Being Original

I've been working quite hard over the last years to become more and more "pure" in my own artwork.  I don't buy any commercial stamps or stickers anymore, rarely use magazine images or patterned papers, and I've even sort of broken up with altered books.  (Although I still love them very much).

For some reason as I continue to develop my own style, I've discovered an importance within myself to have made all of it. That every single element in my artwork came from either a photo, stamp, print or image that I made.  I don't use other people's stuff. 

So that's why when my husband returned from England with the book Alphabetica for me, I was extremely upset to read the first words of Lynne Perrella's quote on the back cover; "Alphabetica is a fun word I made up..."

A fun word she made up.  

A fun word she made up.  A fun word she made up...my mind started ticking... 

...and some pieces started falling together in my head. 

I realized that the journal I've been working on for the last three years, which I've been referring to as my "Resolutionary Alphabetica" was named (albeit unintentionally) after something that's not only already been done, but is it's own unique word.

I had known about her book, but I didn't realize that she made up the title itself.  Suddenly I felt like I had named my journal the equivalent of "Resolutionary Kleenex" or maybe "Resolutionary Xerox." 

At first I felt totally exposed like a pathetic poser.   Then for a few ego-preserving moments I contemplated why this was not actually my fault or problem.  A google search found the term going back to 17th century Dutch but it didn't make me feel better.  It wasn't the point.  The point is that a very famous mixed media artist coordinated both a project and a book using this name. 

My journal is my own personal compilation of New Years resolutions that I've made for each letter of the alphabet every year for the last three years.  It deserves it's own original title. 

I would like to publicly apologize for calling it a name that already belongs to somebody else. 

This post isn't about the law of man, this post is about the laws of the universe and trying to do the right thing.  Because I've blogged about this project, I now feel compelled to announce that I will be renaming it when I continue to share my work from it in the future.

I think being inspired by great artists is a very important part of everybody's path.  We can have 100 journals we're working on at home, all with the names of ones that are already out there.  The difference is when we go to sell our work from them, or blog about them publicly... well then it would be a good thing if the words and work are actually ours.

For now here are some images from dealing with my situation using the Letter "O"  and cutting out the old title from it's page.  Here's wishing you all your own originality... tj

 

Comments

[Anne]

Oh, goodness. Sometimes it seems as if it is almost impossible to come up with a wholly original idea anymore because there are SO many people creating now and I don't think that it is too far-fetched to think that two people can come up with the idea independently, but at different times.

A quilting blog I follow is doing a different type of stitching every day for a year. She has had DVDs made of all the stitches. She just found that the design for day 11 is similar to someone elses and she is having to get rid of all the DVDs she had made to sell. The design is like a banana-looking kind of stitch that is so generic it would seem to be hard to copyright.

I opened the mail yesterday and got a fabulous little package from you!!!!! I love the little art treasures you sent. My husband loved them, too. Thank you SO much!

[iHanna]

Can a word belong to anyone? Words are made up every day, and if you made it up at the same time as someone else did, or after without knowing it... or was inspired by someone else's project and won't make a published book out of it... I see no problem with your how you named your own project, it is not the same as the round robin books with letters that Lynne did? Alas, in the US many normal words are copyrighted, not just brand names. I don't get that. :-)

Take care and don't worry too much about it.

[Julie Stenning]

TJ,

If you thought up the word then it is your work. Somebody else just thought up the word as well. That is how language progresses. I think you should stick with your name and not feel bad about it. How do you know that you did not think of it before Lynne Perella? Also, if it is from the 14th Century then it is part of the language any way. You can't stop using the word "the" after all.

[linda]

oh dear, yes...it is heartbreaking when you find that something you created and treasure so much...has sort of been done. darn it! i do think it's possible to come up with the same thing as someone else... but when it comes to doing work, publishing, etc...just comes down to the law...if it's been copyrighted, trademarked...etc... all that confusing stuff for sure!