Art Licensing, A Network of Creative & Helpful Professionals – Part I

The use of imagination and creativity is often talked about. Artists express their creative concepts through their works of art and many create communities or groups to help one another. They incidentally inspire others in the process.

Professionals learn their trade through hard work and practice. In turn, they often mentor others and thus they help keep the creative spirit alive and well, as it's a noble practice to help other fellow artists to achieve their goals, too.  

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein

In this five-part editorial I feel honored to feature several professional artists who also share their knowledge with others in the art of licensing their work:
 

Part I:                  Part II:                Part III:              Part IV:                 Part V:

Paul Brent            Tara Reed            Maria Brophy      Alex Sanso            Allan Summa
Cherish Flieder     Joan Beiriger       Drew Brophy      Oscar Armelles      Kate Harper

•   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •

Paul Brent

Artist Paul Brent

Paul Richard Brent is a Panama City artist whose life work has been spent in the depictions and reflections of the Northwest Florida environment he has lived in since 1969. His paintings in watercolor and oil have deftly portrayed the many aspects of the area capturing the area's innate beauty on paper and canvas. His work has shown constant progression and change throughout his career. 

Paul began selling his work in 1976 and, after beginning a print publishing business in 1986, he entered the business of licensing when he attended SURTEX for the first time in 1988. His coastal imagery has become his signature in home décor, gift and stationery products which he now licenses with over 90 manufacturers.  Over his long career he has designed nine complete books of wallpaper for Seabrook Wallcovering, and had over one million prints produced and currently has over 3,000 designs in his licensing portfolio.  

© Paul Brent

He has been in the top 100 list of licensees for the past 6 years and has been nominated for the top licensee of the year by LIMA.  His work has appeared at retail in stores from Lord and Taylor to Target.  

Paul was born in Oklahoma and later moved to California where he majored in art at Cal State Long Beach, receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. Some highlights from his life include illustrating a children’s book, authoring a how-to book on watercolor, creating a hand painted Christmas ornament for the White House Christmas tree, and serving on the boards of the Florida Arts Council and Florida Humanities Council. 

courtesy of Paul Brent

His work has been written about in the Wall Street Journal in an article about artists who have success outside of the New York galleries. Paul lives in Panama City, Florida, where he and his wife, Lana Jane, who is president of their company, operate a fine art gallery as well as his licensing business.  He is a featured guest on tele-seminars and consults with artists who license their work through his ask Paul Brent website.  Further information about Paul Brent can be found at paulbrent.com. 

 Cherish Flieder

Artist Cherish Flieder

Cherish Flieder is a licensed illus­trator and designer whose work explores a variety of visual themes with a touch of opti­mistic realism and playful whimsy. She is the founder of Cherished Solutions, llc., an illus­tration and design studio at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado. She and her team assist publishers, manu­fac­turers and other niche busi­nesses with art services and thoughtful print and web marketing strategies. Cherished Solutions, llc licenses art brands, Painting for Life, Been Cherished and Something to Cherish.

Their work has been featured in inter­na­tional art licensing maga­zines Total Art Licensing and Art Buyer. She is also inter­na­tonally recog­nized for her lead­ership in estab­lishing the core online group for art licensing profes­sionals on LinkedIn at ArtOfLicensing. Cherish is long time member and former Vice President for the Colorado Alliance of Illustrators.  She is a profes­sional member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, the Craft & Hobby Association and the Colorado Watercolor Society.

© Cherish Flieder

She also teaches aspiring artists she meets that they too should never give up on their dreams. "Because, life is short and the moments we live should be cherished. My passion is art. I believe that beau­tiful things happen when form and function embody concept, color and texture. My greatest joy comes from helping people realize their visions. I am addicted to learning and problem-solving. I aim for beauty and excellence in every­thing I do".

Further information about Cherish Flieder can be found at somethingtocherish.com