Copyrights: What Every Artist Needs to Know

Trademarks and How They Affect Artists

June 12, 2013 Kim Minichiello

I have made friends with a wonderful watercolor artist, Carrie Waller, on Facebook and she recently had an issue with an art organization not accepting a painting into their exhibition because she had depicted Ball canning jars in the work and they were concerned about trademark infringement. I posted a comment to her blog about this issue and she invited me to do a guest blog post on her blog, which I was happy to do! As I stated in her article, I’m not an attorney, I’m an artist, and I don’t profess to be an expert on trademarks and copyrights, but I do have some experience and knowledge on the subject matter. I co- founded a company a few years ago creating digital art for the art licensing market. Some of the designs that I created were to be mass-produced, utilizing vintage images so, I wanted to be sure that by using them I wouldn’t be infringing on anyone’s trademark or copyright. At that time, I had an Intellectual Property Attorney, and the information I passed on is from my own research that was validated by my attorney and information she gave to me.

Here is a link to my trademark article on Carrie's blog: http://carriewaller.blogspot.com/2013/06/guest-blogger-kim-minichiello.html

John Singer Sargent's Dorothy, Portrait Study

June 5, 2013 Kim Minichiello

Copy Study of John Singer Sargent's Dorothy 16" x 20", Oil on Canvas

When I visited the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, I often saw artists copying some of the masters' works. There is a program where you can sign up and request to do this on certain days in the museum. I heard the Orsay even provided the easels, and they have the ledgers from when the artists currently hanging in the Orsay signed in to do copy studies at the Louvre. This is one thing I regret not looking into and doing when I lived there.

When I returned home I took a portrait painting class in oils. The assignment was to do a study of apainting by John Singer Sargent. I was very excited to do this study of his painting Dorothy because I rarely paint portraits, this one would be a good exercise in painting whites, and an opportunity to really study Sargent’s brushwork. If you have never done a “copy” study, I would highly recommend it. Here is the link to Sargent’s Dorothy which is at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Declared Value for Shipping: What does this mean and what do I need to know?

May 1, 2013 Kim Minichiello

I wanted to continue from yesterday’s post and share what I learnedtalking with the UPS representative about declared value. This information is from UPS. FedEx policies may be different. First “declared value” means the maximum liability for UPS if your package is lost or damaged. Generally, I think most artists think this is insurance. It is not, UPS doesn’t use that terminology and I think there are slight difference between insurance and declared value. When I asked the UPS rep. if this is also insurance she said it is not. (I have yet to discover the exact differences.)

If you do not declare a value on your shipping label the UPS default value is $100. Also depending on how you create your label you can only claim certain maximum values. (Please see my post on Shipping Artwork on 4/30/13.) If your shipment is lost or damaged, UPS is liable for the amount you declared.

Now for the news none of us would want to hear, our painting was damaged getting to the show or gallery or was damaged getting back to you. The next step would be to file a claim with UPS. UPS would then send one of their agents to inspect the box and contents. As the shipper you must provide an original invoice or in writing proof of the replacement cost of the painting or the actual value. This is where things get a little gray. I talked to two different UPS representatives about this “proof of value” in writing and got two slightly different answers. One person told me this letter had to be from an appraiser. I explained it would be ludicrous for me to hire an appraiser to value my own artwork every time I needed to ship a painting to a show or gallery! That wasn’t going to happen. Therefore, I suggested, if I’m sending a painting to a show or gallery and that work is for sale could the society or gallery also in writing state that my work was in their showand that during that time it was valued for sale for whatever my declared value was. This could supplement my letter to establish proof of value. She seemed to think that would be OK. The second representative didn’t mention the letter had to be from an appraiser and said a letter directly from me as the artist would suffice.

As I mentioned, I did not speak with FedEx about damage in shipping, but I have heard that they have in the past denied claims if the box doesn’t show any damage but the contents do.

Is it worth getting a separate insurance policy? Most artists you talk to say no it isn’t. It is rare that your painting would be lost or damaged, that’s not to say it can’t happen. What is more common is that your frame is damaged but your artwork isn’t. Protect the corners of your frame! This is where the most damage can happen. Also avoid shipping watercolor with glass. Most societies require all paintings be framed with plexiglass.

The moral of the story is, declared value can be a gray area between you the artist and the shipping company. However, always put the value of the work including the frame on your shipping label. Otherwise, UPS will only be liable for $100. If you have to file a claim, hopefully your letter will be enough to show the proof of the value of the painting. If you solda piece and are sending it to a customer, you would also have an invoice stating what you sold the painting for. If your letter isn’t enough, then you can approach the gallery or society whose show your painting was in to help you out andprovide written documentation what your piece was selling for while it was exhibited. If your painting is not for sale (NFS) in the show then this may not work.

Keep in mind these two articles are for domestic shipping only. With international shipping, that’s a whole other can of worms!

