A famous Aesop’s Fable announces “KING OF BIRDS CONTEST.” A crow wants to win. His black feathers make him feel ugly until he finds a beautiful peacock feather and attaches it. He is so beautiful that he attaches many colorful feathers. He enters the contest and WINS becoming King. The other birds soon notice their feathers were stolen so pull out all his colorful feathers leaving him a black crow once more.
This old Fable reminded me of a sham story that happened more recently. A beautiful quilt won the big contest and was proudly displayed until judged as plagiarism and dragged out of the exhibition.
I was shocked to hear the end of that story. We sometimes hide behind “learning by imitation” and the convenient word “Homage.” Envy has tempted me to imitate wonderful artworks. The crow and I both need to let go of shame and find pride in our own feathers and our own great personalities.
Gallery 2-11 Shame
34×40
Kimono cloth spangles lace lame thread
Machine sewing
Great story, and composition to match it. Good job!
Beautiful depiction of the story and subject. I love your work!
This is such an important message, no shame in being yourself and be at peace with who we are. Beautiful art Mikki!
A wonderful quilt and a wonderful story!
Finding our own voice while learning from the masters makes us walk a fine line. I work hard to create a piece that might reflect techniques and unterpretations done by a master artist, but is not a replication. Some challenges seem to honor close replication rather than interpretation. Thank you for this wonderful story about finding our “own” voice.
This is a wonderful, lively quilt. Delightful!
Thank you very much.
Thank you for this beautiful art, and the story. May the message be considered as we walk gently through our art-focused lives.