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I am glad that the discussion on this QOTW topic is going further. And thank you to LawPots for taking the time to search Pinterest and post all those links to TeaBag Mugs here. Yes, this is a very good example of "copy or no copy"! Not long ago one of the forum members complained bitterly that a fellow potter at a ceramics show had a look at his pottery, went home to copy/past the pieces and sold them at the next show at a much cheaper price. That is copying I cannot put up with!

 

And then the workshops or masterclasses or also the "showing how it is done" in Pottery Making Illustrated, New Ceramics (my own series) and other magazines. The last issue shows the famous Ann van Hoey showing us all how she is doing her beautiful bowls. Now everybody can (or could!) go home and do them him- or herself. Would that be copying, or only "ah, let's try if I can do that folding of the clay slab too"? Hmmmm...

 

Evelyne

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A most excellent question!

My feeling is this:

All of us absorb things from the world around us, sights, sounds, smells, textures, etc. As artists our job is to percolate those things and release them back into the world in a way that shows our own creative interpretation of it all.

I think directly copying someone's work in order to sell it yourself is wrong. I go out of my way to bring my own vision to the pieces that I make. If I see one of the local potters making certain shapes or forms at our local art center gallery I tend to go the opposite way so as to not to copy their work in any way. They need to make a living and so do I if we all make the same stuff we only hurt ourselves.

I am currently teaching a series of classes on design for pottery. I show them how to make a simple form, plate, box, vase, etc. But the focus is on putting designs and artwork on their pieces. I created the class series because I get told all the time by other potters oh I can't put an image or design on my pieces I'm not an ARTIST. So I designed a series of classes to show potters that yes they too are capable of putting images and designs on their pots. I stress using their own sketches (not likely), photos and copyright free images.

I got asked during the first class aren't you worried that teaching us how to do this is going to affect your sales? I told them no becasue each of us has a different things that we are attracted to. I like boxes, pugs and pastel colors, you might like bowls, frogs and bright colors how is what you do going to affect what I do? That got them to thinking about what forms and patterns they like.

At the end of the class I told them, I hope you all enjoyed the class and will take the techniques I have shown you and push them even further and make them your own. I really hope they do, I am in fact excited to see what they come up with on their own as they explore their new knowledge.

T

I like your premis, that there need not be a distinction between Artist and Potter. You put your teaching skills right where needed, helping those who usually resort to random dips and drips because they don't consider themselves Artists! (Or because they had an experience with the kiln changing their expected decoration into something unrecognizable.)

 

I had fun one day in second-year taking my bisque ware into a life drawing class and sketching the model directly on the pots - no two alike!

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Speaking of copycats,  how does everyone feel about people with smart phones taking pictures of your art work without asking? This happens all the time at our cooperative art gallery and I mostly think people have no bad motives but just want to show someone what they saw. Still there has been a time or two when someone methodically took pics of every item in a new show.  Guess its more of an issue with people with paintings that could be reproduced from a photo.   rakuku

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I was once writing an article on craft shows and had some artists totally freak out when I approached with a camera ... even when I explained what I was doing ... they did not want any images taken. This seemed weird to me as any images of their work would have shown up in a pretty good craft magazine ... and quite frankly, the work was not even close to being original designs that anyone would need to steal. Totally misplaced paranoia. They did not know enough about the history of pottery to know what they were doing themselves was 'copying' someone else's style or work.

 

Now, I can see it in a wholesale type venue where known copiers are roaming the aisles looking specifically for work to rip off. I think these shows ban cameras (?) but still some are looking for what is selling and trying to shoot in secret with high tech type cameras that can send an image good enough to copy for production. BUT ... that said, anyone looking to rip you off is going to find a dozen ways to do it including just buying one and copying it (as has been done).

 

The only way to beat copy cats is to move on and leave them behind. Unfortunately we mostly do not have enough money to fight them in court and few resources to draw on in the battle. I believe The Rosen Group has successfully sued a manufacturer for one of their wholesale artists but I personally don't know of many others who have taken up this fight.

Anyone know if there is a resource for this??

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We have thousands of years of learning to copy , literally ingrained into our very beings! Babies copy, children copy, we learn by copying!the copying enables us to all catch up to the same stage fast, it helps our adaptable brains gather the knowledge we need to be able to make leaps to the next solution. Our being human pretty means we are always tweaking the solution, trying to make things easier , better. I think life used to be pretty precarious and difficult.

Copying is not the end game, so if someone makes it the end game, it will fall short. They will be stuck with stagnation, the point of copying is to gather information. And jump to another point. ( the impressionists all copied each other, together. Nothing looked copied at all)

Another thing I find interesting, since people catch each other up, discoveries pretty much happen at the same time at different parts of the world. Weaving happened pretty much at the same time , with different methods world wide.inventions such as calculus probably the same.

There might even be a component that is viral , where people catch ideas like a cold cold.

So that being said, people have gone to extreme lengths to hide their creative secret, and done it successfully. I see nothing wrong w that either.

This world is is so money driven , so I think when someone takes an idea , and copies it to make money, well that takes a certain kind of drive , those people are those people. I could almost make it into a blessing: May your pots be strong, and the greedy never see them!

 

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