Artist Spotlight - Amy Kirkpatrick

 

Tell us a bit about yourself: Did you go to school for art? Are you self taught? 
Art became my passion at a very young age. Living in South Florida, my parents set up a little art desk for me to keep myself entertained during their long hours working at a local newspaper they owned. I went through coloring books so fast that my mother finally gave me a stack of blank paper and told me to make my own.

I excelled in art through high school and received a BFA degree from Florida State University in Studio Art with an emphasis in graphic design. My first job was at a check printer, John Harland Company in Atlanta, Georgia. I have since created designs and illustrations for many Fortune 500 companies including high tech companies such as Oracle and Cisco, universities, power companies, hospitals and medical companies, industrial manufacturers, including fashion icons such as Adidas and my personal favorite, Ashworth Golf Wear.

Often my work was done through advertising agencies or design boutiques, but some were full time corporate jobs such as Oracle, where I created illustrations for web-based training. I have designed about every kind of corporate collateral you can think of along with logos, software user interface, and web advertising and design.

In 2000, I began freelancing and found myself often waiting for proofing revisions. To keep myself busy while I waited, I'd paint. I started selling my art on eBay just to see what would happen and they sold! As my confidence and sales have grown, I am only doing graphic design for my own art business now.

Do you work in just one medium? Several?
I started out painting with acrylic, but after taking a community class in watercolor, I became forever hooked with the way it blends and blossoms. I absolutely love it.

I have full knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite and spend a great deal of time on the computer.

I also do a lot of gel pen drawings. After I bought a pack at Costco on a whim, I fell in love with them. However, I have not released my gel pen drawings, yet. There's the issue of reproduction quality because of their reflective nature, so I do them for my own amusement. I have about 100 finished pieces but they are so different than my watercolor paintings that I'm still deciding the best way to market them.

What inspires you / where do you get inspiration from?
I am mostly inspired by nature. I love painting living things. I also enjoy taking art classes for inspiration and to be around other artists. I am lucky to live in San Diego with access to world class watercolor teachers and the San Diego Watercolor Society that brings in outstanding visiting artists. This year, I took a class with Charles Reid and for the first time, attempted painting portraits of people. Since then, I found a group of artists that meet every Friday at one of our libraries with uninstructed portrait drawing and painting with live models. It has been great fun.

How did you start licensing your art?
My first big break was with Better Homes & Gardens publications in 2011. I had painted a couple butterflies and shown them to a friend who immediately wanted to buy them. She was planning to remodel her kitchen for a BHG publication. My butterflies became the theme of the remodel and ended up in two magazines as well as online. I decided I better paint more before the magazines came out so I challenged myself to paint 100 butterflies in 100 days. My butterflies were immediately picked up by an art licensing buyer and have been selling worldwide.

More licensing opportunities have come to me directly through my Etsy shop where I sell my originals and signed giclées. AmyKirkpatrickArt.com

What are you working on now?
I have nearly 600 paintings and always have several I'm working on. I do all the scanning and processing for prints myself which is very time consuming. My goal for 2017 is to get them all scanned so I can begin showing them online. They can't sell if no one can see them! All this while I continue to paint.

I paint what makes me happy and hope my joy shows through to make someone else happy.

Any great advice for our readers?
A friend and I tease that whoever dies with the most paints wins! But in truth, it's not about how many colors you have, but what you can do with the colors you have. My advice is to always be practicing and try to come up with your own unique ideas and style.

The best advice I received when I first started selling was from a gallery sales trainer. He told me to decide what kind of artist I wanted to be. There are many paths an artist can take and each requires a different level of skill, subject, style, and self-promotion. For example, what sells in a gallery won't necessarily sell to a product manufacturer. He was the first person to talk to me about art licensing.

Anything else you would like to share with us?
I paint because I love it. I think it may be an addiction. I have so much in my head that I want to paint that sometimes I can become paralyzed with too many ideas. I keep an ongoing list and a sketchbook of my ideas. I surprise myself sometimes when I review them and see something I think is really good that I had forgotten about. I am always grateful for having the forethought to document it, because how many ideas have I lost because I didn't do a quick sketch?

I do not have an agent. I have done very little self-promotion with manufacturers but have been fortunate for those that have found my art and contacted me. My most recent licensing agreement has gotten my art in the wall art section of Wayfair.

Are you an early riser? or night owl?
I am not an early riser. Since my husband gets up at 6:00am, he thinks I've slept half the day away when, as he puts it, I "finally" get up at 8:00am. To me, that's my perk of self-employment.

What is your favorite food?
My favorite food is Thai food. I love a good Penang curry!

You can find Amy:

amykirkpatrick@roadrunner.com
AmyKirkpatrickFineArt.com
AmyKirkpatrickArt.com (Etsy)
AmyPrints.com (Fine Art America)
Facebook.com/AmyKirkpatrickFineArt
www.instagram.com/amykirkpatrickart
twitter.com/ak_art

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Bo's bLAWg - Copyright Small Claims Court

  

MJ Bogatin (“Bo”) of Bogatin, Corman & Gold, is an Arts and Entertainment Attorney in San Francisco.  He is also Co-President of California Lawyers for the Arts. www.calawyersforthearts.org www.calawyersforthearts.org Bo is available to answer some of your questions surrounding the business of Art Licensing. - THANKS BO!

