Conversations on Craft
The cover story of the October/November issue generated varied responses, which made me think about more general communication issues. A recent exchange of e-mails by a group of craft writers grew rather testy and included some name-calling. I was surprised, since the craft field has previously been accused of too much bland niceness. Then I happened to read a review of a new book on Internet communication, which asserted that the immediacy and anonymity of Internet messages seem to encourage unpleasant words that would probably seldom be handwritten and even less likely spoken.
However, American Craft‘s Letters to the Editors have always been heated, even before the Internet. AC and its predecessor, Craft Horizons, have a history of caring, even impassioned readers, who make their opinions emphatically known. There have been avalanches of letters at certain times. The response to Lauren Kalman's work was not comparable in number, but typical in sharpness and divergence of opinion. One letter congratulates us for an outstanding cover, and the next says the choice shows contempt for our subscribers. One letter calls the new issue great; the next says the magazine's quality has been falling for a year. One does not mention the Kalman article but wants a refund because of the story on the DIY “revolution.”
We never imagined that everyone would love Kalman‘s work. The title calls it “transgression” and the writer uses the word “repulsive”-but also “beauty.” It may not be “pleasant,” but it is serious, intelligent, skilled, committed and entirely deserving of coverage. Still, we're glad to hear from readers at any point on the opinion spectrum, and we hope disagreement generates interesting conversation rather than hostility. Keep those letters coming. We read every one.
Janet Koplos
Guest Editor
P.S. Early in the fall, a technical glitch resulted in the comment boxes disappearing from americancraftmag.org. But that‘s fixed now. We welcome your comments here, as well as at [email protected]. Talk is good.
