[Aquanet] AWS controversy

Tue Sep 16 14:47:53 EDT 2008

So true -- you can patent a method of operation (this is meant for industry, and patent is a lot more expensive and time consuming than copyright), but if you then go ahead and teach it, you screw up your own patent.  You cannot copyright a style at all, and if you want nobody else to use your particular method, then don't show anyone or do it where someone can see (cloak n' dagger painting, right?)!

I keep trying to remember that AWS probably wasn't looking at anything but a slide, but I still can't get past Miriam's remark about a 'black mark' on AWS for not being more aggressive about checking out the artist.  

Used to have an old friend who made original jewelry from silver and semi-precious stones, mostly necklaces; she told me once that she figured she had six months (this is pre-Web) of being able to sell the things Stateside before someone took one of her designs over to Asia and had it copied, at which point it would sell for less than she had in one.  Since you cannot do much about that, she just went with the idea that she could always think up a new design.  This is a healthy way to look at it when you don't have an alternative, but very few of us don't red zone when we see our image used without permission. It feels like brain theft.

pat chapin
www.patchapin.com 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: miriam 
  To: debbie at cannatella.net ; aquanet 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:18 AM
  Subject: Re: [Aquanet] AWS controversy

  You can't copyright a style.

  I think what is more shocking than
  that she infringed on another's copyright, was the possibility
  that it is a "fake watercolor" ( a washed print)
  So it is a black mark on AWS as well.

  *************************************************************************** 
  Artist website : http://www.MiriamSchulmanStudio.com
  I have an ART BLOG!
  Miriam Schulman
  917-750-5664 cell

  ----- Original Message ----
  From: Debbie Cannatella <debbie at cannatella.net>
  To: aquanet <aquanet at thedigitalbraintrust.net>
  Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:49:19 PM
  Subject: Re: [Aquanet] AWS controversy

  I was shocked to see this. I found the painting brillianly executed and
  had bragged about it myself.

  My friend, Paul Jackson, AWS said the same thing to me this morning in an
  email. He's met the Canadian artist at the exhibition. I believe that the
  law is on her side, though. Paul tells me that by combining the two images
  she makes a completely new and original image. Copyright law says 11%
  different is a new image. Ethically however, she's way over the line and
  professionally she's now pretty tainted. I wouldn't want to have to live
  that down.

  I have gotten permission from people to paint from their vacation
  photographs before, but now I stick to my own location sketches, value
  sketches, and resource photos.

  This brings up another question for me. If one learns a new technique in a
  workshop and it really speaks to them, then is using that technique
  "copying" another artist's style? I especially wonder about this in
  abstract or collage work. I spent many years in the engineering field and
  was doing some experimental artwork using geometric shapes that I used in
  my highway and bridge design. Then I attended a workshop by an artist who
  used similar shapes with a similar technique... and her technique was much
  more brilliant in color than mine. So I bought the brand of paint that she
  used and tried out it out on Yupo, rather than watercolor paper as I had
  been doing... and I just love the results. Though the compositions are
  completely mine, the result looks like her paintings! I don't do much
  experimental work. I'm primarily a realist painter, but I have enjoyed
  this new technique and want to work more in it.

  I can be more specific if you all need... but I'm just curious about all
  these artists (including me) that teach workshops all over... do they
  expect their students to NOT use what they teach? This workshop instructor
  clearly learned the technique from another... and things adapt and change
  as they are passed on and one makes it their own... but where is the line
  drawn?

  Debbie Cannatella
  www.cannatella.net

  > Since it seems to be quiet here on the Aquanet list, I thought I'd pass
  > along something that has become a heated discussion on the Wet Canvas
  > website. Apparently, the gold medal winner at the 2008 American Watercolor
  > Society show has been accused of copyright infringement. The painting in
  > question is a combination of two photographs taken by a photographer who
  > claims not to have given the winning artist permission to reproduce the
  > images. In addition, there seems to be some question as to whether the
  > winning painting is really a painting at all or, perhaps, a high quality
  > print. The "print or painting" discussion has arisen among photographers
  > who
  > point to a flaw in the photo being visible in the winning painting.
  >
  >
  >
  > Here's the link to the ongoing discussion at Wet Canvas (be advised it's
  > already 14 pages long and still growing) . . .
  >
  >
  >
  > http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515288
  >
  >
  >
  > If the gold medal winner is ultimately proven to be a fraud, it would seem
  > to put the AWS in a very awkward position, especially if the "painting"
  > turns out not to be a painting at all. As someone who's never entered a
  > show, I'm fascinated by this story and somewhat surprised that a
  > prestigious
  > group such as the AWS doesn't do more stringent "vetting" of submissions
  > to
  > its annual show.
  >
  >
  >
  > Jack
  >
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  > Aquanet at thedigitalbraintrust.net
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  >
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