29 May 2009

copying?

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
- oscar wilde

beth at hint brought up the topic of copying/copyrighting/originality last wednesday and will continue to delve into it over the next couple of wednesdays... it's fascinating and has been on my mind since her first blog about it... she is approaching it more from the spiritual & emotional aspect, not the legal...
the comments that have come in are mesmerizing and thought provoking... i have grown because of this discussion and appreciate that so much...
i know that throughout my life i have absorbed oodles of images and experiences... as an art history major at college & a child fortunate enough to have had aunts who lived in manhattan, i saw significant and beautiful things in person.... i walked around gazing up at the architectural sculpture... i was also the child who could sit watching an ant hill, or looking for four leaf clover, or finding shapes in the clouds for hours... nature and art are key to my being... i have always been more of a visual learner... and i can still slow my family down when something catches my eye - like a preying mantis...
i have been designing jewelry for 10 years now... my style has been evolving & i hope that will never end... i entered the world of etsy a few months ago and, quite honestly, it was daunting... while i have made personal discoveries of artists who work in metal, glass, ceramic that have freed me, i have seen designers that have made me worry... why?
i don't want anyone to think i have copied them... i have even contacted people that i have 'run into' on blogs or flickr to let them know i am not... i just made the aquaintance of a really awesome designer - lorelei1141... and i panicked! she had just made some pieces using components that i had just picked up at a bead shop the week before - 'oh no' my head screamed, 'she won't like me, she'll think i'm a bad person, she'll think i'm ... copying.' and i felt compelled to let her know... she was patient with my fears and pointed out correctly that while we are inspired by similar things, our work is different... i knew this, and never in a million years would think it of another person, but i didn't want it thought of me...
i really value the people i have been fortunate enough to come into contact with in this community and don't want to jeopardize any of the relationships... i guess i would hope to be thought of as on an equal (or close to equal) footing with those i admire...
i know that when i work with components i have purchased, i feel a responsibility to those who made the original creation - those things that allow me to express myself in my designs... i am grateful for the talent and artistry that pushes me to dig deeper...
when i first purchased raku beads from makustudio, i had only seen her beads - and i loved them... because they seemed so special and unique i was determined to teach myself wire wrapping... so i picked up a book, etc... then i went onto her full shop and saw that she had done that herself! 'oh no! i'll be copying even though i didn't know it.'... so i came up with something else i hadn't done before... and that was ok - because i really love what came of it... and what it started for me...
for many of us, 'copying' means 'you are bad' ... like when you were in school and it was a rule or in terms of copyright infringement... of course, it just feels wrong and if you are in touch with your feelings at all you don't go there, but you can see the finger pointing at you... i even got nervous at the thought of someone thinking i might be when i wasn't...
in a different place and time, as julie from the hint blog pointed out, aspiring painters, sculptors, architects learned by copying from the hand of a master... it was respectable and practical... why wouldn't you learn from someone who excelled at what they did? and then you grow... your style evolves based upon any number of influences... if you are creative, it happens naturally...
when i am creating, i can feel almost as if i am outside of myself... i kid when i say the beads whisper to me, but it can feel as if i am guided (which is where the stories of the muses come from i am sure) - i guess it's really just a deep connectedness which transcends the beads into yourself and further...
i think for me it has to do with sincerity... and sincerity cannot exist without a pure heart... if you are pulling from yourself, even if you have absorbed images and influences from other places, it will be yours...
while i don't know that what i make will ever be completely original, i know where it comes from... and if i can come up with a personal type of signature, i am ok with that...
for me it becomes interesting when i am able to go past where i was - then i wonder if i can do it again... a bead i got from mika at pinocean did that, as did an acorn charm i got from beth... and so we grow... pleasantly surprising ourselves at times...
and which naturally, as another commentor pointed out, separates us from the copiers...

11 comments:

  1. I like the two points you make about sincerity and relationship. I think someone commented last week on my blog that one of the saddest parts of copyright is that it separates us. Who wouldn't feel fear at the prospect of losing respect, friendship, and belonging? Sometimes things are so unintentional like when you would show up to school wearing the same outfit as your friend. Haha! When did we stop getting enjoyment out of these moments of similarity due to our sincerity? Thanks for allowing me to follow your own thread on this topic. I'm loving the growth too!

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  2. Wow...a lot to consider. I think this is an underlying fear of mine too. I believe this is why I have turned to metal manipulation and why I don't want to take formal classes about metal. I don't want someone else's techniques in my head. It is a fine line...formal training...means my stuff will look like my teacher's, at least for a while...non-formal training means a lot of ugly for a while, but I get to my own style quicker....great post!

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  3. yes, this topic surely does open up a can of worms... and as i said, i cannot stop thinking about it from different angles... beth, thank you for your series & talking about it from your non-legal aspect... 2ifbysea, thank you!... and stacie, i have never taken any classes either... it has taken me years to figure out the finer points on my own... and i have made a lot of ugly too (that is a great phrase)... but i am proud of where i have gotten to... and look forward to seeing where i will end up...thanks to everyone for sharing with me...

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  4. wonderful post....
    and beautiful work
    mona & the girls

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  5. thanks so much, mona & the girls! was checking you guys out...

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  6. What a wonderful post! I certainly don't feel that you are copying me! I do know how you feel though! Yes, there are others who make raku beads, pendants, buttons and jewelry. Some who started before me. I hope that they do not feel that I am copying them! I feel that my pieces are different. Yes, we all start with clay (or beads, or whatever the medium may be), but in the end it's our own energy that comes through...I hope. I feel that when one looks at my work...they might say, "Oh, that's a MAKUstudio piece!". Thank you again Mary Jane for posting this piece. You are an amazing writer. I think that I have mentioned that before. Keep up the good work. Maybe I'll hire you to write for me!!!

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  7. thanks, mak... you definitely have a signature style... that's why i love your work so much!

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  8. Marie ,wonderful post, I think we all worry about this, we can't help but be inspired by what we see, the important thing is to take it to a place that comes from our heart, if you can only replicate pieces and not birth pieces then it might be a problem. Evolution of technique is simply part of life, Embrace with joy. love your work Laura

    http://www.mountaindreamers.1000markets.com

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  9. thanks so much laura and what an eloquent way to state the process - 'birthing' pieces... so very fitting!

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  10. As a new-be in jewelry making, I learn by sometimes copying, but I would never sell those items. A local artist, paints from the masters works but uses her own medium...paint made with coffee and sells these works of art in a fabulous coffee shop, in Tulsa, OK. Quite a talent! There is sometimes a thin line between original and a copy...great post. Thought provoking!

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