Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Nope, I have no vested interest at all.  In fact, I found this thread through the Bears and Buds website and decided to speak up.  It appears however that most of the users in this blog are artists and now that my posts have started to draw out nasty accusations, I am put in a tough spot here.  If I respond, I risk furthering these kinds of responses which I don't think is appropriate.  If I go away, I risk appearing as though these accusations are true.  I said what I felt in my heart and althought it took some guts, I'm glad I did as I stated before.  I've assuaged the feelings of a lot of people who didn't understand the contest.  So, for that it was worth it.  Now that ugly accusations are being thrown, I don't think this thread needs any more comments as this will simply encourage more of the same.  We've said what needed to be said in the proper tone and maybe enlightened a lot of people for the good.  There was no deceit on my part and it's sad that this would even cross someone's mind.  I still think bear people are as a whole, much sweeter and lovlier than I found in the doll world.  Thanks guys and keep up the good work!

Ah, it is becoming a little clearer now.  It appears that for the most part, the artists

were

aware that campaigning for votes would determine the winners of this contest.  However, from a mere reader's point of view, we were of the understanding that the "readers would judge and select the winners".  So, we felt that our opinion on the entries were going to be the determining factor.  Perhaps that's what's left a bad taste in the mouth of the collectors.  Since my normal emails and chats are among collectors and not artists, this is where I noticed the overwhelming sense of disappointment.  Most collectors felt snookered into becoming pawns used to steer people to a website instead of participating in judging a contest.  So, from the collectors point of view this was a bad, bad thing for the bear world. 

I can see the artists' point of view as well.  We are looking at the same issue from different angles, which is understandable.  I guess we collectors just didn't like the feeling we were left with when it was all over and we really thought one vote mattered.  When it got around that it was indeed possible to vote over and over again by erasing cookies from the computer, the general feeling of the competition started to change.  And then when the winners were announced, the collectors really felt duped when they learned how it was really won.  That's our point of view.  Some of us aren't really that upset, others are a bit peeved and then there are those who are downright angry.  It's all understandable, I guess.  Maybe in the future they will have us register on the site and then log in to vote to be sure it truly is one person, one vote.

Bottom line where this particular contest is concerned:  It was run very poorly.  A contest should avoid all appearance of impropriety and this one had a real bad smell.  And although I can understand that not everyone has the same taste, the sheer fact that one style bear won 6 awards speaks volumes!!!  The Toby and the Golden Teddy have a variety of winners, although on a rare occasion one artist may win in 2 categories.  But never in 6.  C'mon here.  Maybe I'm the only one who will say this out loud because I am not an artist, but the style and execution of the winning bears bordered on amateur and they have a look like the early style from the 80's when artist teds were just coming into their own.  So there, I said it.  Not that these were bad bears.  It's just that this artist has not paid his dues and has certainly not perfected his craft yet to where he legitimately earned these honors.  There was much superior work to pick from, so please let's not sugarcoat this by saying it's sour grapes, jealousy, different strokes or whatever.    Perhaps the idea of weeding out the first round by professional judging in the future is the best one.  After that, even if it becomes a popularity contest, the bears that win will be worthy of the ribbon.  For the most part, the winners were left behind.   And this will be my final statement on this from my humble point of view.   The people I am standing up for here are those artists who were worthy, have perfected their craft and have paid their dues but lost anyway.  Someone needed to say this and I did.  And I'm glad.

I'm pleased that all you artists have embraced us collectors to this site and welcome our input as well.  It's nice to know we're appreciated too!  As far as some people being able to vote more than once and others not, from what I heard from another collector friend is you just had to clear your cookies or history (or maybe both) and the site allowed you to vote again.  It put a cookie on  your computer that it recognized when you tried to vote again.  But, if you removed it you could vote again.  It was a good effort on their part to try to avoid duplicate votes, but most people are more saavy than that now and it wasn't hard to figure how to get around the problem.  So, all an artist needed was time and a large mailing list.  I do feel that many of the winners in most of the categories were legitimate reader fav's as some of the best work came in 2 and 3.   However, some of the best didn't place and that's the shame.

I like some of the ideas of having an impartial panel do the judging.   The magazines do it that way and it seems to result more in the favor of the pieces than the artist.  I had sooooooooo many emails from artists who don't want to come out but who felt put upon that they were required to campaign for votes. They wanted their work to be judged on its merits.  Many artists also consider it an imposition to bring friends and family into their business by asking them to vote.  And lastly, many feel its just plain tacky to ask their collectors for votes.  Most artists are humble and some are downright shy by nature, so this wasn't a good venue for them.  They are the ones who can get their feelings hurt the most and are certainly the ones who can start doubting their own talents.  So, all in all, I would call this contest a flop from the point of the artists.  There should be no bad feelings in teddy bears!!  As a collector I've followed the contests for fun, but it didn't sway my purchasing decisions.  Some the loveliest pieces I own are from artists who have never entered a contest or been in a magazine. So, keep heart all you wonderful bear makers!  WE love you all!

