From now until June 30, 2008, you can visit Neue Galerie in New York to see an exhibit of jewelry from the Weiner Werkstätte (Vienna workshops), a movement that developed at the same time and with a similar ideology as the English Arts and Crafts movement. I found out about the exhibit from an article by Ken Johnson that appeared in the New York Times.

Johnson's review, "Rage Against the Machine with Artisans and Beauty," piqued my interest, because the more I read, the more I recognized similarities between those artisans from a few generations ago and our beloved Art Jewelry readers. Johnson points out that the jewelry's value for these artisans came "not from the raw materials but from its aesthetic, the purview of artists and designers, and its craftsmanship, handled by the workshop’s expert artisans." In every issue of Art Jewelry, we publish pieces that fit this description — it's one of our defining characteristics.

But in his review, Johnson goes on to talk about how the Wiener Werkstätte was an "ultimately untenable business model" that failed partly because it didn't have a "political vision." Instead, he says, "Its only purpose was to make beautiful things without compromising artistic quality, an expensive ambition." He hopefully suggests at the end of his review that perhaps such a movement could survive in, say, the 21st century with "rich and enlightened patrons."

The article raised a lot of questions for me:

• How do you, as an artist, find the line between accessible art and quality materials and craftsmanship? Or do you even feel the need to make your art accessible in the first place?
  
• Is it necessary to have a political vision behind your work in order for it to sell? Or can you simply make objects of beauty that are marketable on that merit alone?
• Do the "political" pieces sell better than the "beautiful" pieces, or do 21st-century buyers actually fork over more money for objects of beauty rather than for pieces with political vision? Are you finding "rich and enlightened patrons"?
  
• How does the mass-production of jewelry continue to affect you as a craftsperson?
• How do modern concerns about social responsibility (where do we get our metals and our stones, what chemicals are we using, do we have sustainable working practices, etc.) compare to the concerns that the early-19th-century artisans had?

Of course, the list could go on. But I'm really eager to hear what you have to say about this. To share your thoughts, leave a comment in the comment box below.

 —Kristin