ANST - an aside ... was: arts documentation

[C.L. Ward]

'wolf suggested:
>has anyone given thought to or attempted to get the contest artisans to
>donate rights to a photo(s) and copy of their entries documentation for 
>online publication.  this would allow those who could not be at the 
>contest could see their work and learn from their documentation efforts.

The problem is not in the permissions, I don't think.  Most of us would
love to have more exposure of our arts.  The problem is in the photography.
 Few of us have digital cameras yet, and film and developing costs are
expensive.  And scanners are not available in every home as of yet.  Who is
going to pay? The artisans?  The group holding the event? The Kingdom A&S
Ministry?

Now having said this, I will also mention that is certain other kingdoms,
the Laurels report that individual apprentices and artisans are encouraged
(coerced?) by the Laurels into keeping a photo-scrapbook of their own work,
with work samples in the book as well if their art is conducive to that
sort of thing -- and a photo of themselves right in the front.  The Laurels
borrow these portfolios from time to time to show to other Laurels, some
events have displays where artisans show their portfolios. 

And of course when the time comes for a Laurel to explain to the King why
exactly Lady So-and-so or Lord Thus-and-such needs an arts award, or when
they are bringing this person to the attention of the Laurels' Circle for
possible elevation to the peerage, it's *much* easier to know why -- the
person you are "pitching" to can see the work, and if the artisan's photo
is right there, it provides an extremely useful jog to memory.  One of the
big stumbling blocks in getting awards or the Laurel is the fact that while
everyone in the kingdom may know your work, oftentimes folks don't know the
face that goes with the work.

My suggestion would be for every artisan in the kingdom to start such a
scrapbook.  I wish now that I had done so as a young artisan, because for
YEARS I made stuff to give away and I never photographed any of it.  A lot
of it was beautiful, and I haven't seen it since it was awarded as a prize,
auctioned or raffled, or given as a gift.  Not only would your "brag book"
be available for the Laurels to see and use, it would provide a useful
record of your own growth as an artisan.

While I'm at it, I also encourage artisans to keep an "arts diary" -- it
can be a loose leaf notebook -- in which you keep your research, copies of
old documentation, notes about things you tried and how they worked out (or
didn't) and so forth.  In some arts a book like this is crucial -- for
instance, brewing or dyeing, where you want to be able to reproduce your
results later.  But in any art they can be very, very useful.  And, in
fact, the two books can be combined.




Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Baroness to the Court of Ansteorra
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ek eigi visa þik hversu oðlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Aðal
(Ek eigi thik hversu odhlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Adhal)

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