Hi Nancy,

I was happy to hear you sold your work to a new collector!  That's terrific.  Yes, it's true that there are different strokes for different folks.  I followed the Golden Teddy contest as well as the Toby awards and agreed with some but not with all.  That's normal.  It's just that this particular contest seemed so skewed and I have heard from so many artists who don't want to come out in the open that I felt it would be a sort of balm to the hearts of the artists who took it to heart to see that most aren't taking this contest seriously and they shouldn't be hurt.  You are absolutely right in that in a perfect world everyone should be happy for the winners.  They should and so far the bear community has been very positive and supportive as I have been able to sense.  But I believe in my heart of hearts that an injustice took place with the way this contest was run and as a result, people were hurt and disillusioned.  Were it not for that, it wouldn't matter one whit to me who won and who didn't win.  Now I am seeing that just bringing out in the daylight has helped several artists get over their hurt at not winning or placing when they thought for sure they would at least place.  I'm glad I've been able to help in this way and they can stop doubting their own talent.  Since I don't have a horse in this race, I can do so without worry of retribution.  I am not fortunate enough to make my living my my own hand.  So, please keep up all the good work and we collectors will keep voting with our checkbooks - hooray!

I love the positive attitudes I see in most artists and am encouraged by their welcoming posts.  I will try not to be so jaded about the contests and perhaps I'll ignore them altogether and just gather up all my bears about me and keep purchasing from artists who's work I admire.  I must say that I am glad I took the plunge and voiced my opinion.  Apparently, I was correct in assuming that there were artists out there who took the contest entirely too seriously and were now questioning their own talents.  What a shame!  Never, ever do that!  You artists know you do good work and as long as you strive to perfect your own craft, it never matters what others are doing.  Put out your best work and then stand back and be proud knowing you did your very best.  Wait a little while and along will come someone who will see your work, smile and insist on taking your bear home!  Believe in yourself.  And just so you know you're not alone - here is an excerp from one of my private responses received from an artist:

Hi Linda, yes I am a chicken, for fear of being looked down upon, and possibly hurt my reputation.   I don't want to speak out publically regarding your URSA post.but I am one of those artists that can't believe the caliber of the winning bears!   It makes me not want to enter anything.  I entered but would rather just forget about the whole thing.  It's not my fault that I would rather work on my creations than spend my whole day out campaigning for votes, and I won't send emails to friends co workers and such who have nothing to do or any intrest in my work just to get a vote count
Thanks again for your post, and I agree with you 100%

So, you see?  You're not alone in your feelings and thinking so please don't put too much stock in the contests.  Your collectors vote you a winner every time they adopt one of your creations.  So, let's hear it for everyone - YAY!!!

Hi Dilu,

I guess I can see why the artists would enter in these contests.  The exposure is very good for them.  I am not an artist, but am a collector.  I just recently started collecting bears after years of collecting dolls, so this is all new to me.  Your example of 2 equally wonderful bears in a contest and you would vote for your friend of course makes sense.  What didn't make sense was that almost to a bear, these were not the winners - at least not in the sense that they were the best of the group.  So, it was a contest to see which artist could bring more people to the site and not a contest for the best and most well done bears.  That's my only issue with it.  It was touted as "vote for your favorite bears". The fact that the same artist won in 5 categories as well as the overall pretty much summed up the real reason for the contest.  I was just shocked that it was so obvious, but again, as I am new to all this perhaps it's just something I need to get used to.  I don't know.  I guess I'm a little upset because I figured all would be peaches and honey and maybe I need to lose my Pollyanna way of looking at things.  But, I can't help but feel very sorry for those artists who entered and didn't win when they know they had superior work.  The reason I say this is I've seen several blogs posted by those very same artists who expressed their keen disappointment and my heart really goes out to them.  But, thanks for the explanation and good luck with your work!

Linda G

I am brand new to the bear community and feel lucky to have found this chat.  I was wondering, am I the only person who had a problem with the URSA contest that was held by the Bears and Buds magazine?  I am not saying that the people who won didn't have nice entries, but honestly, it would take a blind person not to see that some of the entries that didn't even make the final cut were far superior to the overall winners.  I thought it would be such a fun contest because I could follow it online and live, but I was terribly disenchanted with the overall results.  As it turned out, this seemed to be a popularity contest for the individual artist and whoever had the time to campaign for votes are the ones who won.  I'm sure a lot of artists just don't have time to spend hours a day asking (begging) for votes, so this certainly didn't seem like a fair contest at all.  Sadly, the overall winners were the ones who got the most votes, and not the best pieces of work.  The way they ran this contest was just a thinly veiled promotion to steer as many people to their site as possible, not to pick an overall best work.  I've had so many of my bear friends feel the same way, but I don't see anyone talking about it.  It's so sad!  This seemed like nothing more than a cleverly disquised way to get all of us to promote their site instead of promoting the best work.   If  you look back at the entries, some of them were beautifully and professionally executed pieces of art and they didn't even make the final cut.  The whole thing has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth and that should never be when it comes to something as wonderful as teddy bears!  Maybe someone out there can explain it to me where it will make sense and my faith teddy bear people will be restored.