Photograph by Vicki Lucas.

Dear Ornament Reader,

Our last issue’s Postscript From The Editors has struck visceral chords, both pro and con, in our readers. We have started publishing their responses in this issue and, because they are numerous, will continue publishing them in the next issue, Volume 30, No. 1. While most opinions were favorable and supportive of what we expressed, apparently we crossed that line of comfort for some—the barring of social commentary from a magazine devoted to the art of human adornment. When widely held beliefs are challenged, we understood that we would have to be prepared to receive some angry letters and possible subscription cancellations. Nevertheless, it is our conviction that difficult times do not mean the avoidance of taking uncomfortable positions. When we called on you to speak out and speak up for the values and type of lives that we hold most dear, the call went out to all, not just to those who are already persuaded by the positions we hold in common, but also to those who, even if not in agreement, might find our proposals cause for reflection regarding their own viewpoints.

Since we last wrote just over a mere two months ago, the Middle East has become even more explosive, ensnarling us even more in wrenching political and religious struggles; the dangers of global warming, with human behavior as a contributing factor, suddenly seem prescient in this very hot summer; then more explicit revelations of human polluting of our ocean ecology (in a recent penetrating series by the Los Angeles Times), drive home the inexorable altering of habitats with devastating ecological and economic consequences. We recommend that a reading of the Declaration of Independence and The Bill of Rights is most helpful today as certain unalienable rights are in jeopardy; freedom and justice are under attack with a renewed assumption of governmental power.

We cannot ignore these profound world and national issues just because our publication is about art. For art is life, reflecting it in every possible way. Even in the world of personal adornment, we know how difficult it is for individual artists and businesses to survive today, weighted by apprehension about the global situation. In some of our articles, we have tried to describe how globalization negatively affects the arts. The extraction of precious metals and gems, and the processing of these materials are also rife with environmental and health problems. While art has been one area of human endeavor that has lifted the human spirit through time, it does not exist in isolation and everything has consequences.

For over thirty years, our mission has been to portray the best of human activity, for therein lies illumination, insight, hope, and happiness, and thematically that is the positive worldview that Ornament selects as its particular perspective. While we do cringe at the thought of losing our precious subscribers, as they are the economic foundation by which Ornament is possible, we would have a much harder time living with ourselves if we just resided within the editorial box of jewelry and clothing. It is a matter of choice: to see life as connections between one another, everything linked to one large cosmic destiny, or to be consumed by safer, more self-serving interests.

 

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