30/04/2013 Copyright

Yesterday's Professional  Practice lecture was presented by Catherine Moffat, one of the lectures at the Ourimbah campus, on copyright.

To avoid repeating myself from last week's blog entry I will talk about an example that she used to describe how artists can be tricked into signing off the ownership of their copyright.

Say for example, some of your friends are in a band and want you to design their logo, in return they will pay you a few dollars or buy you a few drinks, or something like that and because you're friends you say ok.  All is going well until your friends make it big and start touring, meaning that the original logo that you designed is now being printed on merchandise such as CD covers, t-shirts, hats etc...  After seeing this, you then ask your friends if you could get some royalties, but they then tell you that they have signed their rights off to their recording company.  The recording company then says that you have no rights to the image anymore because you sold it off for those few beers in the beginning.

The moral of the story is when agreeing to design something for your friends (or clients), make a licencing contract in writing, which states that you still own the copyright, but you give them permission to use your image.  If one day they get famous or use your image for profit, they would then have to pay you back royalties.  

Art Law Basics - 22.4.13 part 2

Art and the Law - part 2
part 1


The design art is different to copyright because it patents the shape, pattern and ornamentation of the design, enabling the designer/ company to monopolize that particular design for 10 years.

Trade marks or ™  patents names and logos.  It is important to register your business name or domain main before someone else takes it and says you stole their name. 

When enabling people to use or hand over patenting  rights you need a contract. Contracts can be oral, in writing, partly written partly orally or implied by people's conducts or actions, but the best way is a written contract.

Contracts are like promises, which are legally binding and hold consequences if broken.  They are used to flush out issues and let each party know what is happening, without misunderstandings.

	Licensing (giving permission	Assignment rights (ownership)
Written contract	yes	yes
Verbal contract	yes	no
Retain ownership	yes	no
Time limit	yes	no
Royalties payed	yes	no
Geographic area	yes	yes
Moral rights	yes	yes

moral rights chart

Business structure

This was the area that I got a bit lost in, so I hope it's ok (@.@)

You can either structure yourself as an unincorporated or incorporated business, which means is your business run by you as an individual or is the business an entity in itself.  Some examples of an unincorporated business (who works for profit) are sole traders, partnerships or joint venture and for incorporated it's proprietary Ltd company and co-operative.

A person who is a hobbyist can earn income and doesn't have to pay taxes, but at the same time they can't deduct expenses from tax.  If they happen to make over x$$ (not sure how much) then they have to become a professional.

They had a whole bunch of information about ABN numbers, not making profit and offsetting losses against another source of income and tax and stuff, but i'll skip that.

 The next point that was addressed was being an employee in a company compared to a contractor from another company/ or free lancer.  If you are an employee you have to work a certain amount of maximum hours, you have payed leave, workers compensation, tax and superannuation.  Also anything you create at work is copyrighted by the company you work in compared to as an individual.


Finally, the last point was on prizes and competitions.

• Has their own terms and conditions
• Are you eligible for it?
• Entrance fee?
• What happens if you don't win? (Do you keep your copyright?)
• Do you license or assign your copyright
• Non-exclusive licence
• Moral rights
• Use of your name and personal information (Do they give you credit for the final product?)
• Warranties
• Attendance at events (at your own expense)

Art Law Basics - 22.4.13 part 1

By Alex Nabaum

Art and the Law?  

<== Copyright; Am I even allowed to use this picture??

This week's Professional Practice lecture was a bit special and was attended by the fine arts and design students on how consider the legal side of their practices, which was presented by Robyn Ayres from Arts Law.


Personally I found it kind of funny, because you could tell who were artists and who were designers based on their appearance and how they present themselves.

Anyway, back to the main point.  Arts Law is an organisation based in Sydney who gives advice to artists based on legal and business issues.

Despite taking heaps of notes, a lot of things she talked about kind of flew over my head due to all the law lingo, but i'll try to write about it.

The first issue discussed with on Intellectual Property and copyright.

