When:
Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 6-8pm

Where:
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Auditorium
1 East 53rd Street (on the corner with 5th Ave)
NY, NY 10022

Note: There is CLE credit available for admitted attorneys: 1 Ethics and 1 Professional Practice (Transitional only)

If you’re an artist, use “found” images, text, music, audio files, video and film footage, this workshop is for you.

In a digital age, artists need to be more aware than ever of copyright laws and the legal issues that may affect their practice and the presentation of their work. The current Associated Press v. Shepard Fairey and the Patrick Cariou v. Richard Prince lawsuits clearly illustrate this point. This two-hour class will focus on copyright law, with a primer on some of the more pressing legal concerns for artists today, such as the use of logos and images, the internet and websites, as well as moral rights. The issues raised by the Shepard Fairey and Richard Prince lawsuits will also be discussed.

This class will be taught by Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq., VLA’s Director of Education and Staff Attorney.

This VLA workshop is open to artists, arts administrators, and serves as an introduction to copyright law for admitted attorneys.

Fees for this class are as follows (an additional $10 Registration Fee if paying at the door):

Artist (VLA member): $10
Artist (non-member): $15
VLA Legal Professional Member: $130 (incl. materials)
Legal Professional Non-Member: $150 (incl. materials)

To register for any of these workshops, please complete this registration form and return with credit card information to VLA via fax to: 212.752.6575, or with check to:

VLA
Copyright CLE class
One East 53rd Street, 6th fl.
NY, NY 10022

All registration fees are non-refundable.

For more information on this and other classes, please contact Joni Todd at jtodd@vlany.org, or at 212.319.2787 x10

Since 1969, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has been the leading provider of pro bono legal services, mediation services, educational programs and publications, and advocacy to the arts community in New York. The first arts-related legal aid organization, VLA is the model for similar organizations around the world. For more information about Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, please see www.vlany.org.

Sincerely,
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq.
email: ssarmiento@vlany.org
phone: (212) 319-2787 Ext. 13
web: http://www.vlany.org

Found some convention photos I had up at the old blog, and thought you might get a kick out of seeing them again.

Here’s a couple of shots taken about 4 AM. Have I had too much champagne, am I sleep deprived, or am I standing in a room full of Aragorns?

Indeed I am. Lucky me.

The resemblance is uncanny. They let me take lots of fabulous reference photos, bless ‘em. Aren’t Rangers wonderful?

Behold. The king!

Manly man, with a manly sword.

c

Reposted, because the Open House is on April 25 , and it is still a dirty rotten gyp that Rose O’Neill gets just about zero recognition from the comics industry.

It’s the 100th Anniversary of the Kewpie, and Rose O’Neill’s beautiful estate museum at Bonniebrook is celebrating with an annual Open House on April 25. This free event will feature “refreshments and entertainment”, as well as massive loads of exuberant kewpishness.

Thanks to Roxanne Young, secretary of Bonniebrook, and Martha Melton for writing to bring this to our attention. You can learn more about the Kewpiesta and other events in and near Branson Missouri by visiting this link at the Branson Courier.

Branson’s “Kewpiesta” is an annual commemoration of the “Kewpie” and its creator Rose O’Neill, which has become an Ozarks tradition since its initial beginning in 1967. It is a combination of Rose O’Neill and Kewpie events that is unmatched anywhere else in the world and includes the exhibition and auction of Kewpie Dolls and Kewpie collectibles, social events, and the annual meeting of the International Rose O’Neill Club.

I posted about comics and illustration pioneer Rose O’Neill and her contentious relationship with her husband Grey Latham, as well as Latham’s efforts in the development of film projection here.

While almost everyone has heard of the Kewpie Doll, almost no one I know in comics has any familiarity with its creator Rose O’Neill, who was once one of the most famous women in the world. O’Neill was honored last year by the National Women’s History Project, but alas, O’Neill has yet to win a posthumous Eisner or any other award recognizing her contribution to comics.

The Rose O’Neill Society has a website with an extensive biography, gallery, and shop, as well as information about the museum at Bonniebrook which houses dozens of pieces of original art, including her Sweet Monsters illustrations. These were exhibited to great success in Paris in 1921. The museum will begin offering prints of these works by the end of the month.

Rose O’Neill’s Kewpies were a worldwide phenomenon, based on cartoons she created for The Ladies Home Journal. The pudgy, cherub-like characters in O’Neill’s illustrations made kids clamor for huggable versions. Soon O’Neill was manufacturing bisque porcelain winged cuties, and elaborate paper dolls.

Here is O’Neill’s original patent registration drawing for the dolls.

Nicknamed The Queen of Bohemian Society, O’Neill’s circle of friends included Thomas Hart Benton, Booth Tarkington, and Kahlil Gabran. An unflattering portrait of O’Neill is said to have popped up in one of Tarkington’s novels, though no contemporary photos of her match the description of the 200 lbs woman rudely described.

O’Neill was also a novelist and some of her books are in the public domain. You can read them for free at Project Gutenberg.

She was also a prominent feminist. Here we see Kewpies campaigning for women’s rights:

Have a look at her illustrations here at The American Archives.

A sculptor, and poet as well, O’Neill’s largely untrained talent and accomplishments are even more remarkable considering the times in which she lived.

She has been lauded in many national art exhibits such as Monstrous Craws and Character Flaws at the Library of Congress.

For a detailed overview of Rose O’Neill’s Kewpie doll manufacturing history, check out this link for the Cameo Doll Factory.

It would be immensely satisfying to see this gifted woman get the attention she deserves from the comics community. It’s well past time she was inducted into one of our numerous Hall of Fame Award whatnots.

Please take some time to peruse the links here to learn more about the remarkable Rose O’Neill. Thanks.

c

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