With a click of a mouse, I was the 20,871st visitor to Janny Hui's pottery studio Web site. From 24 Hollywood Road in Hong Kong, Janny invited me to "learn a little about the relationship between water, clay, air and fire." Living halfway around the globe in Hollywood, USA, Kelly Lester, an artist, wife, and mother of three decided she was tired of looking at boring beige lightswitch plates. Experimentation revealed that combining decoupage, air brushing, and uniquely hand-cut paper images resulted in a genuine work of art.
The concept of a "community" has clearly been redefined; it is no longer limited to eight women in a quilting bee that meet once a week for tea, gossip and the purpose of producing a functional work of art. While some feel that the technological age has precipitated a loss of community, the cooperative spirit is actually being recaptured through virtual communities on the Internet.
Janny and Kelly can communicate with millions of previously inaccessible people who share their interest in Arts & Crafts, as do those who participate in everything from Antler Crafts to Woodworking. The novice, the professional artist and craftsperson can all tap into this multibrained organism of collective expertise to keep abreast of new developments, share new ideas and opinions, publish articles, offer classes, ask for help and offer advice, or just leave messages for each other.
The Internet is not just big business; it is real people and real communities that are having instances of profoundly human communion. The Web offers the world of Arts & Crafts many of the things that existing forms of communication (newsletters, magazines, conferences, quilting bees) offer, but it has several unique advantages: it is cheap, global, collaborative, democratic and is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. And it is available to any busy bee with a computer, a modem and a telephone jack. |
