Honest Question

[sam]

I was having a discussion with the banker/representative at our local bank while doing some account maintenance. He knows that I'm a photographer and his background is in music. His family spans multiple generations as classical guitar players and that was his intended field. They did band gigs, private parties solo, instruction, etc. Just to note that playing music and teaching didn't pay the bills so he got into the banking side to be able to live.

We'd been talking about the Arts and what he's seen from his side of the music business. A good deal of parallel about having an income stream that spans a broad area of one's speciality. The verification that what we produce is liked and bought is hard to predict. One sale may not translate onward as each is an individual work with specific appeal. With trends/fads among the industry the ability to adapt is constant.

Some of the old timers that have been in more than 25 years we discuss the up and down of the business. The mid ground is hard because this is where there is the broadest choices so there is a great deal of competition.

The tactical trend was in the beginnings back when I began pursuing the knife show circuit as a maker. Makers that were doing classic knives transitioned into these because it meant higher odds of a sale. Most my peers have a wider line of tactical class knives on their roster. Fine hand engraving on these has not been a match. Makers knives that have fine engraving as lessened.

I have a buddy that loves visiting art museums on his travels worldwide. I sent him this picture as a joke and he says that is what he observes as well.

View attachment 45164

How dare they hang distracting classical art in a texting area.

 

[Grayson]

Here's another interesting element to the museum photo. The girls are on one side of the seat, and the boys are on the other. Oh Tempora! Oh Mores! [Oh, the times! Oh, the ways!]

 

[Doc Mark]

I was having a discussion with the banker/representative at our local bank while doing some account maintenance. He knows that I'm a photographer and his background is in music. His family spans multiple generations as classical guitar players and that was his intended field. They did band gigs, private parties solo, instruction, etc. Just to note that playing music and teaching didn't pay the bills so he got into the banking side to be able to live.

We'd been talking about the Arts and what he's seen from his side of the music business. A good deal of parallel about having an income stream that spans a broad area of one's speciality. The verification that what we produce is liked and bought is hard to predict. One sale may not translate onward as each is an individual work with specific appeal. With trends/fads among the industry the ability to adapt is constant.

Some of the old timers that have been in more than 25 years we discuss the up and down of the business. The mid ground is hard because this is where there is the broadest choices so there is a great deal of competition.

The tactical trend was in the beginnings back when I began pursuing the knife show circuit as a maker. Makers that were doing classic knives transitioned into these because it meant higher odds of a sale. Most my peers have a wider line of tactical class knives on their roster. Fine hand engraving on these has not been a match. Makers knives that have fine engraving as lessened.

I have a buddy that loves visiting art museums on his travels worldwide. I sent him this picture as a joke and he says that is what he observes as well.

View attachment 45164

This photo makes me want to weep! I am a museum freak and visit as many as I can. "Social Media" to me is the death knell of civilization, as we know it.

 

[Sinterklaas]

This picture was taken in the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands. And aparantly the (school)kids are on their phones to lookup some information. Or they had an app to tell them about the art.

https://theeconomyofmeaning.com/201...ut-teens-today-try-to-see-the-bigger-picture/

The art in the background is the famous Night Watch (Nachtwacht) by Rembrandt van Rijn.
It is a big painting: 142.9 in × 172.0 in / 363 cm × 437 cm.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch

 

[troutbox]

"This photo makes me want to weep! I am a museum freak and visit as many as I can. "Social Media" to me is the death knell of civilization, as we know it."

relax. the iphones have made people walking zombies who don't know how to do anything or think for themselves.....in general.

but

i'm sure "the death knell of civilization" was predicted with.....the printing press, photographs, movies, phonographs, talkies, radio, television, the internet, cars, airplanes, telephones......

lest we not forget that my generation somehow survived clackers and lawn darts.

humans are good at adaptation.

 

[JJ Roberts]

Rembrandt was a great artist painter and etcher and a master with light and shadow. J.J.

 

[Big-Un]

"This photo makes me want to weep! I am a museum freak and visit as many as I can. "Social Media" to me is the death knell of civilization, as we know it."

relax. the iphones have made people walking zombies who don't know how to do anything or think for themselves.....in general.

but

i'm sure "the death knell of civilization" was predicted with.....the printing press, photographs, movies, phonographs, talkies, radio, television, the internet, cars, airplanes, telephones......

lest we not forget that my generation somehow survived clackers and lawn darts.

humans are good at adaptation.

As a certified "old fart" I find myself totally lost in the new generation. I was at the dr's office the other day and a young couple had their two year old daughter with them, and their daughter had her own child sized iPhone which she was operating very efficiently. I can't even figure out how to operate my telephone that well! I guess I'm lost in the proverbial generational time warp. Today's kids don't seem to appreciate the finer things in life, like classic art, music or any other form of artistic endeavor you want to include because the time of instant information is right at their fingertips.
I read the other day about a large gun shop studying the buying habits of Millennials and concluded they shop differently than traditional shoppers and he was changing his store practices and sales techniques in order to accommodate them. The Millennials shop the way of the Internet, making purchasing decisions before actually entering a brick-and-mortar store, and the way to interact with them is the way of the cell phone centers, with roaming sales people and stand alone kiosks. Even some banks are changing their service areas to the same concept. No more are they walking up to a counter to ask a salesperson questions, as the research has been done before they ever enter the store. If what they want is not available, it will be ordered on the iPhone before they leave the store, having a gun shipped to either the store or a friend with an FFL. Times are achangin' and if we, as artists and engravers don't adapt, we may be left out in the cold. Personally, I don't know how to reach that segment of society and really don't know if anything with engraving is in their minds.
Enough rambling, I guess I'll just keep plugging and try to inform them of the art of engraving.

 

[allan621]

I didn't realize I was eligible for "old fart" certification but I am. I asked my wife ( she who must be obeyed ) if she minded if I apply for this honor and she told me not to bother. I was unanimously elected about five years ago and she would have told me but didn't bother because I never listen to her anyway.

Big-Un, that's a pretty interesting post. My take is that each generation sets the standard for the traditional way to do things. I adapt in a lot of ways. I haven't been to a bank for three years, even though my local branch is five minutes away. Haven't had a land line phone in over four. But I reach generation X, the millennials and generation Z in a completely traditional way. I make conversation and ask. I just flat out ask.

allan

 

[gcleaker]

I have only been engraving for about 20 years but in all that time I have only engraved two or three guns on commission and I was sorry I did. I confess that I have two alternate income sources , However I have found that I make about three times the money when I engrave my own guns and sell them. I mostly engrave 18th century guns and sell them at shows or on the internet. I love what I do and nobody tells me to do some kind of so called art that looks like crap. My average gun goes for what I use to make in 2 years working on cars and it's a lot more fun. I have done a lot of cheap stuff for others just for pocket change. I make them promise never to tell anybody I engraved them. Most of the guns I sell go into some rich guys vault never to be seen again. That bothers me some.
So it all depends on what you want to do. Average stuff never sells very well. Must be top notch.

This sounds so much like me in many ways. I must agree with you that average is just average, a work of art is art no matter what the canvases is. We as a group (engravers) would like to believe are work will span generations to be held in aw and wonder, in the future. Hopefully when someone says yes I meet the engraver that grandpa commissioned to do this. It nice to think that someone will remember us.