul Anderson
I must admit that I am still intrigued by Metalsmith’s
jewelry/sculptural pieces, but personally, I would rather see
articles on technique and procedure.
I love reading about my fellow metalsmiths, but I do find that
Metalsmith magazine tends to rehash the same people and the same
artwork over and over and over. There are SO many fabulous
metalsmiths out there who are creating fabulous work in unique and
intriguing techniques. I do wish they would refrain from playing
favorites and expand their dialogue to include new artists, new
techniques, bench jewelers, and new school programs.
I’d love to see a revitalization within the world of metalsmithing
and venues like Metalsmith Magazine are a fabulous place to start!
Kelli Sincock.
(Still a fan of Metalsmith Magazine…)
Peter & Nanz I have huge respect for you both, but in this I must
disagree.
Metalsmith lives and operates in the same reality as we all do, they
must pay their bills. We are your paying customers and are telling
you why we can’t support you anymore. This is valuable input,
painful but valuable. If we aren’t your target audience then no foul.
Peter, if we are to understand and applaud what Metalsmith is trying
to do with issues like this EIP then they must work harder to
communicate to the reader, connect the dots, and educate. Many of
these images had the feeling of either student work or
one-hit-wonders. Neither impresses me.
I don’t mind conceptual art, pushing the envelop etc. But the
degrees of separation between Metalsmith/Snag and me has grown too
far for me to follow. From the choice made of the photo to put on the
EIP cover, to devoting an entire edition to those images, I found
boring, trite, and worse! I felt pandered to, talked down to. Or in
otherwords, it was a bad case of the emperors new clothes.
But lets change the direction of this discussion. What would I like
to see in Metalsmith? How can I be lured back as a subscriber?
I’d love to see what some of the cutting edge European designers are
up to. They seem less intrigued with bling & gold and explore
alternate materials and techniques that I find fascinating.
Take one of the pieces & artists from this months EIP and show us
how they evolved into other pieces. Where have they gone with their
conceptual ideas…do an indepth study of the evolution of an idea.
On the long erudite editorials, provide images to illustrate the
topic. All that print and blah blah needs visuals. Many times I read
these pieces get excited about the concepts presented and then get
lost trying to follow words about visual ideas.
The yin-yang between pushing the envelop, wearability, & selling is
a very complex tug of war, that we “in the trench” metalsmiths must
face every day. I have many wonderful designs that never see the
light of day, because they can’t be worn, or made in a way that I
can make $. I’d like Metalsmith to take this topic on with sympathy
and understanding and shine some light on its complexities. Its the
reality of the world we all live in. How is it being dealt with
creatively?
When you share conceptual work, go in depth, explain &! illustrate
your choices. Show us where an artist has been and where he/she went
with their idea. IE: we all have one good idea in us…art is about
connecting to the next idea and growing it. How did this artist
evolve the idea.
Give me some historical reference on innovators from the past,
distant past, ancient history.
Others?! What would you like to see in Metalsmith
Some folks that I respect have questioned the validity of this thread
and have put forward some reasons why they feel that SNAG and
Metalsmith are doing a good job. I must respectfully disagree.
SNAG and Metalsmith in particular seem to have decided to focus on
only the extreme end of the wide spectrum of jewelry and
metalsmithing and often beyond that into other areas of art and
design. Many of the pieces featured in this EIP could easily be
classed as costume design or fashion design or sculpture but it is
very hard to classify them as jewelry or metalsmithing. I think it is
important to give new work that makes one rethink our concepts a
place to be seen and contemplated. But I think it is equally
important to explore and honor the other areas of the field, both
historical and contemporary, and this is where SNAG is failing. By
limiting the public focus of the organization to such a narrow part
of the spectrum and ignoring the rest they alienate the majority of
folks who work and play in the field. This alienation has presented
itself here. It is/was not my intention to just bash SNAG because I
have nothing to gain from that. I have been a member for many years
and have in the past greatly enjoyed the magazine and membership in a
group of people I respect for their work in the field. On my web
site I say that I am a member of SNAG. I have in the past worked as a
volunteer at a SNAG conference. I also have offered to help with the
SNAG website back when it was a totally non-functional disaster (Now
it is a very well done site BTW). So I have helped and offered help
in the past and am still willing to help. My frustration is that I
have talked with past and present board members and either get the
“I don’t see what the problem is” or the “Yes I agree, and we are
trying to change but it is difficult” but never see any real change.
The majority of the folks I have talked to who are or were SNAG
members express similar feelings to the posts in this thread. My
intention was to see if a dialog on these issues could be started and
that possibly the SNAG board might take this input and see what can
be done to satisfy those of us who feel some change is needed.
Jim
James Binnion
@James_Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
360-756-6550
Dear Karen!
