I was in a conversation last night with a dear friend whom I respect greatly in her craft and as a person. She was telling me a story about a master maker who had some hot shot kid tell him he could do that in 30 minutes. To her generation (she is slightly older than I) this is another example of how the upcoming generations are less interested in craftsmanship, can't concentrate long enough to create anything worth while, are disrespectful to the older generation, ect, ect, ect. In other words "god damned" millennials"
While this kid was way out of line, he was indeed talking to one of the best makers in his craft, following a process that took him 35 years of experience to perfect, he was not just another dumb millennial to be discounted. It was an older generation who did not raise this young man correctly, likely because they were too damned busy working 60 hours a week to support the young man, possibly because they were too busy mastering a craft to see the mistakes they were making. There is no way around the failure of the boomer generation to promote, curate, build up, and mentor this young man as he took an interest in a trade position.
It was the boomers who took away the middle schools wood shop, it was the boomers who took away his high school metal shop. They scrapped the ceramics programs, the fine arts where ever they could. Then they are upset when no one has the base skill set coming out into journeyman ages. Yes there are plenty of fine boomers who are fighting for these very things, there is a book "shop class as soulcraft" that is written by one amazing boomer who is fighting for today's youth and I have read and reread his book as it was a part of what inspired me to take up a craft as hobby and work towards mastering it as a retirement hobby.
There is another side to this story as well for the younger makers. As we were not guided to crafts like the previous generations we had to teach ourselves. I am part of the generation that gave rise to the term "hack the planet" because we were curious, we wanted to know, we sought the knowledge. The millennials saw us get in trouble for trying to learn. That, however, has not stopped us. As a result, we have found creative, fascinating, and as we get older completely industry disrupting solutions to tasks our elders spent hours on. We designed open source tools that do the same thing at the same quality as 10,000 machines for less than a grand because we wanted them but did not have access to them. We are creating beautiful and masterful works of art on large and macro scales that have never been seen before. We have created streams of income for old world crafts that did not exist before we went o I can do that.
So maybe it is time to put away the generations bullshit in the trades and start talking to one another again. I for one want to understand that 45-year master's process, not because I want to copy it because I want to build my own thing from it. I am also positive that I could save that master time and effort via automation and newer thought processes that he or she has not had time to research because they were focused on another aspect of their trade. Basically, my argument to what I heard the other night is this:
We are both wrong, and we need to stop talking and start listening, start asking questions.
Here is a list of some amazing makers and books if you're interested in the subject that has personally driven me to pursue my interest in blacksmithing and metal work.
Alec Steele: Young entrepreneur who is driving interest in blacksmithing and using modern channels to do so
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWizIdwZdmr43zfxlCktmNw
Michael Cthulhu Another amazing youtube maker passionate about his dreams with a following of other crazy makers
https://www.youtube.com/user/michaelcthulhu
Shop class as soulcraft: this book changed my life
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00273BHPU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Jimmy Diresta: another of my generation who wrote his own path in the arts and inspires me
https://www.youtube.com/user/jimmydiresta