Tuesday, January 12, 2010

New Etsy Art Category?

There's a "discussion" (or maybe better titled rant/mud slinging session...) happening in the Etsy Ideas forum. Here's a link to the section (scroll down a little to admin amydec's post), which I've reproduced here:

amydec says:
Hi - I'm caught up. First and foremost - this is a discussion! So let's discuss this. Nothing is set in stone.

In addition to the categories below, in the future you will be able to tag your item with attribute values like edition, size, main color, subject.

What I am trying to do here is present a list of things people shop for. People don't shop for Printmaking. They shop for Prints. If you feel like your category is misrepresented, please let me know here or by convo'ing me. I'd like to avoid some of the emotion and try to get back on track to creating logical categories for the site.


. Calligraphy
. Chalk
. Charcoal
. Colored Pencil
. Crayon
. Ink
. Marker
. Pastel
. Pencil
. Rubbings
. Other Drawings

. Knitted and Crocheted Art
. Needleworked Art
. Quilts
. Tapestries
. Wall Hangings
. Other Fiber Art

. Assemblage
. Collage
. Mosaic
. Other Mixed Media

. Acrylic
. Encaustic
. Gouache
. Oil
. Pastel
. Watercolor
. Other Paintings

. Digital
. Film
. Polaroid
. Other Photographs

(original works)
. Intaglio Prints
. Lithograph Prints
. Monotype Prints
. Relief Prints
. Screenprints
. Other Hand Pulled Prints

(original art made using technology)
. Digital Painting
. Photo Manipulation
. Digital Illustrations
. Digital Collage
. Other Digital Art

(reproductions of original works)
. Drawings (prints of original drawings)
. Mixed Media (prints of original mixed media art)
. Paintings (prints of original paintings)
. Other Prints

. Ceramic
. Clay
. Fiber
. Glass
. Kinetic
. Metal
. Mobile
. Paper
. Papier Mache
. Plaster
. Plastic
. Stone
. Wood
. Other Sculptures

Thanks to VIZArt for bringing this to our attention. Have a scroll through as much of the discussion as you can, and put in your comments there, if you haven't already.

10 comments:

TheHouseofBouton said...

I think this could be really good for all the Artists on Etsy, but especially us Printmakers. I hope it happens, something to look forward to!

minouette said...

I'm glad to see they are working on proper categories. I'm sorry the level of discussion is, um, a bit rabid in the forums. I posted because I thought the 'hand-pulled prints' could do with a mixed media subsection. Where would you put something which involved different types of printmaking, or printmaking and collage (I mean more collage than chine collé).

I also note that the sections are larger than the current tags. 'Relief print' rather than 'linocut' and 'woodblock', for instance. Just an observation...

I think this is a move in the right direction.

Viza Arlington said...

My main grip with the proposed Hand-Pulled Print category is that woodblocks, etchings, drypoints, collographs, linocuts etc... will now be all lumped under intaglio or relief. although these are correct terms i don't think they are very user friendly from a buyers perspective. i asked my mom if she knew what intaglio was and she confessed that she did not even though she has had to listen to me talk about printmaking for at least 15 years now. if the other categories get to list all there subcategories in the open the so should we. It would be like
Painting-
- oil based media
- water based media
- Encaustic

Viza Arlington said...

i meant to say gripe not grip

Bobbi A. Chukran, Author said...

I think it's a step in the right direction, too.

bobbi c.

David Harrison said...

Were I shopping on Etsy, I wouldn't think to search for 'relief print' unless 'woodcut', 'woodblock', 'linocut' had already failed as searches...

Studio 27 said...

This is very interesting. I really think the category of linocut needs to stay, though, and I don't see it listed. I sell primarily linocuts, as do alot of other Printsy sellers. I do think that people are shopping for linocuts and know what they are - the more advanced processes, well maybe not so much. I'd love to see linocut in there someone still. Thanks!

Studio 27 said...

I convosed Amydec about my concerns with losing the linocut category and here is what she wrote back to me:

"I've heard this from many people and I am amenable to reintroducing the more specific printmaking terms like linocut to the taxonomy."

So I am taking that as good news :).

Kelly O'Keefe said...

I am enjoying this discussion from a learning standpoint. I appreciate the passion behind each artist's chosen medium. I am pleased that Etsy is working on enlarging the categories.

Diane P. said...

Hi. It think there is one thing about this a little confusing. Shouldn't the things in parenthesis say Reproductions of original drawings, paintings, etc.? I think that if it is a repro, it should not be called a print. I am referring to the text below: Thanks for the opportunity to discuss this.

"(reproductions of original works)
. Drawings (prints of original drawings)
. Mixed Media (prints of original mixed media art)
. Paintings (prints of original paintings)
. Other Prints"