ANST - Documentation

[barbara at mail.topher.net]

Many people have said on this subject "I am an artist working on 
period art, and don't have time to document".

While I understand the sentiment, I have to wonder how you know that 
you are working on a period art, if you do not document it?  I know 
that some of you will tell me that you do some research, looking 
through books to see period examples, them go off and make the item.  
Fine, those books are your documentation, don't you think?

I feel that documentation is very important.  Not only so  we can 
be sure that each indevidual is learning something throught their 
experience in the SCA, but to be sure that the SCA does not totally 
change it's focus from a re-creation group to a fantasy group.  I 
think that there has to be a line drawn somewhere that is reasonable 
(do we all have to write term papers for each submission, or just 
prove that we looked into the subject and have a clue?), but that in 
general the requirement is good.

Lady Simone, you said in your commments that Bards are not required 
to supply documentation because their items are newly written.  I 
would like to suggest that those same poems, songs, and tales would 
be all the better, and would help us all experience the moment of 
"the dream" that we are trying for, if they were researched for their 
style and content.  No, not everyone is going to be able to write a 
sonnet, or compose a balad in the style of Dowland.  Only the most 
tallented will be able to do so.  But we that follow them will 
then have a higher standard to try to attain.  I don't see how this 
could create "a lower standard of quality in their arts".

I am not an authenticity maven, but I do appreciate those that are 
with us, for they will keep us on track and challenge us to do better 
next time.

And yes, incase you were wondering, my documentation was panned too.  
I'll have to do better before the War, there is still the open 
competition to think about!

 Ldy Alys.
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