The Label Game...a study of precocious behavior?

There has been a lot of heated debate over the labels that scrapbookers give to themselves, how they view and address their scrap-environment and the way that some scrapbookers interact (or choose not to interact) with other scrapbookers of a skill caliber that varies from their own.

In a nutshell, I really don't care if you call yourself a life-artist, a premiere paper manipulator or a memory diva. That is all your ball of wax and it really has nothing to do with me. It's all about live and let live to me.

But there are some who are bothered by it, and that tells me that it's a topic that is worthy of discussing...to death...again.

So we have the scrapbookers (so named Suzy) who sees her craft as just that, a craft. Suzy sees things pretty much as she thinks they are and any additional fluff is nonsense. Suzy sits at her dining room table or in her craft room/guestroom and scraps her pictures. Being published may or may not be within the scope of her crafty radar but her 1st and foremost goal is to get those danged pictures on paper and in an album.

Then we have the 'Artists' who feel that they have taken their craft to the next level and that the aesthetic value of what they produce is worthy of being labeled 'art'. The Artists work with 'mediums' in their 'studios' and strive (most often) to gain or retain a foothold in the industry.

Are either of these versions of the scrapbooker 'wrong'? I personally don't think so, but again, this isn't all about me. Where my concern comes in is where the rift between the two groups continues to widen; the acceptance of each other. To many scrapbookers the idea of assigning a name that smells faintly of grandeur is egotistical and self absorbed. To some, the work that they are creating is valued as something grand and/or they have received sufficient accolades to warrant perceiving themselves to be a step 'above' the rest.

Why does anyone care? In this day and age where people have the ability to reinvent themselves whenever they possess the resources and desire to do so, why do we take time to care about how someone else sees themselves? Why is there so much focus on validating whether or not someone is or isn't an artist? Why does the act of calling oneself an artist have to be equated to a lowered opinion of the 'scrapbooker'? Is that lowered opinion originating from the person who calls herself an Artist? or is it coming from the Scrapbooker who feels that what she does isn't worthy of being considered art? Again...why does it matter?

There are some well known scrapbookers who have chosen to label themselves and to conduct themselves with an air of superiority within this industry (complete with fan girls and autograph sessions).

• Is the fact that they have managed to gain popularity and therefore elevate their perception of their craft a bad thing?
• If you go to a blog and read about someones atelier (at'l ya) how is the onus of your offense on the person who wrote the blog entry? Wasn't it free will that put you into a situation where you find yourself reading that blog?
• Does it matter if someone calls their workspace a scrap space, a studio, or a fire waiting to happen? Is it really any of our concern that a scrapbooker calls herself an artist? I used to call my scraproom a rats nest, then I called it my scrappin' hole, then my craft room. The name I chose for my scrapping environment is representative of how I view my craft; I assume that the same holds true with the ladies/men who call their scrappin' hole a studio. I don't have anymore right to tell anyone how to view their crafting environment or what they create within the confines of it than anyone else has to tell me what to name mine or what to call myself. So why all of the contention over something as mundane as how someone else views themselves? Why this need to project our views of this craft on others and insist that they assimilate their views to mirror our under threat of persecution?

Webster's New World Dictionary defines an artist as: 1. One who is skilled in any of the fine arts. 2. One who does anything very well. 3. A professional in any of the performing arts.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter what anyone is calling themselves, and until self labeling effects the price of gasoline or starts a war, I won't concern myself with it. It's a battle that is not only not worth fighting, but is a losing one. It's highly irrelevant, petty and only serves to cast a negative light on those who chose to make it an issue. I'm not saying that anyone is wrong for thinking that a scrapbooker calling herself an artist is wrong; that's your personal value system at work. I think that we cross a line when we look down upon, chastise or otherwise devalue the contributions of another crafter simply because their perceptions of self are different from our own.

I think the most important question in all of this is Why Does It Matter?

Critic/Critique Blogs... Fit or Flop?

I've been a frequent peruser and not so frequent poster to many of the 'critic/critique' blogs that have cropped up in the past year and while I am at first entertained by the platform offerings in the beginning, it never fails that I find myself disappointed in the end. My disappointment usually stems from that hydra-esc question of the feasibility of the blog's existence. That question leads to whether the blog is serving as a critiquing platform or a critic's soapbox. Then comes the inquiry into what exactly it is that is being critiqued and worse yet, what credential do the critics bring to the arena. It never fails that I get tired of reading the blogs, particularly when they reduce themselves to nothing more than a run away train chocked full of vulgar language, incessant spam and overtly ridiculous stereotypical insults.

I know that for me, the critic/critique blogs served to fill a void, an empty space if you will. Or at least they did...now that space is filled with other hobbies and focuses. I was frustrated with the industry and my visits with the scrapbooking message boards only showed me a world full of people with blinders on. I wanted a place to go to voice my frustration with Heidi Swapp and the way that Advantus failed to handle my complaint about the non-rubons and adhesive-less adhesive chipboard. I took it to one of the message boards and got nothing but a poor attempt at a verbal spanking for daring to complain about something as minuscule as product quality. I wanted a place to ask about the feasibility of a person being on 10 or 15 design teams and I was smacked in the face with the jealously card and pretty much accused of being a talentless nobody who would never be allowed to play with the "elite". When I found my first critic/critique blog I felt like I'd been holding my breath for years and I'd finally been granted license to exhale. I had a voice for once...one that others could identify with and it felt good to just TALK about what was bugging me. I didn't need a fix for my problem (though one would've been nice), it was enough for me to know that I wasn't alone in my frustration and I certainly wasn't a pariah for daring to have expectations.

Then came the name calling. In walked the stereotypical statements. Someone left the door open and let the proverbial dogs in. My feelings of victory over my frustration with the industry was t-boned by my frustrations with the human condition. Suddenly, one's weight, how they dressed, looked, and talked became springboards for some of the most vicious character attacks that I'd ever seen. I knew that women could be catty, my husband informed me of that fact years before, I'd just never seen it with that type of in-your-face magnification. Freedom of speech took an extended field trip back to the school yard.

Then came the hand slappers, the envy abaters and the jealousy patrol. Suddenly every claim, factual, personal, or guerrilla in nature, was labeled as unvalidated and jealousy/inadequacy based. I found myself sitting on the sidelines in the same school yard, watching a battle of wills between guerrillas and the elitists. It was the best of times (?) ... it was the worst of times (!).

I've tried several blogs since the first one and they have all fallen just short of the 1/2 way mark because of these two oppressive groups. It's almost as if someone is bound and determined that intelligent discussion must be thwarted at all cost and the wheels of change must be slowed no matter what. Why?

• Why can't women manage to get together and discuss what grates on our nerves without resorting to behaviour that is stereotypically 'catty'? If anything, wouldn't it be in our best interest to discuss our craft without contributing to any negative stereotypes?
• Why is there this fear of disclosure amongst the bands of the 'elite'? Is is based on the fear of character defamation or is it just a case of not wanting the the getting that's been going so good to stop?
• Do we need critic/critique blogs? Particularly if they are falling short of the expectations of many?
• If the intent of the critic/critique blogs is to effect change then why is there so much focus on things that really shouldn't matter? (i.e., the fact that someone is fat, out of style, or in possession of unappealing DNA replicas are outside of the scope of effected change)