I've just been reading this blog post from the Modern Quilt Guild and I'm afraid it's really made me annoyed. It's about the rules for entering quilts in QuiltCon that can be considered "derivative" and then goes on to define what is derivative.
Reading through the post, it seems to me that they are saying that unless you live and have created a quilt working totally in a vacuum, it is likely to be a derivative of someone else's work. Does this mean that, just because I love the work of Jacqui Gering and have taken her online classes on Improv Piecing, and Quilting with a Walking Foot, and I have read and loved Christa Watson's books on quilting, and used techniques from them all of them in a couple of my quilts, that my quilts would be considered derivatives and therefore not eligible to be entered into QuiltCon's categories for awards? Not that I am considering entering any, but I just wonder?
Surely, almost everything we do in the modern quilt world derives from work done by pioneers such as the ladies of Gees Bend, Gwen Marston, et al., and isn't that, in fact the very essence of quilting, that we pass the knowledge, techniques, etc from one person to another? If you do go and read the post, do look at the comments too as they make interesting reading, and no, not all of them agree with my point of view. I would have liked to leave a comment myself, but I don't seem able to, maybe because I am not a member.
OK, I'll get off my soap box now shall I?
Obviously the people who wrote that have never heard that there is nothing new under the sun. Does that also mean that you could not use any known quilt block.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I have no intention of ever entering one of my creations to be judged. I'd rather have fun in my sewing room than hiring a lawyer to interpret rules from some elite group! Happy sewing!
ReplyDeleteI went and read the post as well as the comments - a lot of commentors know the legal end better then whom ever wrote the post. This is why I don't like to enter judged/juried shows. I prefer 'display' shows or exhibits.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Pam on nothing is really new & things spark our creativity from something we may have even seen in our childhood or a passing glance last week, that we didn't really take notice of, but our brain picks up. Juried shows are all very well to look at, but I'd rather enter in a local show even if it's judged or not, just as some fun and maybe get other people in interested in craft, especially the younger generation. Take care.
ReplyDeleteYikes....who knew there were so many rules??? Perhaps we are all derivatives since I'm sure our parents were influenced by other parents.
ReplyDeleteMind your blood pressure, Dear. :)
ReplyDeleteI do agree; all our quilting derives from those made by our forebears.
Thanks for the link it's a very interesting read especially the comments. It looks like they've started a fire storm, I stopped reading when the writer started getting defensive. I think we'll see a rewrite.
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ReplyDeleteThe MQG has moved far outside what I feel it should. I no longer subscribe to their blog or FB page and have no intention of going to any of their shows.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so glad you said it first. :-)
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