Artistic+Integrity


 * Ethics, Artistic Integrity, and Plagiarism **

When working with student artists is important for teachers to assist students to develop their own personal voice. Students are bombarded with popular imagery and often have difficulty expressing their unique life experiences in a personal manner. Sometimes students lean toward trite approaches because they find the imagery familiar, safe, and well-accepted by others.

There is a long and well-accepted tradition of artists being inspired by other artists as well as learning successful techniques and use of media by copying other artists. When students want to use the work of another artist or a published photograph for inspiration, they must understand the acceptable parameters for using the work.

The poster for AP Studio Art states: “Any work that makes use of (appropriates) other artists’ work (including photographs) and/or published images must show substantial and significant development beyond duplication. This is demonstrated through manipulation of the formal qualities, design, and/or concept of the source. The student’s individual “voice” should be clearly evident. **It is unethical, constitutes plagiarism, and** **often violates copyright law simply to copy an image (even in another** **medium) that was made by someone else and represent it as one’s own. **

When students submit digital images of their own artwork for the Breadth and Concentration sections of the portfolio, they may edit those images. However, the goals of image editing should be to present the clearest, most accurate representation of the student’s artwork, and to ensure that images meet the requirements of the Digital Submission Web application. When submitting their portfolios, students must indicate their acceptance of the following statement: “I hereby affirm that all works in this portfolio were done by me and that these images accurately represent my actual work.”

When students choose the work of another artist for inspiration, help them decide why the work appeals to them through critique of the work and self-analysis. Ask students why the formal elements in the work appeal to them. Help students critique the content of the work to discover the conceptual reasons why they find the work appealing. Ask students how the work connects to their own ideas and experiences. Merely copying another artist’s work in a different medium does not represent significant development beyond duplication. Teachers guiding students in selecting and developing inspirational sources can lead to fresher and more evocative student work.