Welcome to BLOG Zentangle. To learn about Zentangle, visit our website, read our free newsletters, take a class with a local Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT), and best of all . . . create your own!


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

CZT Addendum

We received this comment from revbyrd on our Certified Zentangle Teacher blog entry:
I understand why you are doing the training the way you are doing it. I don't even quarrel with it. But I am disappointed because I am disabled and cannot travel.

I am a minister (as my name might suggest) who is semi retired. Currently I do counseling and work with folks on a variety of issues, including self-esteem. Zentangle would fit perfectly and really help many folks, but I am somewhat reluctant to do much because of the ethical issues (copywrite, not being certified, etc.). It's a shame, because I think it would really make a difference.

As you expand your training programs, please keep people like me in mind.
Thanks for asking that, revbyrd. Let us know if this answers your comment. We'll use it as inspiration to add to our FAQ:

I'm concerned with legal and ethical issues of copyright and certification. Do I need to be a CZT to share Zentangle with others?
We've discovered that people inevitably want to share Zentangle with others. After teaching Zentangle to our grandson's second grade class, by the next day children throughout the school were creating their own Zentangles!

If you want to share your Zentangle creations or use our Zentangle method with others, we ask that you
  1. Use our name (Zentangle).
  2. Use our vocabulary (String, tile, tangle, etc.).
  3. Mention our website (zentangle.com).
  4. Stay close to our teaching method. We understand this is an odd request, because the background concepts and insights necessary to do that are what we teach in our CZT training. For now, please understand that all those materials and techniques, steps and names in Zentangle, as playful and frivolous (or unnecessary and limiting) as they may seem, are deliberately that way for specific and studied reasons.
  5.  . . . and never use the "D" word!  :-)
As long as you do this, we are comfortable with you sharing your Zentangles and the Zentangle method with others.

If you want to more fully understand Zentangle and learn many subtleties of how to convey that understanding to others, in other words to represent yourself as someone who has been certified to teach Zentangle, then we invite you to complete one of our Certified Zentangle Teacher seminars and become a CZT.

[The original CZT blog has been updated with this addition.]

10 comments:

Tinkered Art said...

Thanks for this clarification as I was having the same concerns. Since I can't seem to stop talking about Zentangle I've had several requests to "teach" it but I've declined to do so because of not being a CZT. I do hope to attend the training in October but didn't want to have to wait until then to share it. I think this solves my dilemma - as I have no problem following your guidelines for sharing your Zentangle site and methods. Can't wait to bring the joy of it to others.

Momma Ninja said...

I am feeling kind of .... mystified right now. What is the "D" word? (I's like to know so I don't use it!)

Unknown said...

Never use the "D" word??? I have been a doodler all my life and proud to be one. Ownwership .. then the rules.

Jane Monk said...

Thank you for the clarification - I would say that many of us draw miniature line art (for want of a better word than the D word) I have myself drawn this way for over 30 years. However, utilising your defined strings (I call it String Theory) makes this easy for non-drawers to be able to see it and do it for themselves. I am indeed teaching an adult education class later this year, so will absolutely tell them of the wonderful Zentangle site and information. I have a Moleskin notebook full of individual design ideas to use and it is growing daily. I have also started my own blog dedicated to my drawing and miniature ink art - including Zentangles! I also hope to be able to attend CZT in October or early 2011. Travelling for me is also difficult due to having Lupus and costly - but I will just have to work that out - where there is a will, there is a way. Hugs and thankyou.
Jane Monk
http://janemonkstudio.blogspot.com

ooglebloops said...

It would be great if at some point, you could offer the CZT training online. :>)

Justine said...

Count me as another vote for some type of on-line class. Using resources such as webinar or goto meeting along with written or video training material would be great! Justine (on the West Coast).

revbyrd said...

Thank you very much for answering my questions. Now, I have a couple more.

I have been collecting tangles and on the back, I will put the name of them, but I have a few tangles that I have not seen anywhere but in my work. I am hesitent to name them because more than once, I thought I had a unique tangle, only to find someone else already discovered/designed/used & Named it. Is there a clearing-house for the names of tangles so that our vocabulary is consistant?

Zentangle said...

In our experience, most people are dismissive of the term “doodling.” “Oh, you're just doodling.” This general attitude reflects definitions of doodling such as this one from thefreedictionary.com:

- To scribble aimlessly, especially when preoccupied.,
- To kill time
- A figure, design, or scribble drawn or written absent-mindedly.

We occasionally refer to our string as a doodle because it fits that definition, but we don't feel the term accurately describes the whole of Zentangle's approach to this art form -- what we sometimes call “pattern drawing” or “painting with patterns.” That's the main reason we don't use “doodle” (what we playfully refer to as “the D word”) to describe this artform.

Unknown said...

Good explanation. You win you wonderful zentanglers! I will be honoured to call myself a zentangler!
It seems you have lit a match that has become a very big fire. Thank you.

Peg said...

I,too, wish there were something online. I cannot travel, but would love to be certified to teach this locally to others.