Artists get ideas from each other all the time. It is natural to see something new at a booth at a craft show, then see elements of the idea spread to other artists work. It may seem like plagiarism, but it happens. I'm sure it's more rampant now that there is an internet.
We went to the Artisan show today. I hadn't been to a craft show in a while, and had never been to this particular one. The quality of the work was good, and there was a wide range of crafts, but I definitely saw the borrowing I was talking about, especially in the wood working. Techniques, good ones, not seen a few years ago, showed up in nearly all the woodwork.
There was a copper artist from Asheville with work which reminded me of my own. I went into her booth to admire (and check out her technique), and we ended up in a long conversation. Pleasant woman, the kind of person I would want for a friend if she was local. We got along well. Towards the end of the conversation, it came up that I used to do enameling, and Kurt pointed out how similar some of our work was. Amazingly so.
The last year I did enameling, I began doing something I called wallflowers. They were 3-D enameled wall pieces made from vines of copper wire with enameled leaves and morning glories. I didn't get the idea from anyone. I knew how to make vine wreaths and baskets, wild morning glories were coming up in the garden, and I translated it to copper.
I liked hers better than mine. It looked like an evolution from the original idea, which made me wonder if it was. I showed these at shows in NC, and I sold them. No doubt, other artists came in not just to admire, but to check out new ideas. It's natural. We draw inspiration from each other.
If so, I like what they became, even if it wasn't me doing it.
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