Artist Detained

[Are_grits_groceries]

Keene Valley resident Jerilea Zempel was detained at the U.S. border this summer because she had a drawing of a sport-utility vehicle in her sketchbook.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers told Zempel they suspected her of copyright infringement.

She was released after more than an hour in custody at the Houlton, Maine, port of entry from New Brunswick, Canada.

Her release came only after she persuaded border guards she was an artist doing a project that involved a crocheted SUV as a statement against America's dependence on oil and love for big vehicles.

Note: The image shown here is not just a random sketch.
It's the actual sketch suspected of being a copyright infringement.

http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/P15/

They have lost their minds not to mention any sense of design.

[Poll_Blind]

1. Holy BeJesus! What the fuuuhhhhh??!?!?

:wtf:

PB

[QueenOfCalifornia]

2. copyright infringement

of a bad drawing?

Wow... Just wow.

[BigAnth]

3. So are you compounding this copyright infringement by posting this alleged artistic drawing?

Just curious.

[bean fidhleir]

4. She's an artist??? Oooookaaaaaayyyyy.

That border guard needs his eyes and brain checked for flatlined neurology.

[alfredo]

6. a quick sketch is just that. You can't demand perfection if the work is

done to show an idea. My wife's notes aren't art until they are put together into a song. To the casual observer they are just random phrases.

[bean fidhleir]

9. I think that if you ask anyone who earns a living as an artist, they'll agree that's not a

"quick sketch": it has too much detail done too sloppily to be useful. Quick sketches capture the essential details only. So there might (in this case) be a rectangle for the grill to capture the size and aspect ratio, with maybe a little detail in one of the corners. But not an up-and-down squiggle without real form or substance. Just by looking at it, I would never in my life have guessed what that drawing is meant to represent.

Really. There must be some people around here who've earned serious money drawing "pitchurs". They'll tell you.

[Richard Steele]

10. I'm an artist, and you're quite wrong. nm

[alfredo]

11. Painting/drawing may not be her medium. My wife is an artist, her medium

is words. I have another friend who is an artist, her medium is textiles. Her drawings are very free form. Another works in metals. Her work is quite precise.

[bean fidhleir]

22. That's possible, I suppose. I can't honestly see what that dwg could convey

when looked at later, though. Presumably she drew it to remind herself about *something*.

[alfredo]

23. It was a textile work so that could have something to do with it.

[bean fidhleir]

26. Perhaps. I don't see any way in which the "sketch" contributed to the result, do you?

http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/images_sizedimage_278220014/resources_photoview

[alfredo]

27. I do. The diagonal lines are in both.

Notice in the drawing that the headlights and mirrors (ears) are not covered by the crocheting.


http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/images_sizedimage_278220014/xl

[bean fidhleir]

29. You're a generous soul.

:)

[alfredo]

30. I've spent my life around craftsmen and artist. I've seen simple

sketches become beautiful pieces of furniture, harps, and paintings. An acorn looks nothing like an oak tree.

[NoSheep]

16. as am I. This could be drawn in under a minute.

Strange ass comments in this thread.

[Forkboy]

19. I'm an artist. You're wrong.

I've done a million "quick sketches" like that to plan a pic before starting the hard work.

[slampoet]

8. I think saying this is a blueprint is MORE of a stretch.

[alfredo]

24. Such things are made to make sense to the artist, not the public.

[Billy Burnett]

5. Looks like an Al Kida wiring diagram to me.

Didn'ja git the notice? They're using crocheted SUVs as WMDs now. (Not to mention the poison dart pens and umbrella guns.)

[slampoet]

7. I defy ANYONE to build an SUV from that drawing. Heck! Just tell me which one it is?

[ContraBass Black]

13. The single-piece grille and headlight covers suggest a ford.

[ReadTomPaine]

12. Next, the wholesale roundup of teenagers sketching dream cars in study hall...

Who knows what secret designs they have been capturing and making off with in those cell-phone thingies!! I bet they use the eBay to sell them to all those islamo-communist car monopolies!



Harmless fun? More like industrial espionage!

[Gwendolyn]

14. They thought she was an industrial spy. Those guys are bored to tears.

:rofl:

What an amazing project though! She created an installation of an SUV with a crocheted cover entitled "Homeland Security Blanket." Pics here!


http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/local_story_278220015.html


The story says she was detained because her passport showed she'd been to "strange" places. This is the kind of thing that's scared me for years.

[TexasObserver]

15. That is the government making up a reason to detain.

copyright, my ass!!

[hootinholler]

20. At least they're still making up reasons.

:grr:

-Hoot

[Uncle Joe]

17. Kicked for grits, recommended for groceries, kudos to your name

and welcome to D.U. :hi:

I also believe this is absurd.

[immoderate]

18. Duh! What if she had taken a photograph?

This is some dangerous shit happening here. :wtf:

--IMM

[progressoid]

21. She's probably a vegetarian too.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

25. Don't let GM hear about this

Doesn't that grill look like a Hummer's.... I mean JEEP's?

[ensho]

28. it could be a first draft of a crochet pattern, before deciding on which

stitch to use and where