Bill Downs on "The Writer's Life: Creativity, Censorship and Copyright" June 2 in Jackson

Bill Downs

UW news release:

Writing and censorship, waterfowl management and comparisons of two popular museum exhibitions are among topics for discussion Saturday, June 2, for the summer term of Saturday U -- the University of Wyoming's free one-day college education program.

A half-day of college classes and discussion begins with refreshments at 8:30 a.m., followed by a welcoming address at 8:45 a.m. at the National Museum of Wildlife Art Cook Auditorium in Jackson.

Three representatives from UW will then present lectures, followed by a free lunch and a question-and-answer session.

Saturday U is a collaborative program that connects popular UW professors with lifelong learners in Jackson Hole. Offered three times a year, Saturday U is sponsored by the university, the UW Foundation and Wyoming Humanities Council. Saturday U is presented by Central Wyoming College (CWC), the National Museum of Wildlife Art and Teton County Library Foundation.

Program topic descriptions and UW representatives lecturing are:

9-10 a.m. -- "The Writers Life: Creativity, Censorship and Copyright," William Missouri Downs, UW Department of Theatre and Dance professor of play and screenwriting. Who owns the copyright on the movies and plays you attend? How does censorship affect the writer's voice and, ultimately, the intellectual life of the audience?

Downs says there are vast differences in the creative process when writing for the stage or screen -- a process influenced by copyright and censorship. He will discuss how these factors can be a major influence on those who write for the stage and screen, and how the end result impacts those seated in the audience.

10:15-11:15 a.m. - "The Future of Waterfowl Management, Conservation and Hunting," Benjamin Rashford, UW Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics assistant professor. Waterfowl management and conservation in America is a success story of the North American wildlife conservation model -- a globally unique model that manages wildlife as a public resource, using science and funded largely by hunters.

Since 1846, hunters have played a critical role in developing and financing nearly every major waterfowl management and conservation initiative. But complex forces, from demographic shifts and agricultural policy, to economics and climate change, are casting an increasingly dark shadow over the future of waterfowl conservation, Rashford says.

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. -- "Ghosts in the Museum: The Shockingly Similar Visions of BodyWorlds and Yves Saint Laurent," Kent Drummond, UW Department of Management and Marketing professor. At first glance, the two contemporary museum blockbusters, "BodyWorlds" and "Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective," would appear to have little in common. One presents dozens of highly stylized corpses in life-like poses, while the other presents dozens of mannequins draped in artful haute couture of the age.

"One uncovers the body to reveal a dazzling display of materials, while the other uses a dazzling display of materials to cover up the body," Drummond says. "One brings to mind Dr. Frankenstein; the other, Matisse. Yet, a closer look reveals striking similarities between the two."

12:30-1:30 p.m. -- Lunch and a speaker roundtable moderated by Jim McNutt, Museum of Wildlife Art president, plus an audience question-and-answer session in the Wapiti Gallery.

Participants may attend one, two or all three lectures, plus the final roundtable. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, or to register for college credit or Professional Teaching Standards Board (PTSB) credit, call Susan Thulin, CWC outreach coordinator, at (307) 733-7425.

For more information about Saturday U, visit the website at http://www.uwyo.edu/SaturdayU/ or contact Teton County Library Adult Humanities Coordinator Oona Doherty at (307) 733-2164, ext. 135, or email odoherty@tclib.org .

Photo: William Missouri Downs, UW Department of Theatre and Dance professor, will present "The Writers Life: Creativity, Censorship and Copyright" at the summer term of Saturday U, Saturday, June 2, in Jackson.

Who owns my artistic image?

Lawrence Argent telling arts symposium audience about how he saw someone on TV wearing a "Big Blue Bear" costume handing out flyers promoting new tourism tax. Tourism Bureau didn't ask for permission to use the artists's image. Argent notified by City of Denver Public Arts Department advising him to protect his image. He had to file a "cease and desist" order to stop use of the image. Blue Bear guy is costume then shown peering into the Colorado Convention Center showed that this was a direct "borrowing" of the image. Mayor Hickenlooper also dressed as Blue Bear in tourism tax proposal commercial the day before the election.

City pulled election signs out of yards and put a disclaimer on the TV ads.

He was in class teaching one day and heard from the city attorney that the mayor was going to put an orange scarf around the neck of Blue Bear to celebrate Broncos getting into playoffs. Argent did not want his sculpture associated with a football team. "My bear will be here forever but the Broncos won't be." Mayor called and pleaded with him. Argent still said no. Mayor said he would call next week if the Broncos win.

The Broncos didn't win. So this all became a moot point.

But this effort is ongoing and takes a lot of time.

Bill Griffith, the man who draws the "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip did a cartoon about the Big Blue Bear. Argent now owns the original cartoon.

Photographer used Big Blue Bear to promote his business. Argent had to contact lawyer to tell the photog to remove the image from the front of his brochure.

"Don't mind if you use my image for non-commercial purposes. But it's a different story when used for commercial purposes."

He has his own Blue Bear web site on which he sells T-shirts and other stuff.

"This is a continual headache."

Licensing agreements are very complicated.

"The city wants me to protect the bear image because it's a part of the city. But whenever this becomes an issue I'm forking out the money."

The Denver Metro Area Convention and Vistors Bureau asked to use the bear image. He said O.K. but he would have to be paid. But it wasn't enough. He made the deal is his naivite, he said.

"This has been a journey and a very confusing one," he said.

"So many issues now with the proliferation of images on the web."

"Big Blue Bear" sculptor addresses copyright issues at "Public Art & Community" Symposium

Sue Castaneda, recording expert at Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources (a.k.a. "The Voice of SPCR"), has produced public service announcements with our three visual arts fellowship judges -- Greg Esser, Gina Ruggeri and Lawrence Argent. These short spots are sent to radio stations for announcement segments and to fill in gaps in programming.

Sue just sent out the following about Lawrence Argent:

IMAGINE CREATING ONE OF THE MOST HIGHLY PHOTOGRAPHED SCULPTURES IN DENVER, BELIEVING YOUR WORK TO BE DONE AND THEN FINDING YOURSELF HAVING TO SPEND AN INORDINATE AMOUNT OF TIME PROTECTING YOUR OWN COPYRIGHT.

THIS WILL BE THE TOPIC DISCUSSED BY ARTIST LAWRENCE ARGENT AT the UPCOMING VISUAL ARTS SYMPOSIUM TITLED "PUBLIC ART AND COMMUNITY." TO BE HELD April 2ND THROUGH THE 4TH AT THE UW CONFERENCE CENTER IN LARAMIE.

ARGENT IS THE CREATOR OF THE SCULPTURE "I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN" -- OTHERWISE KNOWN AS "THE BIG BLUE BEAR" WHICH IS FEATURED OUTSIDE OF AND PEERING INTO THE COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER. HE SAYS ANY ARTIST WHO CREATES WORK FOR A PUBLIC ENTITY MUST UNDERSTAND THE LEGALITIES OF COPYRIGHT --SOMETHING THEY DON'T GENERALLY TEACH IN ART SCHOOL.

"So that t-shirts don't get printed with an image of mine that's on them without my permission. Normally people don't necessarily have to deal with it but because of the high profile of this particular piece, its popularity has made it an exciting task for people to misuse and misappropriate without going through the correct channels." (23-second podcast).

Listen for Sue's spots on your favorite radio station.

To view some of Lawrence's work, go to http://www.lawrenceargent.com.