Tarts and Gaffes

Today, I noticed a peculiar article on the Esty Blog.

Although a part of me is impressed that Etsy hired someone to write an article who isn't 20-something, wearing an oversized cowl and sipping a cappuccino while looking up and off to the left, I cannot help but bathe in the hypocrisies seeping from every orifice in this article.

I wanted to post my opinion in the comments, but in the kingdom of Etsy, that would be considered "calling out", and my account has already been muted for speaking my mind before. HEIL!

But, really? Innovation in crafts? This is shocking. With all the resellers they ignore, I can't even begin to believe that Etsy cares about innovation. Attaching a charm to a chain? Talk about progress. I just hope I can keep up with all the crafters on the cutting edge - my glue gun is at the ready.

And I'm so glad they took the time to compare innovation to pornography. But maybe that comparison would stand better if pornography was replaced with resellers.

I do understand what was said about quilts - I love the art of quilting, and all too often, I see quilts that just make me want to vomit. You know, the ones that had ZERO thought go into them? The most hideous fabric, worked into a pattern straight from a quilt book, no deviation, no abandon - just the most boring flavor of blah in a lump void of any character. Even if the craftsmanship is impeccable, I don't care - secretly, I want to burn those quilts.

But for Etsy to stand up and discuss innovation? STITCH, PLEASE. I've taken shits more artfully executed than the things they promote on the front page. But while I have more innovation in my anus than their featured sellers have in their whole bodies, I'll never be put in the spotlight - mostly because I don't put ironic mustaches on anything.

The article ends with this:

The question remains: Should a craft provoke and demonstrate “aesthetic progress” — or is it enough to honor its past and work within its time-honored forms?

Ignoring the fact that this was the very question the article was supposed to answer, I have to point out that you can't quantify art. What looks progressive and radical to one, can look stale and banal to the next. Ain't no fucking "category" you can put it in - art is subjective. Even the quilts that make me want to throw myself off a cliff could be an ingenious masterpiece viewed from a different perspective.

However, there is one "art" that is shit no matter how you cut it - and that is the art of opening up a jump ring, and connecting a pre-fabricated, mass-produced pendant onto a chain. Unless of course, you are Etsy - if it has a dollar sign attached, then it is the most innovative craft of them all.