In article ,
Anonymous wrote:

But it
isn't likely that I would even try to copy an Ellsworth and pass it off at
my local craft show as genuine. Firstly, I doubt if anyone in attendance
there would attach any cache to his name. Secondly, all the shows I would
expect to exhibit at require that the artist be present. Even if genuine,
I would not be allowed to sell 'an Ellsworth'.

The only way I could sign anyone else's name to the bottom of a really
nice piece of work is to give that person, male or female, credit for work
-I- did. If I am capable of copying him/her faithfully, I am capable of
doing better work than (s)he because I have already mastered his/her level
of craft and now need only step into my own sense of artistic vision.

I don't see this discussion as focusing on attempts to make knockoffs of
known artists' works but rather intentionally copying a successful
design as a whole - shape, color, surface treatment, etc.

Refer again to Jacques Vesery,
http://www.delmano.com/2003/Wood_Art...sery___Ha/Jacq
ues_Vesery_/Jacques_Vesery/jacques_vesery_8.html.
If one was to, by and large, copy this design with the intent to sell
it, I would have a problem with the ethics of the person. Keep in mind
this type of work has a very distinct look that is recognizeable as done
by Vesery. Not so with a majority of the bowl, box, or platter work out
there - even that done by the "pros". A bowl is a bowl is a bowl.
However, when the maker begins adding his own sense of design and
creativity to the surface of the shape then it starts to become his
known style - and that's the departure point for me in the ethics of
attempting to emulate another's work for profit.

--
"Sure we'll have fascism in America, but it'll come disguised
as 100% Americanism." -- Huey P. Long