Navigating the stormy seas of this week was indeed one of the most challenging experiences I've had since I started curating my Spoonflower Challenge selections.

This week's theme revolved around Tropical Fruit, OR alternately, was focused on protesting the emergence of AI-generated art in Spoonflower design competitions.

Whether the uphill battle was due to the protest movement's momentum or the lack of inspiration from the Tropical Fruit theme, this week didn't witness a flood of stellar designs. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the design had to earn my vote.

My top pick among the protest designs is "Summertime Pineapple Fun" by Lzrd. It's a beautifully composed, multi-dimensional design with a creatively embedded No AI statement.

My all-around favorite, is "Limes and Stripes" by madalina-pasol. This design won my affection due to its intriguing duality— up close it's a refreshing lime pattern, yet from afar it morphs into an abstract, possibly a labyrinth-like design.

I've been actively keeping tabs on @f.ai.l_designs via Instagram, and their recent posts showcasing samples from MidJourney have stirred a feeling of unease in my selection process. I faced criticism on an earlier post for opting for a design that was potentially an AI creation.  Do I endorse a design without being certain that its creator doesn't utilize AI as an art tool? As a consumer, how do I responsibly and ethically source a design? Am I obliged to scrutinize every AI tool to ensure the design hasn't originated there?

Are we destined to see AI tools evolve to a point where they are as commonplace in artistic creation as Photoshop or Illustrator? Once the copyright issue is resolved, and I believe it will be, even if facilitated by AI, wouldn't the resulting piece still qualify as art?

I do not envy the folks at Spoonflower trying to police this.

#spoonflower #spoonflowerdesignchallenge #createeveryday #fabric #fabricshopping #sewing

Version with live links here: https://www.create-everyday.com/blogs/fabric/spoonflower-design-challenge-8-JUN-2023 

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