Sorry about the lack of posts lately — I promise I’ve got some planned, I’ve just been busy! Between work and friends and D&D and modeling and trying to get my new Artfire shop up and running so that I can downsize the Etsy shop, I’m driving myself up the walls with too much to do. But enough complaining!
Today’s post will be a short one, but I think it’s important. One of my friends from the UEF and Etsy’s now-defunct Etc. forums got some seriously uncool news yesterday: she might have to close her shop because a person from a different country, doing an entirely unrelated sort of work, is accusing her of copyright infringement because they have similar shop names.
WallCandy is a very talented artist, but she’s also a supremely awesome person. And I mean awesome in both the “cool” way and the “awe-inspiring” way. She’s a professional artist (and how many people can say that, in this economy!), a mother, and a cancer survivor. A lot of her art is inspired by the struggles she went through while going through cancer treatments, and it’s raw, emotional, absolutely beautiful work. Check her website for some examples of what I’m talking about. She says in her artist’s statement:
As I sat alone in my hospital room, an ocean away from my children and anything that was familiar, I was afraid I would be forgotten. Life went on without me. I felt like I needed to live so I could at least create enough artwork so I wouldn’t fade away into nothingness. I didn’t know who I was anymore, without my children, without my artwork, without the feel of the green grass beneath my feet. I was nothing … I drew whatever I was feeling but more often than not, I painted my power. I painted the strength inside of me that pulled me through. I took photos of and drew my pain, my vulnerability and my grief.
I created a new narrative, one where I am the heroine. I took this broken body, my betrayer, this lemon and showed it for what it truly is, beautiful.
I sincerely hope that my friend doesn’t lose her name, and that she’s able to keep her shop open. If it’s not possible, I know she’ll find a new name that’s just as meaningful — but it sucks when I see someone who’s gone through so much and who is such a good person, being trodden on just because they’re a “little guy” without a bunch of lawyers and such to defend them.
DomestiGoth 