You will have seen that artists spend a lot of time and effort creating their work. In many ways, your own experiences will be similar, but on a smaller scale.
Let’s think now about what can happen to art works and ideas.
We will start by thinking about what can happen to you in school.
A girl gets an idea for a story and she uses her story-idea light bulb to write the best story she’s ever written. She gets to be ‘Champion Writer’ of the week and is awarded house points and a Head Teacher Award in assembly.
A boy has an idea for a fantastic dance routine. He uses his dance idea light bulb to come up with the choreography and shares it with his friends so that they can perform their dance in a school talent show. The whole school admires his friends’ performance very much and respects him for his brilliant dance.
A pair of friends come up with an idea for a brilliant computer game. They use their idea light bulb to work collaboratively on their game which they create for their friends in the computer lab. A school parent offers to help them make a business out of the game. However, the friends are busy with school work and are unsure whether they should do so.
A girl arrives every day to school and there are no ideas in her locker. She tries her hardest to come up with an idea for something, but nothing comes. She feels that she doesn’t have the success that her friends are having. She notices a girl who has lots of idea light bulbs in her locker. One lunchtime, she sneaks in and steals one of the ideas. It’s an idea for a piece of art. She creates the piece of art and tells people that it’s her own. The girl whose work has been stolen notices that her work has been copied, but she keeps quiet. The girl who stole the idea realises that she is not enjoying the fake success and apologises to the other girl.
Story four told the story of a girl whose locker is always empty – she never has any ideas of light bulbs. One day, she steals an idea from a girl who has lots in her locker. The girl owns up and says sorry to the girl whose work she stole. Having accepted the apology, the girl with all the ideas decides to help the other girl and she gives her one of the light bulbs and shows her how to make it her own. She is able to use the idea and put her own spin on it to create a really good piece of art which is hung in the school entrance hall for all to see. She realizes that she can be inspired by others, but stealing others’ work is the wrong thing to do.