Thank you for your wonderful message.You are right and I totally
agree with you. As for me,I received Metalsmith subscription for
three years as a Christmas gift from my sister and I always find
challenging articles in every magazine I get… Best regards from
Bilbao whereI actually spend my holidays, the Guggenheim sparkles in
the sun just before my very eyes…
Sigrid/Vienna,Austria
Hello all,
As this is my first post to this group, allow me to introduce
myself. I am a metalsmith and sculptor. I recently received my MFA
from the University of Kansas. I studied at East Carolina University
for my bachelor’s degree. I will be teaching this year at Idaho State
University. I have worked as a studio assistant for a master
cabiner-maker and a production art jeweler.
This puts me completely in the realm of the “academic metalsmith.” I
would like to address some of the topics that have come up in this
discussion, which began as a critique of the EiP. I have yet to get
my copy of this year’s EiP, but I believe that the issues being
discussed in this thread, are not truly about the Exhibition itself.
The issues that I have seen are these:
The balance of power in SNAG between “academic” and
“professional” makers.
The relevance of SNAG/Metalsmith to the working studio
goldsmith/jeweler.
The preparedness of college graduates to work in the jewelry
industry.
I would like to address these issues in reverse order.
First of all, preparedness. Do some people graduate with a college
degree in jewelry/metalsmithing lacking significant skills? Yes. Is
this the fault of their instructors? Perhaps. I would, however, like
to suggest that it is as much if not more the fault of the students
themselves. Because of the current cultural and educational
environment in the United States, nearly everyone is expected to go
to college. And due to financial and political constraints, those
institutions are encouraged to pass and graduate as many students as
possible; so some students get through without learning as much as
others. Those students, however, could have chosen to put their
minds to better use.
Even the best students may not graduate with master level skills in
all levels of jewelry construction, but I do not believe that is the
place of the university in the first place. In my mind, the best I
can do to prepare my students to leave the academic environment and
enter a professional one, is to give them a solid foundation of
skills, an exposure to a wide range of materials, techniques, and
ideas, and the ability to teach themselves how to master the
techniques that they find work for them.
Secondly, in terms of the relevance of SNAG or any other
professional organization to the working studio maker, I would like
to propose that SNAG and Metalsmith are as relevant as you choose to
make them. This is not the part where I tell you to get involved.
What I mean is that you can choose to reject SNAG and Metalsmith, as
many of the previous posters have said the will or have done.
You could also choose to take the presented to you in
the form of Metalsmith magazine, SNAGnews, Exhibition in Print, other
SNAG exhibitions such as the recent “Art of Gold,” the growing SNAG
website, and other sources not as a declaration of what you should
like, but as a proposal of what you can be thinking about. I do not
like everything I see in Metalsmith. There are certainly some issues
where I flip through the pictures and decide that I have better
things to do with my time. But there is not a single issue in the ten
years that I have been reading, that I have not learned something.
Finally, about the balance of power in SNAG between the “academics”
and the “professionals.” The SNAG board currently includes the
following people:
http://www.snagmetalsmith.org/InfoContact/Board_of_Directors
(easier than finding the latest issue of SNAGnews). There are eleven
board members, seven of whom hold some sort of teaching position in
addition to their production as jewelers/metalsmiths/artists. This
means that there are currently four board members who are not
members of the academic community.
THIS is the part where I tell you to get involved. As a member of the
Nominations and Elections Committee for SNAG, we are looking for
people who have a passion for this field who would like to take the
next step in leading where SNAG goes. As many of you are so obviously
passionate about what you feel SNAG should offer to professional
jewelers, I encourage you to contact the board (whose emails are
listed on the page linked above), make suggestions, and consider
running for the board yourself. If you would like more
please contact me offline.
Bryan Park
www.bryanpark.net
Hi Noel,
Your work may not be “for everyone”, but it’s beautiful nonetheless.
I can see your anodized titanium working very well for some
contemporary and lightweight earrings, particularly for those who
have bought necklaces from you.
When I read Bill’s summary of what sells in order of how well they
sell, his take on it is certainly in line with how I am with
jewellery. Whether buying or making for myself, I “acquire” way more
rings than anything else, and that’s followed by pendants/necklaces,
earrings and bracelets last. I love rings. I think because you get to
see them. If you’re wearing a necklace/pendant and earrings, you
can’t see them, but with a ring you can see and enjoy it. Obviously
you can see a bracelet but they are much more expensive than a ring
so you can’t necessarily acquire them as often. I am becoming a bit
of a ring collector and like to wear a different right hand ring with
each different outfit. I also quite enjoy the engineering challenge
of making some rings.
As for the Metalsmith issue, I obviously don’t get the magazine but
can understand subscribers/members complaints at the lack of METAL
pieces and technique articles in the magazine. Perhaps the SNAG
organization will listen to such a complaint and consider changing
its content to once again include more metal pieces, etc. I’m sure if
they don’t, they will have to listen when the number of
subscriptions drops dramatically. I think there’s room for all, the
more traditional jewellery and metal art/sculpture and the more avant
garde work.
