"ether/or", an interim post
Tue, December 1, 2009 at 2:21PM This is going to be "ether" a moot point "or" an argument :} If i hadn't been online so long i would never have discovered all the wonderful work out there, textile or otherwise. I would never have been exposed to the books, because libraries only have so much budget for specialized subjects. I never would have met so many other talented people/artists. I might NOT have started thinking and working out of the box with strange materials and experimenting might have been pretty tame. So, no matter how little or lot you spend time on your computer, you are bound in some way to be exposed to other mediums and methods--and some of it IS going to stick, subconsciously or deliberately.
No one creates in a vacuum.
Noun,1: (n) osmosis ((biology, chemistry) diffusion of molecules through a semi-permeable membrane from a place of higher concentration to a place of lower concentration until the concentration on both sides is equal.
Well, i'd say that "semi-permeable membrane" is either the computer OR books OR other people in real life.
2. A gradual, often unconscious process of assimilation or absorption.
Exactly.
Who taught you to stitch? To read? To choose your own clothes and maybe even your lifestyle? You weren't raised with wolves or on a deserted island. Even in cases where they didn't give a lot, they gave you something. You moved on from that. Absorption, assimilation, osmosis. Learning, expanding, deriving, experimenting, developing.
I can't "copy" a stitch. A stitch is a stitch is a stitch. A technique is always from a to b to z, maybe with a few tangents taken, but still "a" technique. Certain things do certain things in certain ways. It's what YOU do with it that makes it yours. Me, i was almost artistic-deathly afraid i was copying a certain well known artist--she DOES influence me in a gentle way, as she influences a lot of people. But what i do with that influence is mine.
You can copy colour pallettes, fabric and materials choices, even actual design elements and some of someone else's sensibilities, but in the end, if you are truly interested in your art, you will move from that to your own way of creating (with) it.
In the end, read the books, look at the work online, study the techniques. In the end, Own it. Man up and Own it.
Ha! Take that, Doubt! I smite thee!
Reader Comments (14)
We may create in a "style" like someone else. But, if you look closely the style has our own twist to it.
I guess the only time I would be sad that someone had used something of mine is if it was mine and they pretended it was theirs. I remember once when I was visiting a good friend we downloaded the pictures from my camera, that I had taken that day and then she started using them in her blog. She never gave me credit. People would comment on a beautiful shot and she would say, "Isn't it."
We had to have that "come to Bea talk". :)Bea
I just saw a blog where someone posted photos of work that i recognized as by a compatriot in stitching--she's been asked to remove it or at least give credit--i wonder often about this type of person........
It is impossible not to be inspired by other people's work, it's all around us. And that is the way we are programmed to learn. We take in all that we see and hear and experiment with it, right from babyhood, all the way through school, in every aspect of our lives, right through to the end.
It's a matter of sheer numbers, surely, that more than one person will come up with the same idea at the same time. There are so many of us all working diligently away using the same tools, materials and resources. How could it possibly be avoided? It's a kind of accident, like two people attending the same function wearing the same dress. However, those people who copy another's work and pass it off as their own are just unmitigated pirates and cheats!
I don't believe there is nothing new, or a limit to what can be done with textiles, because every time I think that I read through my Bloglines and lo and behold, someone, somewhere, has done broken yet another barrier.
http://weefolk.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/mimis-pin-cushions/
see, another co-oincidence!
OOh look at the typo..a new word..excellenet , how appropriate.
I meant to say excellent..but I think I'll leave it
In my own case I had done a piece in 2002 that was strongly influenced by something I saw in a magazine , and just now come to find that the influence was by Keiko Goke. Last night I went down to my storage and pulled the piece in question ( having forgotten what it even looked like) and laughed at myself for worrying about it being a copy. It doesn't look anything at all like Keiko's except for the 3-D look of weaving strips and dimensionality illusion.
Sashiko happens to be one of my passions and wanting others to share my joy in doing it, I teach it.
Imagine my surprise when I walked into a booth at an art fair and one of my students had copied a wall piece of mine EXACTLY and was offering it for sale.
She at least had the good grace to be embarrassed.
No, I wasn't flattered (you know--copying the sincerest form of flattery thing) but I also wasn't angry. I don't think there is anything one can do with a person who blatently copies another's work except perhaps feel sorry for them as they don't know the true joy of creating a piece that is truly an expression of who you are at a given point in time.
I know that the man that invented the "pet rock" got obsessed at keeping his copy right that he nearly lost all the money that he had earned just fighting the infringement.
I am always collecting images. We are always borrowing from others. Heck even Van Gogh and the impressionist didn't get all worked up over each other copying or being influenced by each others art.. It used to be that you "copied the masters" in order to learn. This is what being an apprentice was.
A lot of the things that we are doing like threading a needle is something they have been doing since the beginning of time and yet classes on sewing start right there.
Seems we have gotten all worked up on being credited rather than being REAL
and just giving what has been given to us by our creator...who we have borrowed a lot from.
Reading this brought back to mind the time, many moons ago, when I sold some of my boring-to-me-now folk art pieces in a yard sale. At the time I was creating Raggedy Ann & Andy wooden dolls, with yarn hair and a few other twists that were strictly my own. I always initialed my pieces along with putting the date on them. Imagine my surprise when I found the exact pieces for sale in a booth at a craft fair the very same year...my initials and date conveniently painted over and replaced by hers. I was so stunned I didn't say anything to her. In hindsight I should have, but what would have been the point. People like that never learn.
Wonder why I felt I had to mention this, when it isn't exactly on topic?!
We all get inspiration from someone or something or somewhere. What we do with what we have learned is unique to us because everything we are goes into it. I am sooo glad you brought this up. I consider it a complement if someone uses an idea from me. Besides, there is nothing new under the sun!
As your friend said above...you all used the same pattern but, came up with completely different pieces.
For me it is about learning from others and taking what I have learned and discovering who I am.
Thank you!