Where do we draw the line when it comes to using/borrowing elements of another artists work?

Question

I don't mean to justify stealing art, that is not what this is about in any way. I just see awesome collage artists create beautiful works of art, they surely didn't take all those photographs and magazine clippings themselves, they just cut out someone elses work and created it in a different way. 

Artists such as Jesse Treece take magazine clippings and create beautiful stunning collages, but she did not take those photographs, so is it truly HER art? 

Artist Victoria Villasana uses old photographs of celebrities and people she didn't photograph herself, but she uses yarn and created beautifully colored embroidered designs on the photographs. 

Many artists also mimic the style of other artists, or heck photoshoppers use others work for completely change it for their own uses and all the time this is "perfectly acceptable"

What is our definition of stealing/borrowing art? And where do we draw the line? I am really struggling with this as a younger artist.

Answer

It has always been considered right and good for an art student to imitate the masters. The great music masters wrote variations on each other's themes all the time. "Stealing" is when you put your name on someone else's work. 

Modern people get really silly. I once took an art class where I was required to draw rough sketches of art works at the local museum. Because the museum people were bonkers about "copyright protection", my teachers told me to sneak into another room to draw my sketch.

There are some fields where copyright does not exist. Comedians, fashion designers, classical composers, and magicians have never tried to prevent others from using their works. That is probably because their works only exist as performances, not "intellectual property".

Where do we draw the line when it comes to using/borrowing elements of another artists work?

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