SAVE THE DATE 12/4/09

Come see me at the SMASH Holiday Boutique in beautiful Santa Monica, CA on December 4th from 12:30pm - 4pm.

20% of all sales go towards the Santa Monica Alternative School House.

As always I will also be taking custom orders.

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SAVE THE DATE! Trunk Show - Dec. 5th 2009

Come see me at Artful in beautiful Santa Monica, CA on December 5th from 1pm - 5pm.
As always I will also be taking custom orders. 

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Please support artist John T. Unger in his battle to protect his copyright!

Metalsmith John T. Unger currently finds himself in the middle of a legal battle he did not create. His "original art has been copied by a manufacturer who is now suing him in federal court to overturn his existing copyrights and continue making knockoffs."

 

From Unger's website, "FirePitArt.com, LLC and owner Rick Wittrig have filed suit against me in federal court seeking to overturn my formally registered copyrights in order to continue selling unlicensed knockoffs of my work.

He argues that my original Artisanal Firebowls are not properly classified as sculptural artwork, despite the fact that Wittrig sells his copies at art fairs, describes himself publicly as an artist, and even uses the word art in the name of his business.

When Wittrig first launched his website he offered only six designs of firepits all of which bear an uncanny resemblance to my Artisanal Firebowl sculptures. One of these even initially bore the exact same name as my Waves O' Fire. He appears to be mass-producing these designs, and is selling them at discounted prices on several of the largest internet retail sites devoted to outdoor living. Prior to the launch of his website, I have been unable to find any documentation of Wittrig making any original art.

...I am concerned about people confusing my art with the work of another because I have no way of insuring that they experience the same quality, attention to detail, and integrity. When Wittrig began selling his firepits which so closely resemble my work, I began seeing instances of confusion over authorship almost immediately. An artist messaged me on Twitter, believing she had met me at a Tennessee art fair. Photos of Wittrig's firepits were posted to a blog and mistakenly attributed as my own. I got an email from a landscape architect I had discussed commissions with in the past. She wrote:

I met this guy at a local festival this weekend and his work was so similar to yours I went over and introduced myself. Something was not right, but I was not sure that it was not you until I came back and checked your site... I was excited to meet (you) in person and he was aloof...? I am aggravated now knowing that he allowed me to go on and never said that I must be mistaking him for someone else.

This email was a kick in the gut on so many levels. Not only had my most popular and well known artwork been copied, but the imitator had also offended a client who might easily have continued to believe he was me."

To read the entire story on John's site please click here

Please support John in his battle which is something that many independent artists face. Sadly, most of us can't fight these battles because the monetary loss is so great. Protect the rights of all artists!

To support John financially in his battle against Mr. Wittrig please click here to be taken to John's Kickstarter.com page.

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New HPD Facebook Fan Page... Come join us!

Now that Facebook has created fan pages for businesses and visual artists, H. Palleiko Designs is finally migrating the group page over to our new fan page.

Stop in and join us to get the latest  updates on new metal work as well as photography. Get inspired from online galleries of other artists work created by HPD and maybe find a new craft or two that you would like to try.

See you there!

To be taken to the HPD Facebook fan page click here

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Why do I torture myself?

Instead of working on the last few bits of my Lark entry/Cellular v. 1.0 piece, I found myself fighting with my camera again. In my defense I am waiting for DHL to arrive with an item I ordered that I need to complete the piece.

This morning I found myself shooting winter squash for this blog post when I made a spur of the moment choice to take a few photos of corn husks. The lighting was perfect; despite struggling with my camera, which, as you all know, is on it's last days, I was able to get a few decent shots before I gave up...

 

For more pictures from today's corn husks click here.

I should probably get back to finishing that jewelry piece. The deadline is one month away and it still needs to be photographed.

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