Copying or Copping a Carving!

While in Florida, I spent some time in a town that had quite a few shops that were stocked with the works of local artists.  There was one shop that had mostly imported gift items.  Some of the local wood carvers had cut out profiles of fish from reclaimed boards, and did a minimum of shallow relief carving.  For these local pieces they were asking $250 +.  The shop with the imports had wood carvings from Indonesia.  Now I know that the wood carvings from Indonesia were mass produced in some back alley sweat shop.  But this 36 inch piece caught my eye.

The price for this piece was $29.00.  I bought it, knowing exactly what I was doing.  Was I depriving a local wood carver of a sale.  Well, yes and no.  Yes, I did not purchase a local piece.  But to say they were from local wood CARVER'S is a stretch.  The local pieces were crude and obviously meant to take advantage of a unsuspecting tourist.

My main purpose in buying this piece, is to use it as a study piece in a class.  This is one of those pieces that upon further study, a wood carver will see how easy it would be to do.  First one must select a good piece of wood (1/2" thick X 8" height X 36" long.   Next, trace a pattern of the piece on the wood and cut it out.  I am thinking that the piece could be carved with either hand tools or power.

Am I worried about infringing on a copyright?  Not really!  I have no idea who the artist is, and even If this piece is "protected".  It's not going to be reproduced for sale, but for teaching.

I think this piece is one of those pieces that, with a minimum of skill, can turn out to be a spectacular carving; especially for a "beginner".