I'd like to weigh in an this one.
As a full time visual artist, and former Professor at Georgian
College of Art and Design, we spent some time with the copyright
issue. Your art teacher is right. If you design anything original ( or
paint ) the design is yours as is the image of the design.
Acknowledgment is key if you borrow an image. Most borrowers ask. It
is important to document all your work just in case you need to
exercise your copyrights. There is also a time limit on this( so
many years) and how the estate has been set up also becomes relevant
! I am decidedly no expert, but experts are available. In Canada,
artists use CARFAC ( can be googled ) for help in these matters which
are all essentially legal and out of reach for most of us ordinary
folk.
As for your scenario of making lace from a copyright pattern, allowing
that your interpretation would be slightly different than the
original, I would suggest that it might be an interesting test case.
There have been multi dollar law suits over music creations which
""" sound like"""" someone else's original tune. MIght be good to
just say adapted from the original design by................. and
check with a copyright lawyer. In the end it is the law which will
prevail.
In any event, this is a timely discussion and something we all need to
consider. Thanks.
Joanna McEwen.. Simcoe County Lace Makers. Ontario
On Apr 17, 2007, at 12:04 PM, Brenda Paternoster wrote:
Moving this to lace because it's lace related.
Further to any remarks I may have made about copyright on a painting
I'm now pretty sure I was wrong in my first posting to lace-chat about
this and that the right to copy remains with the artist, unless the
contract of sale specifically includes the copyright.
I'm just home from my weekly art class and I asked our tutor about it;
he was very clear about it. If he sells a painting it's only the
physical object that goes, he retains photographs of the work and is
free to use those photographs in any way he chooses. He also said
that including the copyright would add several noughts to the selling
price!
On the way home I was thinking about this. If I design a lace pattern
and make a piece of lace from that pattern there's no problem as
copyright on both pattern and lace are mine, but if I legally purchase
a pattern and work it up into lace, the copyright to the pattern
clearly remains with the designer, but the interpretation would be
mine. The chances of me following a pattern to the last detail are
slim anyway and most likely if someone else also bought the pattern
and worked it up their piece of lace would be rather different to
mine. Does that mean that I can take a photo of the lace and use the
photo in any way I wish? I know that I couldn't legally sell or give
away the pattern.
As for using a painting as inspiration for a weaving, or lace pattern
I don't think there would be a problem as the mediums are so
different. A lace pattern would be all dots and zig zag lines which
to an untrained eye would bear no resemblance to the original picture
anyway and the weaving would also be substantially different. The
only way you might just run into trouble is if you take a photo of
your painting and publicly display the photo alongside the finished
weaving. If you wish to display both picture and weaving use the
original picture.
Another thought!
In Veronica Sorenson's 'Design Techniques for Modern Lace' - Batsford
1989 there are a couple of pages about 'lace from lace' where she
describes how to make a pricking from an existing piece of lace. No
pricking is shown but there are photos of a bought Bruges mat and her
version with different fillings and cloth/half stitch arrangement.
Veronica wrote "A word of warning, though. Do *not* pass the
pricking so made to any other person. This must remain for your sole
use in order to prevent an infringement of any copyright that may be
in existance on the original design."
I think that that is much the same as using a painting as the basis
for a weaving. OK so long as you don't pass on the detailed
instructions for making the woven piece.
Brenda
In particular, I have an original watercolor by an unknown artist
(who may or may not be alive) of a boy standing on a bridge which
transcends a rocky gorge. I have thought I might try to make a black
and white (with shades of grey) weaving of this painting. Whether I
**can** do this is yet to be determined, and as I have no intention
of selling it, I think I may legally do whatever I wish, but
considering the issue and seeing the "copyright" topic on chat, made
me wonder if I could legally weave it for resale. A more realistic
and honest question -- if I am able to weave a rendition, may I enter
it in the local May Show as my own work?
Brenda in Allhallows, Kent
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html
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