Dear Readers,
Since July I have had a number of inquiries on my opinion of the proposal that the Copyright Office set up Small Claims Court. I’ve been mulling it over.  Here are my thoughts:

Background:
On July 14th, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York introduced to the United States House of Representatives a bill, known as the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2016.  https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2993945/CASE-Act-Jeffries.pdf

CASE is for the most part based on a Copyright Office Report released in 2013 speaking to the question of whether or not such a forum would be in the public’s best interest.  There is certainly good reason to consider the prospect.  Under the existing Copyright Act, the only forum for infringement claims, large or small, is Federal Court.  This is truly a situation where a wronged party whose original work has been copied, plagiarized or distributed without their permission has no choice but to “make a Federal case of it,” unless the matter can be resolved informally.  CASE would set up an alternative forum intended to be more accessible and efficient than your local Federal District Court.   Would it be?  That is yet to be seen.

In my practice, I have had no real problem resolving infringement claims on behalf of my plaintiff clients and avoiding drawn out litigation.  The reason for this is that my clients have been advised to register their copyrights within three months of first publication.  Having done so, I can leverage the two key benefits of registration into quick and (usually) substantial settlements. 

As mentioned in previous January 2015 bLAWg, registration benefits include the right to claim statutory damages of up to $150,000 and obtain prevailing party attorneys’ fees and costs against the infringing party – instead of being limited to “actual damages (the infringer’s profits if any), and being out-of-pocket for attorneys’ fees and cast.  http://annietroe.blogspot.com/2015/01/bos-blawg.html 

Even the most obstinate infringer will capitulate when their own attorney tells them they will have put up a large retainer to defend the claim and, when they lose, they will also have to pay my substantial fees.  When faced with this reality, I rarely have to file an action.  When I have to file, as soon as the defendant looks to retain counsel, I get a decent settlement offer.

However, I also get calls quite often from prospective clients whose works have been infringed, but who have not previously registered their copyright.  If the infringer does not have ‘deep pockets’ (assets) and there is no viable ‘downstream’ wholesale distributor or retailer with substantial profits from the infringement, it is clear that despite being harmed, such claimants have no viable remedy.  That is where I can see a Copyright Small Claims Court play an important role.

CASE describes the establishment of a reasonably well-conceived Copyright Claims Board with qualified copyright attorneys serving as “Claims Officers” empowered to hear infringement matters.  They would assure parties proper use of procedural due process, oversee basic discovery, conduct hearings and issue findings that would be published, and subject to filing as Judgments in the District Courts for collection purposes.  Unlike most State Small Claims Courts, parties can use attorneys or certified law student counsel.  All well and good.

Like the 1976 Act, claimants would be entitled to elect either Actual Damages (including the infringing parties’ profits), or Statutory Damages.  However, statutory damages would be capped at $15,000 instead of $150,000 – but only in the event of a registration prior to infringement (or within three months of original publication). In the absence of such registration, the statutory damages limit would be $7,500.

Since it is easy to leverage settlements with pre-existing registrations, it is hard for me to imagine anyone electing to pursue the Small Claims alternative unless they did not have a registration before the infringement.  In that regard, and given the prevalence of infringements where there are little or no actual damages or profits, the $7,500 statutory damage prospect would be a keen advantage – one that may pave the way for settlement early in the Small Claims process if the Defendant is at risk of that.

HOWEVER, what I believe to be the fatal flaw in the CASE legislation, is that participation by the parties is voluntary. (See Section 1403(a).)  The defendant may “opt out!”  (See 1405(h).)  Facing a potential statutory liability of $7,500, why wouldn’t they opt out knowing that the Claimant will be out-of-pocket to bring an action in Federal Court, and no statutory damages are available.

Nor is the Copyright Claims Board empowered to grant injunctions against ongoing infringements.  That limitation in itself would rule out Small Claims as a reasonable forum for many situations where what is critical is not present damage, but the long-term damage if the infringing activity is not stopped immediately.

While I can understand the basis for not affording the Copyright Claims Board the authority to consider and grant injunctive relief, until the opt out provision is fixed, I fear that the CASE court will end up being the forum that is used by ‘copyright trolls.’  There are many entities that search the internet for copied illustrations, photographs, music and/or film clips and make unreasonable demand$ upon the website owners who have innocently or mistakenly allowed uploading of infringing material. 

Taking down the offending image or material is not enough for these outfits.  Once they have identified what they believe to be an unlicensed use, they continue to send demand letters and threaten legal action.  Rarely, however, do the actual copyright holders take the initiative to go after such infringing use if the offending item has been removed from the website.  In the case of ‘innocent’ infringement, it is likely the damages awarded in Federal Court will be as low as $200.  Nor will the Court necessarily award them prevailing party fees since the damage was minimal and the defendant complied promptly with the ‘cease and desist’ letter.

I know a number of artist organizations are supporting the legislation.  The Graphic Artists Guild appears to endorse the supporting efforts of the Coalition of Artists which includes the American Photographic Artists (APA), American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), Digital Media Licensing Association (DMLA), National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) and Professional Photographers of America (PPA).  https://graphicartistsguild.org/news/copyright-claims-board

Perhaps they do not share my concern over potential misuse of the Small Claims Courts or that their members will not be able to make meaningful use of it due to the Opt Out provision.  Or, perhaps they are pursuing changes in the CASE provisions to address those matters.  If you are a member, I recommend that you share your own view with them.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this website is not intended as legal advice. Because the law is not static, and one situation may differ from the next, we cannot assume responsibility for any actions taken based on information contained herein. Also, be aware that the law may vary from state. Therefore, this website cannot replace the advice of an experienced attorney. Receipt of this information does not create an attorney-client relationship. MJ Bogatin, Bogatin, Corman & Gold, www.bcgattorneys.com

 

Have a legal question? email it to info@AnnGraphics.com. I will forward it to Bo. It might be a blog post! You can search "Bo's bLAWg" to read more posts. I am looking forward to your comments and thanks for sharing this great information on social media.

 

Make my day! and Buy me a cup of coffee (PayPal Link in right side bar, you don't need a PayPal acct.)

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