FEATURED SPEAKERS

Neli Espe –Olympic Legal Services

Course Description: What do law and art have in common? Among other things, the five Cs: Contracts, copyrights, claims, consignments, and . . . creativity! Explore the exciting and the trivial, the magnificent and mundane in this entertaining and practical class tailored specifically for the needs of local artists.

Bio: Neli T. Espe, J.D., has an undergraduate major in educational psychology and a masters’ in English, linguistics and literature, which she has taught at the university level. Neli is a summa cum laude graduate of Seattle University School of Law. She has worked for a number of years in several premier business and civil rights law firms in the Seattle/Tacoma area and since 2004, she has managed Olympic Legal Services, P.S., focusing on business, real estate, employment, and estate planning law. Neli is actively involved in legal education, developing and teaching college level courses in business law, employment law, and alternative dispute resolution. In her spare time, she enjoys kayaking, hiking, and playing classical guitar.

Jeanette Smith –All Art Licensing

Course Description: Explore the many opportunities available for artist to license their work.

Bio:  When Jeanette Smith took charge of Untied Media’s comic properties, she transformed the then obscure Dilbert™ and Dogbert™ from an unknown syndication-based comic strip to a two-hundred million dollar a year global brand. As a consultant, J’net continues to have success helping organizations, groups, and individuals realize their most profitable marketing potential.

Jennifer Bowman – Jennifer Bowman

Course Description: She is great advocator for sharing information and delights in helping artists make their way in the maze of art festival livelihood.  She will speak about the art festival application process, where to find events to promote yourself, how to choose your images for show selection.  She will tell you about the myriad of resources available to you on the web that tells you everything from where to show your art to how to display it in your booth.  Come see for yourself how exciting it can be to make a living with your art!

Bio:  Jennifer Bowman is an award winning international artist who has been exhibiting and competing professionally for the past 16 years. She has shown throughout the Puget Sound region, Arizona, California, and Mexico.   Her work can be found in both private and corporate collections locally to international collections including France and the Netherlands.

Her work has graced the cover of 48 Degrees North six times and she has been the Artist for Whidbey Island Race week for two years. The varied and vivid scenic backgrounds of the many boat paintings enhanced Jennifer's ability to portray nature's moods.  She is the winner of the coveted 2004 Skagit Valley Tulip poster contest and the creator of the 2004 Edmonds Arts Festival poster as well.  In 2005, her creation was chosen for the Washington State Heirloom Birth Certificate.

She shows her work in more than 150 galleries and works the art festival circuit each summer. She has some experience in a variety of fields from print production for the Boeing Company to self-publication for personal marketing.  She teaches art workshops from Mexico to Alaska and helps blossoming artists promote themselves.

Joanne Shellan – Joanne Shellan

Course Description: Get ready for a comprehensive starter kit in marketing your art. Once you have the product, learn the simple marketing steps that will help others see and want to buy your work. Good marketing doesn’t mean pushing your work on others. It’s knowing how to present information to different audiences in ways that make them want to know more. Artist Joanne Shellan used her degree in marketing to market a small business for a decade before becoming an artist and using her skills to market her own work. Her methods are designed for small scale businesses and workable for artists in all mediums.

Bio: Artist Joanne Shellan put her marketing degree to work by first marketing for a decade for a local business and then towards promoting her own art business. “It’s all about imagining yourself in the consumer’s driver’s seat. What catches your eye? Makes you want to keep reading? What’s in it for you?” If you can think in those terms, you’re halfway there. Some say they aren’t any good at tooting their own horn. Well, no one wants to hear you toot your horn but everyone wants to know what you have that will make them feel better.

Joanne Shellan is represented by five galleries in the PNW, has won awards in numerous national shows, and was chosen for the distinguished spot as the solo featured artist at the Governor’s Mansion Show in Olympia for 2012- 2013.

Peter Kuhnlein – KP Studios

Course Description: Explore some of the challenges of photographing your art work. A photograph of your work will be seen by many more people than the original piece. It has to be an accurate representation of your vision as well as dramatic enough to catch people’s attention. Knowing the challenges of photographing your work is the first step in taking great photos of your work.

Bio: My photography education began in high school in Montreal. I have been photographing the outdoors, people, industry and art for professional artist for the last 18 years. Clients include the Experience Music Project, Dale Chihuly, Shelley Muzylowski, Rik Allen, Leo Osborne, Lin McJunkin, and Anita Luvera Mayer, as well as other local artists. For the last 7 years I have run KP Studios full time with my wife, Lisa, in Anacortes.

Karla Locke – Alternative Inbound Marketing

Course Description: Design and build your own website. Basics only. No html code knowledge required.  We will be using a very fun and effective wysiwyg web builder, perfect for novices. We will also be covering Social Media and Email Marketing.

Bio: Karla Locke, has been producing workshops in photography, Adobe Photoshop, creativity and more for over five years. She is also a Social Media Consultant and Virtual Assistant. She works with artists to set up their Social Media accounts and then consults with them to get the full results using them.