Art Licensing - A Network of Creative & Helpful Professionals, Part II

Last week I published the first part of an editorial on art licensing that featured two renown professional artists, Paul Brent and Cherish Flieder. This week I am featuring two other successful artists and how they've also been sharing their knowledge and stories to help other fellow artists to achieve their goals.

“When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity.” –  Linda Naiman
 
(below is a legend of past or upcoming editorials on art licensing)

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

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

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

Tara Reed

Tara Reed is the artist, author and creative mind behind everything that goes on in the studio of Tara Reed Designs, Inc., the art licensing company founded in 2004.  Reed’s art can be found worldwide on a variety of products both in retail stores and online. 

Known for creating fun and sassy art for licensing, Tara can usually be found in her studio in Portland, Oregon with a smile on her face and paintbrush or pen tablet in her hand.  While her art ranges from bright and whimsical to more traditional, all of her work shares one common thread – embracing a casual lifestyle centered around heart, happiness and the ties that bind friends, families and communities.

Missing teaching, writing and speaking, in 2008 Tara launched the website ArtLicensingInfo.com to share what she has learned about the industry with others. In 2009 she was joined by other experts in the industry. ArtLicensingInfo.com and the related blog, ArtLicensingBlog.com  consistently rank in the top 5 (if not #1) for art licensing searches on Google, Yahoo and Bing. 

The ArtLicensingInfo.com family of websites  includes information from a growing list of industry experts. They offer a wide range of no-cost and low-cost resources such as e-books (e.g. How to Get Started in Art Licensing and How to Find, Interact, and Work with Manufacturers Who License Art), tele-seminars, coaching, The Art Licensing Info Monthly Ask Call Series (based on questions submitted by artists), a blog, newsletter, Facebook page, YouTube channel and more.
 

 Joan Beiriger

Artist Joan Beiriger shares her licensing knowledge on her blog  because she wants artists to have the opportunity to learn information that took her years to find. When Joan started licensing her art over a decade ago, there were few articles printed, hardly anything on the internet, and only a few seminars given at licensing shows.  As Joan comments, "Why should everyone have to reinvent the wheel.  It is better for everyone to share information on how to license art so that everyone wins."  Joan attributes much of her basic licensing knowledge to the generosity of licensing agent Lance Klass of Porterfield's Fine Art Licensing and to artist & art/product director Joanne Fink.  They patiently answered her questions as she began her quest to license her art. 

Joan has a different creative background than most artists. Instead of going to art school, she studied to become a scientist.  She dabbled in craft projects most of her life so while working as a chemist Joan used her right side of the brain to design and sell her counted cross-stitch creations. In the late 1990s, she switched from counted cross-stitch designing to painting with acrylics and eventually to using the computer to create art for products.  Joan's art can be found on her website joanbeiriger.com.