marcieevansart.com Blog

I did my first show in 2002.  That first year I proudly stood in my booth speaking with everyone that entered (and some who didn’t), answered any and all questions asked of me including the ‘how-to’s of my craft.   The thought that my ‘competition’ would be asking for information so that THEY could set up camp down the path from me the following year with their old stuff plus items that looked strikingly similar to what I had coached them on the year before – I never considered this would happen.  Isn’t that some sort of cheating? or stealing? or unethical or something??  Isn’t there some sort of code in the artsy/craftsy handbook that says it’s wrong?  Maybe he had those items the year before and I just hadn’t seen them… and I had something new that second year…  sold out of them…  but not before he had ventured down the path to check out my wares.  The third year there was my new competition  sporting lousy imitations of the things I had sold out of the year before- ARGH!    OK, ok- I finally saw how this guy operated.  I have to admit I was somewhat smug about his attempts to copy me- but it wasn’t just me he copied, his booth featured a hodge podge of various arts and crafts he’d seen and tried to copy.  I won’t lie- I was mad…   really mad.    I literally dream of art- I wake up in the wee hours and jot down cryptic drawings and messages to my wakened self- things I NEED to do later, that canNOT be forgotten… the  urgency to turn a form or figure from a wisp of idea into something tangible.  It’s the “grunt work “of it all… it’s earning your keep… sleep deprivation and then detective work trying to figure out what those haunting thoughts are trying to be.  That’s why I wanted to ask him if he had anything original, anything he had thought of on his OWN, anything that wasn’t a poor imitation.   Had he had these ideas that smack him in the head with an urgency that won’t let his hands do anything but create?  Probably no… and to be honest, the 4 year old inside me wanted to kick him in the shins and yell… the 30-something-me wanted to kick him too… but  maybe the answer to this was to be the bigger person… and simply to do my best… it’s what I strive to do anyway…    I had heard somewhere that you just have to have confidence in your own work- that yours is the best and will stand out on its own merit.   I learned back in middle school that copying isn’t nice- I had tried to imitate my best friend’s drawings.  She got mad and I knew I couldn’t copy her style – it was better for both of us for me to do my style and her to do hers.  I knew back then that copying her was wrong, and that I could excel by honing my own skill set.

Every year it’s the same,  and last year another copier came out of the wood work.  Argh! (again)    So I have stopped telling the “how’s” of my work.  Aside from what inspires me, I avoid discussion of any and all techniques, secrets,  and products.  I’ve had years of trial and error, and spent loads of money  finding the ‘just right’ for everything I do now.    I don’t have the patience for those trying to go the easy route.  If everyone knows the secrets and the inner workings of each piece then they lose some of  their magic.  Learning the ‘how’ and discovering your own magic is the fun of it- the sense of accomplishment comes from doing it yourself.

Is it selfish to not want to share anymore?  Is my guard dog showing?

Gus