[Sca-cooks] A & S question

[AEllin Olafs dotter]

Thanks to all for the comments. This is going to be a bit patchy... *G*

These impressions, which evidently are incomplete (whew!) are what I've 
had after talking and  listening to a number of different people in the 
general area, sometimes in person, sometimes on lists. Mostly in a wide 
variety of fiber arts, since that's what I do most, but in others, too. 
Mostly I've been listening, but when I ask, I haven't gotten much 
response. I may be extrapolating too much from discussions of individual 
events - I'm not really certain. No, I haven't discussed this with 
people specifically in Ostgardr.

I know I missed the exhibition last February, and I was supposed to be 
going but a variety of things interfered. I did want to see it - perhaps 
that would have given me a more complete view.

I have seen small exhibitions that were sort of a sideline - People are 
there for classes, and by the way there's a table over there if you have 
a chance...  but I, at least, am often so scheduled in the classes that 
I don't really have much chance to look. At the end of the day when I 
can, people are packing up... and they don't, of course, have people 
there, as the artisans are themselves teaching/attending class.  I have 
seen documentation in these, but I don't remember seeing comment sheets. 
Looking at Jadwiga's post, I guess they fall more under the category of 
Display...  

I said backwater in SCA terms! Not at all in Real Life terms... LOL! But 
the combination of scheduling (especially for me) and transportation do 
make it very difficult to get to events. I concentrate on going to the 
ones that are most important to me, where I can learn these arts. I've 
also been thinking about my gut reaction against competition, and think 
it may be, not so much living in Manhattan, but the form my non-SCA art 
takes - I'm a (sometime) theatrical costumer. I get the director, the 
producer, half the cast, sometimes the other designers (!) telling me 
what is wrong with my design, and that's before I put it on a stage for 
the audience and the critics! No, I don't feel a desperate need to enter 
competition with the art I do just for fun...   And equally, yes, I have 
other venues for not just personal but also artistic validation.

Craft as a Performance Art - I like that phrase - is kind of where I 
find my mind going... though clearly not everything lends itself to 
that. But I have spent a fair amount of time at Demos showing the 
general public "This is what we do" - but my (limited) experience is 
that we mostly don't do it around each other! *G* I loved the exhibition 
2 years ago, because I did see work being done, I did get to meet the 
people doing it, I did find a new form I knew nothing about and have 
been learning about (and finally starting to practice) since. And it 
seemed to me that was the idea. I'm not worried about Important People 
seeing my work - I do want people who understand it to see it. And they 
aren't always the same people, though sometimes they can be. But when I 
asked about competition, that's the reason I was told. I was a bit 
confused, because no one has ever told me "Because I get a charge from 
entering it!" which I would have thought would be the best reason, even 
though it isn't mine... maybe they think that's too obvious to state, or 
maybe it isn't a factor?

And Jadwiga, food is good, but it's harder to do that when you are 
showing textiles... *G* Neat food. That's what I need... Keep your 
mustard away from my table! Or else we can do a joint project on period 
stain removers... LOL!

Hmm... all the answers so far are not just from my Kingdom, but also 
from my region. Maybe it is a regional mindset... and other parts of the 
Kingdom, and the Known World, react differently?

I actually would like to hear the reasons *for* competition - clearly 
people do enjoy it, or at least, choose to do it, and, because I don't, 
I don't understand why. Anyone?


So now maybe I'm rambling... but I wanted to ask here because you know 
me well enough not to dismiss me, and to accept the way I think. And it 
does look as if I have more company than I was beginning to think I did. 
Good. I can continue the other conversations, but feel more sure of myself.

Thank you.

AEllin