Quilt a painting?

[Joan J.]

Hi, I am curious as to the "rules" about quilting what we see. Let me try to explain! What if we see a picture/statue etc from a museum, or a card, or a picture from a magazine, can we make it into fabric? Now I'm not the best here, and so it won't be exact, just like a representation or my interpretation. Would it be ok if on the label I write "inspired by such and such a painting by so and so" something like that? I like patterns to make quilts for family/friends, but for myself I like to go out of the box and try other things. What's the general rule here?
Thanks
Joan

[Paula D.]

Nope, sorry. You need written permission from the artist. To that end, you might try searching some of the oldies, before copyright was enacted. Or, contact the artist, and let him/her know what you're trying to do. Many times, the artist is O.K. with it, as long as it's for personal use. But..........ya gotta ask.

[Paula D.]

A further thought - I took a professional photo of my sister to try to portray in fabric a few years back, and Kinkos pointed out that the photo was copyrighted by the photographer, and they wouldn't let me make copies. Before then, I had NEVER considered this. It can be a pain, but if you think it through, it just makes sense. It is my dream that I would be so talented that others would ask me to copy my designs!!! LOL But if I was so confident and talented that I chose to make my living through my art, well copier beware!! :roll:

[Joan J.]

Thanks for the info. I thought as much. But Monet is dead, is he before copyright? But Georgia O'Keefe is probably within copyrights. I see big quilted flowers, which reminded me of her work, but not exactly her work, so don't copy, but imitate?
well something to think about.
Joan

[Eileen K.]

What I've done is-go to Wikipedia and put in the artist's name. When it comes up scroll down to their works-very often the copyright is there when you click on a particular painting. Starry Night by Van Gogh has been recreated as a quilt; I saw it at MQX in 2003. I'm sure it was public domain.
It just takes a little extra research.
Hope this helps,
eileenkny