intellectual property.
ideas.
images.
ego.
criticism.
sharing, as in kindergarten.
play nice.
work.
art.
this list, these words were much on my mind during an email conversation with india. there are people who own ideas. yep. they're out there. they also trademark them. savvy business people. seems ridiculous to me.
every
one
of
them
.
Lovely idea, Velma, but hmmm...I got you there. I've been weaving gemstones and crystals into my tapestries for quite a while now. I also have been including them in the books I have made so far. But I do like your photos - great stones!
ReplyDeleteSavvy...or silly? It's all a matter of one's perspective...or maybe values. Seems to me that those 'savvy' people may be living out of fear and/or greed?!?!
I have no plans - not now or ever - to trademark my ideas...for in reality these "ideas" are not mine, but rather come from a much higher creative source. And as such I cannot lay claim to them. So, if others are blessed (by that same higher creative source) with these same or similar creative ideas...all the better! The more the merrier, says I.
stoned....tm?
ReplyDeletexo
bonnie, rats! foiled again. wasn't it solomon who said there was nothing new under the sun?
ReplyDeleteindia, hmmm...
even better - patent them! but you'll be busy chasing up all the other stone people, no time to create...
ReplyDeleteto quote myself from way back when faced with this trademarking idea...."if i have to define art i can only say that it seems to be an activity involved in having something to say and then....trying to communicate that. i must reject the idea of ownership though, for there is something undeniably collective about thought and expression. the creative act is hard to define. the catching of a thought is such a tiny thing, the expression of that thought is an expansion process. it does becomes a conversation. with yourself and ultimately with others."... which can be quite beautiful in its own right.
ReplyDeletejude, you are one wise woman. i'd had it; but you are right on.
ReplyDeletehey, bonnie, want to share a picture or three?
ReplyDeleteI really like the pebbles on cloth
ReplyDeleteas for the copyrighting' true masters that Içve met are not only happy but anxious to transmit their knowledge and craftsmaship. An artist trying to patent an idea or method seems to me very insecure about his-her art..something like "I'll have to cash in on this idea, because I'll never be able to do something as good again" a little death.
i'm fond of this virginia woolf which i wrote it in my book of days:
ReplyDelete"for masterpieces are not single and solitary births.they are the outcome of manyyears of thinking by the body of the people so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice"
from a room of one's own.
we give birth to ideas at the most unexpected times--and places. Respect them, hold them gently and nuture them with patience. Like children! How can anyone trademark that?
ReplyDeletebeautiful thoughts.
ReplyDeletei like to think of it as tapping into a common place of experiences, values, and thoughts and an attempt to give both a personally focused perspective as well as a shared lens.
"see i see this, see you see it too"
something that is meant to bring us closer to one another anyway is art.
i've been thinking a lot about that lately. how community/culture and countries with a strong belief and respect for heritage define individuality and in so doing art.
how meaningless and yet meaningful the individual is in the grand scheme.
in a personal sense in my embrace of patchwork and hand work, which it seems many in the art quilt area shun as an artistic medium and how i have always look at it as "nod" to those who've come before.
random thoughts, just felt the urge to contribute.
meaningful post!
sometimes the pressure to make money is so great that we lose sight of the collective consciousness. that is where we find the seeds to grow an idea. we are an integral part of it but .... we are of it but not it.
ReplyDeletePretty deep thoughts. Seems to me trademarking takes something that is born of the human experience plus the unexplicable and attempts to cash in on it. Rather self serving, small and petty for something so marvelously wonderful.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher sharing techniques freely, I've had this issue rise internally a number of times; my take on it is that I can show someone how to do exactly what I do, but their work is still going to be very different from mine, because it's coming from a life experience and consciousness that is unique.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I have had people (not students) make and exhibit work based directly on specific things I've done. It's not a pleasant feeling, but I learned that I can move past that...usually with the very next piece, because the work is always moving forward.
yes, melissa, the work is always moving forward. (especially yours, i may add.) my further take on this is that the egos involved with those who are tming things is that they do NOT have confidence in their work, or their thoughts, or themselves, and are not true to the work. it shocks me that someone has tmed a name for their art making, or blatantly imitated another's work. but it's no surprise. it's actually a bit pathetic.
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