Copyright:

• Is automatic and doesn't need to be registered
• © symbol acts as a warning to other people
• When written "©Name of work, owner, date"
• Gives limited rights to creators over a limit of time - all their life and 70+ years after death (in Australia)
• Can't copyright thoughts, concepts or ideas, only the physical work or product
• Can be owned by one person or by multiple owners
• If employed, copyright goes to the company, not the individual
• If you sell work, the copyright is still retained by the artist, unless stated otherwise
• Copyright can be exchanged via a contract
• Can give others permission to use copyrighted material with a licence.
• Permission includes: copying, re-producing and using pieces of the work

Then we talked about Intellectual Property and it's relationship to the internet and that having a website incorporates many opportunities and risks.  Websites can't be copyrighted as a whole, but is broken down in to pieces such as pictures, text, animations/ film, music and computer programming (which is also included as text).

Advantages of a personal website:

• Personal space on the web
• can have an online presence 
• retain control
• can customize your space and features 
• can show up on search results 

Disadvantages of a personal website:

• Cost to run it
• need technical knowledge to build it
• Needs to maintain it and keep it up to date

Advantages of using social websites:

• Be able to connect to people via the social network
• Find people with similar interests and connect/ build communities
• easier to use compared to building your own website
• can share and promote your ideas and works

Disadvantages of using social websites:

• Loss of control
• Privacy issues
• Signing over certain rights when entering a contract (terms and conditions)
• Lack of customization
• losing yourself as an individual within a large community

Terms and Conditions offered by social networking websites:

• Terms and conditions is a contract
• Every website as a different set of terms and conditions
• They are in accordance with the law.  Bigger companies often abide by US laws as opposed to Aus laws.
• What permission are you granting them?
• How will your work be used?
• Policy infringement and the consequences 
• You're responsible for your own copyright

Tips:

• Online infringement is easy, so look out for it.
• Use the © symbol on your works
• Some features enable you to disable the right click so people can't save your images
• Stream V.S download when you have videos
• Upload low resolution images of your work 
• Watermark your images

To be continued in part 2...

Week 6 - 15th April 2013

This week's (actually this week) topic was really interesting.  It was about artist and their work space, which was presented by David Wills.

First of all, what kind of work space worked for you?  Do you like to work alone or with other people?  Do you prefer to work at home or at a Studio?  

Not only that, but what is your work space for?  

• Work
• Socializing 
• Business space
• Study/ research 

These are all initial questions you have to ask yourself when looking for a work space.

The second thing you need to consider are restrictions such as budget and size.  How much space do you need?  Do you work in small scale and can manage in a small space or do you need a bigger space as well as how much can you afford to spend on this space?

When figuring out the running cost of your studio, you need to consider:

• Rent - can be between $25 - $150 within the Newcastle area
• Power
• Water
• Internet
• Insurance - Most people won't rent places unless you have insurance

Then you need to figure out what things you need in your space.

• Easel - for painters
• Filling or storage space
• Shelving 
• Refrence material - books
• Artwork storage
• Desk, benches, tables and chairs
• Ventilation
• Lighting - electric or windows

Lighting is an important factor to consider especially if you are a photographer or painter, who needs consistent light to work off.

Try to get natural lighting with windows facing north as well as white/ bright coloured walls to brighten and widen the space.

Also take into account technical equipment need for your particular practice.

• Computer, hard drive/ memory storage
• Camera, lenses
• Printer
• Scanner
• Dark room
• Printing press
• Kiln
• Vices
• etc...

Then on going costs, which you will continuously have to factor in.

• Paints
• Canvas, paper, card
• Clay
• Glazes, chemicals, solvents, inks
• Cleaning supplies

At the end he talked about different places within Newcastle and Sydney which offered cheap studio spaces for artists.  At the end of the lecture I felt really inspired to go and find my own space... not that it mattered yet since I have my own space at the university, which I use everyday, but hopefully this information will be useful in the future when I graduate and need to find my own space.

Images from http://wheretheycreate.com/ and http://artistspaces.tumblr.com/

Week 5 - 8th April 2013

image from google

The lecture this week was presented by Joe Eisenburg and was about the gallery system and how to interact and deal with them as artist.

He first defined the difference between commercial and public galleries.  Commercial galleries are smaller, interdependent galleries where artists can sell their works.  Public galleries, as the name implies are open to the public for a broader audience, where they bring exhibitions from far away (such as another country), so that the public doesn't have to travel far to see them.  While the artist don't usually see works in a public gallery, they benefit from the wide exposure.

