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...to the CREATISSIMO blog! If you are (or you want to be) creative, join us here and share your works, thoughts, tips, ideas, etc. with us. We all want to be creative together! We want to focus on creative process, so don't worry if you're not 'talented' (you will see that you are!). Just stop by and talk to us, ok?
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PS1: My English is not perfect, but at least it's creative! ; ) Sorry for the mistakes...
PS2: You'll find a few words about me somewhere 'between the lines' of this blog, but you can also try to read a Slovene version on http://creatissimo.blogspot.com ; )

November 09, 2010

I admit...

...I have a professional deformation too...

Yesterday I read one of the many articles about plagiarism and copying. The article in humorous way shows the differences between the original and plagirism, and explains where and how the person made mistakes and made a bad copy of the original.

And so it is, we, the art teachers can easily see (= we have an eye for that so to say):
- who is an amateur and who is a trained artist
- who copied and who did not
- who made a drawing or painting after observation and who made it up (from his mind or imagination)
- who does so, as someone told him or taught him, and followed his feelings
- who didn't use his style
- ...


(Ivana Kobilca is my inspiration, from her works I learn a lot!)

When I see the various courses over the Internet, I can tell which participants attended which There is not enough encouraging to find their own way of expression. If the course would be held by a pro, then he would encourage the artistic mode of observation and explorations of their own expressive style. Then there would not be such, basic mistakes as: a black bordered mouth, eyes, which are typically drawn by school children in 3.grade, the background, which is not in harmony with the figure (because usually it is painted or treated separately)...
And so we have this huge amount of art works that resemble to one another, that they were not made in relaxed, spontaneous feelings, and they don't reflect the true feelings of the creator. This is something that is characteristic for the copied products. Realism or abstraction do not have any role here. Both have to have the same goal: to be expressed in their own way.
What we want to say with a product, what feelings we want to bring up?
Of course, the courses teach techniques to create, but it does not mean that we should generate almost identical things. You can look at the famous artists who sometimes gathered together and painted the same motif (Van Gogh and Gaugain, etc..) to see the approach. Did they really all used the same technique, same gestures, same colors, same light? No, each of them created their own work their own way and that's why we also recognize them as true artists even today.

But don't get me wrong - I have nothing against the Internet and other art courses (on the contrary, I think this is something great that came along with the tech growth), but I suggest that we choose the course that will actually teach us to express ourselves, rather than producing products reminiscent of copies and without any soul. Once you fall into the routine creating, it is very difficult to get out of this vicious circle, so we better move on before we fall into it!




(the same artist, the same style, but are these two works really 'the same'??)

And another thing to think about: creativity is not static, it is not 'punching' one thing after another until you drop dead, it is not copying every single dot. This is called 'Crafts' (even if this would be a rather lousy Crafts too), not creativity. And so, it's easy for us to recognize the copy, the picture that emerged after photography, naive 'art'... How wrong are those who think that the thing they've copied from a 'Japanese' web site will not be seen and recognized as a copy if they are from Slovenia! This is really naive thinking! (Boomerang will always return).

...And I admit, if you have a professional deformation, it is not easy as well. If you give a praise to such 'artistical' products, you encourage a person that he continues to create in that vicious circle. If you tell the truth, you can hurt the person to completely lose creative enthusiasm... How many times I have had to bite the tongue, so that there would be no resentment, to not look 'smart' or 'better'. In doing so, I don't do it to hurt somebody, I just want to help, but how to say that, hot to explain?

So far I found this way to resolve this for those who want to create in their own style and want to learn along the way: I prepare Creative Meetings, where people are open to criticism, debate about their works, praise, learn and grow. At the Meetings we learn to listen to our inner selves... I hope the Meetings will help them to get off the vicious circle in which they might have been caught...

So, I wish for you to find the art course that will teach you creativity, not 'craft', and I wish you many creative days and enjoyment in expressing yourselves, esp. in these upcoming festive days!
Good luck!



5 comments:

Onneke said...

This is very interesting and something that I think about a lot. In my native language Dutch we use the word 'kunstenaar' for artist. It's a much more loaded word than the word artist. In English the word artist is much more widely used. I often wonder about these definitions. Artist, creativity. The big question is: does it matter? Yes, it does when people copy other peoples work and try to sell it. Definitely!

But other than that... isn't creativity a beautiful thing no matter how 'creative' you are? There will always be people who are better than us, and always people who are not as good. We have this same order all throughout society. We grow up to think that we have to succeed in what we do, but what if you just like what you do, even if you are not great or very original? I like to believe that we would create a better world if we were not so focused on success and I think creativity plays a huge role in that journey. Maybe we don't need to label so much. What is art and what is craft. Who is an artist and who isn't.

Very very interesting. Would like to join your meeting :)

Sonya McCllough Lockridge said...

Oh my ... so much thought here ... I must come back and reread to offer any valid insite ... great & timely post

Creatissimo said...

Hi, Onneke, thanks for your thoughts. I too agree that it's not importat how great, successful etc. we are as artists or people who just like to enjoy creative stuff. For me it is just sad to see so many trying to do something that is not their way of expression and their works do show that. Can you imagine how great it would be if they'd find their way?
But anyway, we're all learning and I hope all of us will some day make our dreams come true :).

Onneke said...

I loved reading your post and thinking about it. So much to say about it. I do understand what you mean, but maybe it's not for us to have that judgment.

Your post made me think about an article that I read a long time ago about someone who forged art. The big masterpieces. Everyone was saying how wrong it was, but he said that he just liked doing it, that he would never be able to make a work of art that was his own. May be he would be a much happier person if he was able to make his own masterpiece. But I thought it was also beautiful that he did something that he thoroughly enjoyed. It was about flow, rather than creativity.

Maybe I am drifting a bit from your subject, sorry... there is so much to explore in the subject though, isn't there?

Veronika said...

Onneke, you've summed it up so well there's really not much more I can add to this. I also believe that creating something just because it makes you happy and fulfilled is what it's all about. And if somebody decides they like it enough to want to buy it and own it then great :) There is some truly original art created by people considered to be masters that I don't like at all no matter how much the whole world is telling me that they are true masters appreciated all over the world and there are some works of art created by people I've only ever 'met' on the internet that keep me want to come back over and over again to see what else they've created because I enjoy their work so much. To me making someone smile, or provoking a thought or inspiration with your work is also art regardless of your technique or 'quality' of your drawing/painting etc. It's a huge topic and this comment is getting too long already so I'll leave it at that :)

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