The craft world is changing. There are more shows than ever, yet competition to get into the better shows is even stiffer. Once in, artists find that once reliable shows are now slow. Buyers of fine American handcraft seem to be an aging demographic, one growing more cautious in their purchasing decisions.
Artists have been discussing what the problem is, whose fault it is, and what to do about it. Are show promoters getting too greedy, saturating the shows with too many artists and their areas with too many shows? Are artists themselves stuck in a rut, making the same old work for far too long? Are both guilty of not targeting a newer, younger audience of craft collectors? And how do we educate that newer audience to appreciate what we make?
This weekend, several things happened that made me ponder this more.
First, I compared "best movies" with a small group of people at a party recently. One person was in his early twenties. Our "best movie" list was remarkably cohesive, until he went off on a wild tangent. "Dodgeball!" he exclaimed. "That movie was AWESOME! It was SO FUNNY!!" Another roughly contemporary person told me later, "I thought we were all on the same page until Mike veered off on that 'Dodgeball' thing!" He and I had not seen the film, or even considered seeing it before. It had looked like a typical "dumb teen summer movie."
As if to confirm our prejudice, the two teens in our group agreed enthusiastically about how good that movie was. The example they gave was "the five D's of dodgeball--Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge!" Which WAS pretty funny. But the movie had simply never blipped on my radar as something I would like. I thought about that later. Mike's other choices seemed sound. Maybe I should trust him on this one?
Maybe it was time for me to check out that movie.
Next was a discussion on wonderful new artists at a fine art gallery in Concord. The gallery manager pulled out a painting and said, "Isn't this AMAZING??" It was a hyper-real rendition of a cheerful ceramic piggy bank on a white ground. That was it. I was totally baffled. But this woman, who I know is extremely savvy about the fine art market, was obviously taken with this work. I struggled to understand what she saw in it, but was too embarrassed to ask at the time.
I need to go back and ask.
Last, I gave a talk recently at an international conference. The person speaking ahead of me talked about some of the downfalls of doing commission work. "The customer might want you to make something in....ORANGE!" she said with slight distaste. The audience (mostly my age)echoed her grimace.
Orange? Orange is a BAD color??
Now, I have two teenagers. One is a boy. His favorite color is orange. It got so bad that, for awhile, he would not wear anything unless it was orange. Buying anything in orange practically guaranteed he would like it.
I can tell you I am now completely acclimated to orange. And when I look through my home decorating magazines, I can easily see how popular these hot new colors are with a younger set: avocado green, periwinkle blue, hot pink and orange. These same colors which were in turn beaten back by the burgundies, hunter greens and navy blues in the 80's.
What does this all mean?
Times are changing. Younger tastes are coming into fashion. We are now the people who complain about the hair, the clothing and the odd color sense of a younger generation. But they are now the people who have money to spend on jewelry and clothing, and beautiful things for their new homes. They are buying for their children, their pets, their homes and themselves. They are indeed our new audience, and will be for decades to come.
It means it's not a case of educating a newer, younger audience to our aesthetic. We have to educate ourselves to THEIR aesthetic.
We don't have to adapt it blindly. But we would be wise to ponder where our heart lies, and where it could potentially intersect with this wild new aesthetic.
Teach them the value of handcraft, yes. But handcraft as it fits into THEIR world--creating something fresh and meaningful to THEM.
Just as video games have evolved into exercises of elaborate puzzle solving, this will be OUR puzzle to solve. What meaning is THIS audience looking for? What are the stories that will capture THEIR hearts?
My actions this week will be to rent "Dodgeball". And to call Sarah and ask her again about that fabulous new artist in their gallery. To do the equivalent of how I made friends with orange:
I call it "curry".