As an artist it is important to continually research, such as through magazines, and discover what other artists are doing in order to see if anyone is doing similar works as you, in other words  developing your own concepts as well as sizing up your rivals as well.

In order for an artist to approach a gallery and exhibit their work they need a few things:

• They need a CV - which talks about the art you've done so far and the shows you've exhibited in
• Carry images of your work - in either a portfolio or on a digital tablet
• Take decent photos of your work - well lit, close up, free from clutter

After you have those things you then need to approach galleries.

• Look for galleries which already display works similar to your own
• Drop by and make an appointment to show your CV.  
• If they are busy, keep going back until they are free

And finally, it is important to make yourself present within the art community by going to events, opening nights and talks as well as making sure to introduce yourself to the gallery staff and people around.

Week 4 - 25th March 2013

"Hate writing, love having written" - Dorothy Parker

Image from google

The lecture this week was on how to write about your art as well as jobs which include writing.  Examples of these include writing an artist statement, biography and press releases, which can be used in art galleries and on websites.

For people who do not practice art and mainly work within the theory side of things, they can write criticisms, art history essays, museum or gallery call texts and reviews.

Things to identify when writing include:

• Pitch or voice.  The tone you are adopting
• Who is your audience?
• How informed are you?
• What is the context?
• Level of language used
• Purpose of your writing

-------------------------------------------------------------

On another point, I found some notes in my book from a previous week (not sure which), so i'm going to include it here as well.

"Jackson Pollock", Robert Arneson, ceramics

This lecture was about how you want to be identified as an artist, such as being know for working with a particular material or medium as well as size.  

Size is an important factor to consider if you want to work overseas due to costs.  By working within a smaller scale it is easier and cheaper to ship overseas.

That being said, it is still expensive to exhibit overseas.  To help with that, artists are able to apply for grants or residencies.  The idea is to play your strengths and promote the skills that you are good at, which gives you a higher chance of being accepted.  Grants also look good on resumes because it shows prospective clients and organisations that you are worth investing in.

It also helps to target specific exhibitions such as those in international conferences, with will allow you to participate in talks and network with other people in the art world.

Week 3 - 18th March 2013

In this week we went on an excursion to the Lake Macquarie City ArtGallery.  Though hard to find, the galley was situated next to the water, which was very beautiful.  I kind of wished that we could have had a picnic and done some plein air studies while we were there, but we were there for another purpose.

There we learnt about how the gallery engages with aboriginal communities, through workshops and promoting indigenous artist, which increases the aboriginal cultural awareness.  Afterwards we walked through the gallery looking at artworks made by contemporary indigenous artist who worked through various mediums such as painting, sculpture and photography. 

 Warwick Keen The many faces of Bungaree (detail) 2012,
 digital print on metallic paper, 188 x 100 cm

Week 2 - 11th March 2013

This week’s lecture was presented by Suse Cairns, who talked about art and technology and its relation to the internet and social media. 

By having an online presence by either having a website or an account on social media websites, one is able to promote their art practice through a greater audience and gain recognition from people around the world.  Another advantage for connecting to the online world is that by participating within online communities you are able to make connections with people of similar interests, such as those within the greater art community, ask for help, participate in collaborations and influence trends.

            She also explored the idea of how the internet, a new modern concept, has become a new performing environment or space for artist.  These ‘Post – Artists’ upload their works online as ‘posts’ reflecting the concept of post traditional art and through the nature of the internet, the artist gives up control of their works as moves and grows though the contubution and response of other internet users.

Week 1 - 4th March 2013

Sometimes it is had to get into the habit of writing continuously.  Hopefully I can keep these blog updates regular from now on.

The first lecture introduced the course and told us the benefits of Professional Practice, such as learning how to manage the business aspects of being an artist and future opportunities after we graduate. 

The lecturer that week, told us about different organisations, which support artists such as universities, councils and local radio station as well as national and international galleries.  He then went on to discuss opportunities overseas such as taking up residences and applying to exhibit work in upcoming events.

The art world is tough place to be successful in and only as many as 10% of the people in who study Fine Arts actually make it.  Because of that, some people have to take up part time jobs in order to support themselves and their art practice.  Some artists like to work in a similar field, where they can uses some of their skills such as being a gallery curator, teacher, craft person or designer, while others prefer a to work in a job which is more methodical and requires less thought such as being a shop clerk or working in a bank.