Shipping Artwork FedEx Ground vs. UPS: What I've learned

April 30, 2013 Kim Minichiello

I follow the blog of a wonderful watercolor artist, Carrie Waller, she recently had trouble with shipping a painting to the NWS Members show. I had a similar experience shipping my two paintings to the WPSE show about a month ago. I had intended to do a blog article on all of my escapades with shipping, so now I thought would be a good time while it’s all fresh in my mind. After many phone calls to FedEx and UPS I gleaned some valuable information from both companies I wanted to pass on to fellow artists because it seems I’m not the only one with shipping dilemmas. I don’t profess to be an expert on this by any means but was quite surprised what I found out after speaking with FedEx and UPS directly... First, I bit the bullet and decided to get an Airfloat box to ship the two paintings. I had recently purchased a small box to ship one painting to the Georgia Watercolor Society National show and since I get a small discount and I’m fairly new at shipping artwork, I decided better be safe than sorry and get the Airfloat. I know Galleries and Watercolor Societies prefer these for their ease in unpacking and packing to send work back. I volunteered last year to do this at the Florida Watercolor Society Annual Show, and can speak first hand Airfloat, or something similar, is easier.

To ship the smaller painting to Georgia, I got an account with FedEx to ship FedEx Ground. I highly recommend getting an account especially if you are going to use UPS, more on that later. I have accounts with both. It’s easy to do on line and it’s free. I had no trouble shipping my painting to Georgia with FedEx Ground. I did all the labels on line, and requested a return label to include with my painting so they could send it back, or my box back if it sold. Airfloats you can use multiple times.

A few weeks later I needed to ship the two paintings to Tennessee. Airfloat does not recommend you ship two paintings in one box. I had seen it done before and calculated it would be more economical for me than buying 2 Airfloat boxes and sending two shipments. I got a thicker box so that I could put an extra layer of my own foam to accommodate the second painting. One of the paintings was large, therefore I needed one of the bigger boxes. I got the 48” x 58” x 5.5”. These aren’t cheap even with the discount. The saving grace is they can be used again. Since this box is BIG, I called both FedEx and UPS to make sure that it didn’t fall into their oversize category before I bought it just to be sure I didn’t pay more for shipping then I had figured on their on line calculator.

Now the fun begins... I packed the paintings and went on line to do the labels through FedEx Ground. No problem doing the label to get it to the gallery. Clicked on the option for the return label and it would only let me put a declared value of $1000. The two paintings together were valued at $4950 which I could indicate on the first label I created to get them to the gallery. I called FedEx, the representative told me I could get around it by not doing the return label option, but instead doing a second label just reversing the address. I did exactly as she said but then, the form wouldn’t accept the date I needed to indicate for return shipping. I called FedEx again. This time I was told that the labels you create are only good for 30 days in the FedEx system. My paintings were going to be in the show 2 months. The way to get around this is to ask the gallery if you can email them a label closer to the date for return, which I did and they were not too keen on the idea because they have 150 artists to keep track of and it is just best to have your label in the box for packing day. The other way to get around this, I thought, would be to go to my Mail Box store and get a FedEx way bill and put my account number on it and fill it out manually versus on line and the day it was sent it would be billed to my account. After a trip to the store, I realized that wouldn’t work. They do not have way bills for ground service, only the express more expensive services. I called FedEx back and asked to speak with a manager. (More shenanigans ensued, which I won’t go into, because this article is getting too long as it is.)

After finally speaking with the manager, this is what I learned, pay attention here, even though, on the on line form they let me put a declared value of $4950 for my shipment, FedEx will only honor $1000 for artwork and jewelry! If your paintings are valued more than $1000, going and coming back, you are taking a risk, if they should get damaged. Her suggestion was for me to buy a separate insurance policy to cover the work. Regarding the issue of the label, she didn’t have a solution, their labels are only good for 30 days once they are created. If your work has to be at your show or gallery longer, you would have to work out an arrangement to get them the label within 30 days of the return ship date.

With the value of my work and the time issue FedEx was not an option this time. Now on to UPS. Their labels are good for 90 days, my problem was solved. However, if your work has to be at a show longer, same situation applies as described with FedEx. Regarding the value issue, here is the breakdown of how much you can declare with UPS:

If you have an account you can declare up to $50,000.
If you ship through and authorized dealer, like Staples or Office Depot the maximum you can declare is $999.99.
If you create your labels on line at ups.com with credit card, maximum value you can declare is $5000.
If you drop off at your Mail Box store where the driver picks up packages, maximum value is $5000, because you have probably created your label on line.
If you go to your Mail Box Store and do the label through them so it is recorded at the store, you can declare $50,000.

The moral of this story is if your painting is valued at more then $1000.00 you will not be fully covered for damage, unless you have a UPS account or you go to your Mail Box store and create your labels with them. As long as your show is less than 30 days, FedEx ground is fine. If longer then UPS is the better option.

Part Two of this article will cover what I learned about the declared value and what happens if your painting is damaged. (I promise it will be shorter.) Please leave a comment if you have had other experiences or insights. :-)