collaboration?

[Dick Ditore]

Question. If you are mixing media and techniques, how do you credit?

I have two scenarios. One in which I pay an artist to assist, say in metal working for a sculpture, or a glass blower for a roll up. In this, are they just subs, and once paid it is my piece, my signature and credit? Second if you collaborate and make multiple pieces with the idea being you each get one, how do you sign and market this?


Thanks,

Dick

[dave laporta]

I personally have not experienced this but for what its worth, I recently read in the last issue of Glass Magizine that Yoichi Ohira respectfully asks all of his collaborating artists to sign his pieces because he feels without their fine craftsmanship his work would not be what it is. I'd have to agree with this perspective

just my two cents
dave

[Rob Morey]

Hey Dick,
First off, congrats on the show. Sorry I couldn't make it but my daughter-in-law is just about due and was having some contractions so we were dealing with that. So far, no baby.

As for your scenario, I am doing a piece of glass for a sculptor in Carlsbad. She wants to have an 8" circle in the middle of some twisted and bent mental. She intends to hang it in one of the local galleries in which she currently has work. Now this circle is not much more than a blob, but it is the result of a lot of experimentation. We discussed it over and she agreed to give me some sort of credit, (my name somewhere in the description, for example) and a piece of the profit, if it sales. This piece of glass is a substantial part of the sculpture and will be the focal point, so this is an honest to goodness collaboration and I will sign the back of the glass. I do feel that the person doing the rollup should receive recognition because the process substantially changes the piece. In my case, however, if I sold her a piece which was just a small component for decoration, then I don't think that I would deserve credit any more than I would give credit for the stands that I use to display my work.

By the way, who is doing the roll-up? I would really like to watch.

Later,

Rob Morey

[Cynthia]

Question. If you are mixing media and techniques, how do you credit?

I have two scenarios. One in which I pay an artist to assist, say in metal working for a sculpture, or a glass blower for a roll up. In this, are they just subs, and once paid it is my piece, my signature and credit? Second if you collaborate and make multiple pieces with the idea being you each get one, how do you sign and market this?


Thanks,

Dick

If the metal work functions simply as a stand or a frame, pay the person for her services and that's that, but if it is integral to the entire piece and it's truly collaborative then all parties get attribution. This should be determined before the work is done.

I had a metal guy who was making these kinetic stands for cast and bent panels I was doing. I told him (drawings with dimensions) what I wanted them to look like, and how I wanted them to function, he put them together. HE got paid and no attribution was made...but it was understood that I didn't make them, just like I never framed my own paintings. I'm working with a new guy now that is amazing with his metal work and the design and craftsmanship is amazing. Our deal is that we will work collaboratively on a few pieces and the attribution will belong to us both. Also the risk is equally shared. He gets paid and I get paid when the piece sells. Kind of different scenario's that seem distinctive and clear to me...but the details need to be determined and worked out between the collaborators if indeed it's a collaboration. This same metal guy has done some sculptures that required glass elements. I did the glass work according to his specifications. In this case the work is his and I just acted as the technician. My name isn't attached to those sculptures. Am I making sense?

The roll up example is one I've never thought through. I took a roll up class at the WGW last October. The guy who was teaching the class, Greg Lueck (sp?) offered services to roll up peoples panels for a per piece fee, or a session fee (one or the other). He didn't expect attribution. He acted as a technician in this case who would take your panel and with your instructions, create the form you desired.

Anyway...Congrats on your show, and good fortune.

[Marty]

Ohira is the exception. That guy in Seattle doesn't....
Klaus doesn't hide the fact that he doesn't do his own roll-ups but doesn't have Scott and Kirstie sign the pieces either.

I just started doing rollups with a glass blower- the first session was an experiment, we got some maybe's out of it. After some coldworking (by me) I got a saleable piece. He doesn't know it yet but I signed both studio names on the bottom and if it sells he gets a chunk. Nothing in writing yet, still fooling around. There's a 3-way collab. coming up at the end of the month with 2 blowers and my fused set-ups. One blower owns the studio, the other has more experience blowing BE, I've got enough blowing experience to help. Never mind signatures, how do we split this one?

[Nickie Jordan]

An interesting thing happened to me today, however, I am clueless as to your dilemma.
A couple of months ago, a woman aproached me about sand carving a design for glass in her two doors. I was short on time then, but, with she being an interior designer, I encouraged her to draw her own design. Sometimes, it's actually easier for the customer to 'please themselves', rather I spend wads of time at it - not knowing them.
Well, she came up with a line drawing of a flock of birds, I sandcarved them, she was happy, I was relieved, she paid - it was 'see ya later', done deal.
She came back with the glass today, wanting me to sign them. I told her I didn't sign art that wasn't mine. She is insisting that I 'brought life' to the birds- my art.
So, I'll sign them. - Nickie

[Bert Weiss]

Ohira is the exception. That guy in Seattle doesn't....
Klaus doesn't hide the fact that he doesn't do his own roll-ups but doesn't have Scott and Kirstie sign the pieces either.

I just started doing rollups with a glass blower- the first session was an experiment, we got some maybe's out of it. After some coldworking (by me) I got a saleable piece. He doesn't know it yet but I signed both studio names on the bottom and if it sells he gets a chunk. Nothing in writing yet, still fooling around. There's a 3-way collab. coming up at the end of the month with 2 blowers and my fused set-ups. One blower owns the studio, the other has more experience blowing BE, I've got enough blowing experience to help. Never mind signatures, how do we split this one?

Marty

The way I see it you have 2 choices, you can agree to pay them a fee either up front or upon sale.

I have done collaborative work where I was the mechanic and there was a designer. For the most part the credit goes to the design artist. However on my most prominent collaboration with Neil Welliver, he insisted that I sign it and when it came time to donte the window to a museum, he gave it to my choice of museums.

So the anwser is that you can attribute credit when you want to.

For instance in the case of a rollup, if the blower makes a cylinder with a bottom or another simple shape, I would mostly credit the fuser, but if the blower gives the piece a distinctive shape they should get credit.

[Tom Fuhrman]

Billy Morris has a team that assists him in all his work. he gives them credit when credit is due and pays them well, but it's his work and he signs it and takes credit for it. a lot of the European artists never touch the glass they take credit for. They have it made in factories by a team under their direction, making a design that they created and over saw the production of. I've worked on some large installations that I made the work and designed the parts but it was still the overall design of the commissioned artist and they took credit for the piece. Tenn. Tom