Monday, May 2, 2011

Theft: It's not just for comedians anymore

It's amazing at what people will say & do at art & craft shows.

I did a show this weekend in Lynchburgh , Tn. it was a very poor setup and not well attended, those that did attend were mainly just lookers. What amazes me is the inconsideration & brazen theft of my artistic ideas. People taking pictures of my artwork, some under the guise of "I want my sister to see this" & even one who wanted a pattern to work from so she could build her own. The over abundance of camera phones & smart phones makes this rude act even easier to do and harder to control. You can't go to a comedy club and record someones set so you can use it for yourself. You would be thrown out on your ears or by your ears.

This practice is not limited to that show it is a problem at almost all shows I have attended. I'm not sure if it is just ignorance or plain rudeness or a combination of both. As for me from now on I will not allow anyone to take pictures of anything  unless they have credentials that show they are from a publication or for the shows promotional uses.

Another rude and ignorant statement I hear is "I can make that for nothing with all the scrap from my parents farm" sure you can, if you have a $1,200.00 welder, a $200.00 tank of argon, a $15.00 roll of welding wire, a $75.00 grinder, A $1,500.00 plasma cutter, plus the thousands of dollars worth of misc. hand tools and the skills to use them. Anybody can copy an original but it takes real talent to "Create an original" or be original. So spend the $35.00 on the piece of artwork you like and save yourself thousands of dollars and the embarrassment of showing your lack of class. This how I make my living, I promise I won't come to your job and try to copy the recipe for a Big Mac or take pictures of the lawns you mow.