Terrance Lazaroff on thu 15 mar 01
Vince; You said:
I am always interested in a good debate, but I cannot see anything worth
debating here. If you expect to get paid for your images, then you cannot
really expect your images to ever appear in books or magazine articles, and
you will be missing out on an excellent opportunity.
I am like all artists. I get pleasure in showing people my creations and as
such, I document my work so that I can carry the images around with me
everywhere I go. When I want people to look at my work, I show them photos.
It is easier that carrying pots.
I also agree with you that it is my responsibility to document my work.
However, where is it written that I have to allow others to use it without
remuneration?
When I apply for grants and am accorded the money, I am being paid for the
effort of documenting my work. I did not give the use of my image away for
someone else to get the grant. If I do not get the grant, I try to improve
my documentation. In this case, I am working for myself.
Furthermore, when I apply for a grant to organize an exhibition of clay art,
one of the criteria for receiving the grant, here in Canada, is that I
follow the copyright laws of the country. I must pay the artist an
exhibition fee as well as pay for any copyright use of his images. The grant
budget must reflect the cost of copyright use and the follow up report must
show the receipts paid to the artist for such use of images.
I believe that the need, to give away the use of our images in order to gain
popularity and accreditation, is a myth that has grown overtime. New
emerging artists jump quickly, on the bandwagon because someone whom they
admire emphasized that this is necessary in order to succeed. Often their
mentors are the ones pushing them to get on line.
Universities arts programs do not spend enough time to explain the truth
behind copyright use and of course why should they. They are not paid to
teach business, they are teaching art and creativity.
Nevertheless, they also continue to push the fallacy of self-promotion to
great highs as students prepare documentation for graduate school under the
heavy pressure of competition. The hype of presenting photos at every
opportunity is engrained in their minds. They leave the university believing
that one must be published in order to succeed. Many artists only see their
pictures in books as a way to give creditability to their work. They even go
so far that they pay to have their photo inserted into a publication.
Terrance
vince pitelka on thu 15 mar 01
Terrance -
I am not interested in going around in circles on this. While it may not
have been case your experience, I would expect that just about anyone can
clearly see that getting your work published in books or magazines offers
tremendous benefits in increasing your profile in the art/craft world, and
that there are a whole range of opportunities that may come as a result of
this visibility and publicity. In my opinion, any artist or craftsperson
would be shooting themselves in the foot if they expect to be paid for
imagery of their work appearing in books and magazines. You have absolutely
nothing to gain from this. The writers and publishers are doing you a great
service by publishing images of your work. I am surprised that this
dialogue is even occuring, because it is so obvious that there are great
advantages to having your work published in books and magazines.
> However, where is it written that I have to allow others to use it without
> remuneration?
Of course you can do whatever you want. If you want to deny yourself this
valuable opportunity that is up to you.
> When I apply for grants and am accorded the money, I am being paid for the
> effort of documenting my work.
No, you are being paid for the quality of the work and for all the time and
trouble to develop the work. The likilihood of receiving the grants is
obviously far better if you submit excellent slides and transparencies. The
jurors will notice them, and will go out of their way to help you. The same
is true of the quality of images in books and magazines.
> I believe that the need, to give away the use of our images in order to
gain
> popularity and accreditation, is a myth that has grown overtime. New
> emerging artists jump quickly, on the bandwagon because someone whom they
> admire emphasized that this is necessary in order to succeed. Often their
> mentors are the ones pushing them to get on line.
It is absurd to call it a "bandwagon," but of course their mentors are
pushing them to do this, because there are such obvious benefits in it.
> Nevertheless, they also continue to push the fallacy of self-promotion to
> great highs as students prepare documentation for graduate school under
the
> heavy pressure of competition. The hype of presenting photos at every
> opportunity is engrained in their minds. They leave the university
believing
> that one must be published in order to succeed. Many artists only see
their
> pictures in books as a way to give creditability to their work. They even
go
> so far that they pay to have their photo inserted into a publication.
Once again, of course they do, because of all the benefits from seeing their
work in publication. I do not advocate paying to get their work in print,
but I certainly encourage my students and all artists to jump at any
opportunity to get their work in print especially when it is absolutely
free, as it is when someone asks for an image of your work for a magazine or
book. None of my students leave the university thinking that one must be
published in order to succeed, but they all know very well that it can be a
tremendous help.
In using phrases like "the falacy of self-promotion" and "the hype of
presenting photos at every opportunity" you betray your profoundly negative
attitude towards this whole subject. You are not going to convince me, and
I am not going to convince you, but it saddens me to see such negative,
inaccurate information proliferated in the posts you have written on this
subject.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
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