Helen
UK
http://www.hillsgems.co.uk
Consider: New ideas from the conceptual designers in the fashion world show up as gazillion dollar dresses on models on the fashion show runways, often just as unwearable and impractical as you could ask for, certainly nothing the average person would ever dream of buying. Yet scaled down trends and ideas from those shows end up on the sales rack often the same season, and are happily embraced by the public.
I’ve always viewed Metalsmith as the jewelry world’s fashion runway,
or like the automotive industry’s concept cars. The pieces are for
the most part not intended to actually be worn as much as they are
intended to show jewelry as an art form and as a conceptual starting
point for new and original jewelry designs and frontiers. At the
same time I almost always just flush the psycho-babble that
accompanies some of the pieces. In my mind it’s kind of like telling
a joke that’s over the head of the person it’s told to. If you have
to explain it, it’s not funny. If you have to explain art to anyone
that doesn’t hold an MFA, it’s not art in my opinion, it’s someone’s
attempt at art and is most likely too clever by half. The trigger
necklace needed no explanation. It was eloquence personified, IMHO.
Never intended to be worn to the opera, but instead the creator’s
expression of modern society’s failure to move beyond the primeval.
Kind of sad that some people’s ideology won’t permit them to see the
art and the commentary behind it’s conception just because a piece
has incorporated in it an inert component of something they don’t
like.
That being said, someone will have to explain to me the art in a
hammer made out of pennies. Not having an MFA, it looks like an
interesting craft project to me, nothing more.
But isn’t that really what jewelry is all about? The expression of
the creator’s and the wearer’s lives? I know it is in my life and in
the lives of my customers or they wouldn’t pay me to help them
express themselves through jewelry.
The sad thing about Metalsmith is that more and more of the pieces
require explanation. I also have to wonder about the validity of a
for-profit publication that can’t survive without the “generous
donations” of it’s parent organization’s members. Maybe like much of
the art-jewelry scene, it’s just over my MJSA and profit oriented,
monolithic, Luddite, undergrad head.
Dave
Nice to know I'm not the only reader of Orchid who's pretty disturbed by this whole thread. A whole lot of people not looking to learn from unfamiliar ideas, but rather, looking for any excuse to dismiss the things they don't understand.
This is a common defense used to defend abstract art in general. For
the record, my thoughts regarding abstract art are very negative.
The work of Picasso, in particular, evokes an even more negative
feeling from me. I submit that art should not require understanding.
It should be visceral and human. Look at the work of da Vinci,
Praxiteles, Michelangelo, and others. These artists required no
‘artists statement’. Their art exists and is appreciated
universally, viscerally. It is not elitist, it is human.
The best judge of art, in my opinion, is a person who has no
training in it. If that person can see what you have created, and
appreciate it instinctively, then it is good art. Art which
requires special enlightenment is not art at all.
Paul Anderson
Hi Karen,
Metalsmith has been scrutinized and criticized for the very thing it does the best. It is the pinnacle of critical thinking in the jewelry arts. Its mission challenges how we as humans wear jewelry, what part of our personal geography that it lives and choices in materials. It is conceptual at its very best, and it invites to do one thing...ask...question...and think.
All of which is undeniably valuable, of course. But “Metalsmith”
isn’t called “Conceptual Jewelry” and its stated mission isn’t to
promote “critical thinking in the jewelry arts” but rather “to
document, analyze, and promote excellence in jewelry and
metalworking.”
If it wants to be the former, it should change its mission statement
accordingly. Why not clarify what it is and does and intends to be,
so the buyer knows what to expect? If Metalsmith/SNAG had an
appropriate name/mission statement, there would be no reason for all
this hoopla.
As I said in my first comment on this subject: SNAG’s relevance to
the working goldsmith seems to diminish every year. It’s not that the
kind of work you [Jim Binnion] described doesn’t deserve exposure or
has no merit. Of course it does. But not in a magazine called
Metalsmith, published by a dues-supported organization that purports
to be of and for goldsmiths.
Beth
I think you’re missing the point, Peter, or at least you’re missing
my point.
In the same group of postings where some decried non-metal jewelery, others on the list were eagerly hoping to uncover the methods used to make certain metal and wood rings... Last time I checked, wood isn't metal, and woodworking techniques aren't metalsmithing traditions. But nobody seems to have trouble with those rings, since they're nice recognizable and familiar shapes.
This is Ganoksin/Orchid, not SNAG/Metalsmith. The Ganoksin mission
statement is…
"to educate, improve working conditions and facilitate sharing
between goldsmiths globally. Ganoksin continues improving
access to for productivity, safety, skills and
education of all jewelers, professionals and hobbyists."
So a discussion of all-wood rings is as appropriate here as a
discussion about all-metal rings or metal-and-wood rings!
The SNAG/Metalsmith mission statement is something else altogether.
See my response to Karen Christians.
We’re confusing issues here! The discussion about conceptual jewelry
vs. (dare I call it) wearable jewelry should be separated entirely
from the discussion of what Metalsmith is/purports to be vs. what its
readers want and have a right to expect based on its name and its
stated mission.
Beth