What makes a work of art original?

Looking at Art:

The easiest way to define originality is to consider its opposite. Copying is replicating something created by someone else. Of course, in art making this gets complicated. When Marcel Duchamp copied the Mona Lisa and added a mustache, he did not just replicate the painting, he changed its meaning with his own intention to mock revered masterpieces and question the meaning of art. Originality is bringing something of yourself to the work of art.

In the studio:

When I began thinking about the effect of aging on my own body, I created a series of sculptures about beauty. The idea for the series came from my own midlife crisis and made me think about all of the myths which refer to a woman’s appearance. The wicked queen in the children’s story, Snow White, asks a magic mirror “Who is the fairest of them all?” This story provided inspiration for a sculpture in the series. Although the idea was not original, the sculpture is unique.

Who is the fairest? Ceramic and Mirror, 20” x 16” x 5”

Who is the fairest? Is mixed media, combining a smoky mirror and a ceramic frame with a ceramic mask which appears to emerge from the mirror.