a message from Lisa Hunt

Some of you may be aware that one of my dearest friends is Lisa Hunt. Lisa is the gifted artist behind several popular tarot decks; these include the Animals Divine, Shapeshifter and others. Lisa e-mailed me today with distress news: Someone attempted to steal her identity on a fantasy art website.

Sounds bizarre, doesn’t it? I mean, what would someone “get” from impersonating a known illustrator on a board? The thrill of attention? Someone clearly has too much time on their hands — time which would be better spent doing something worthwhile.

While Lisa’s story may seem an isolated event, it’s not. This has happened before. I hope it won’t happen again, though.

Lisa has asked me to post this message on her behalf:

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“Recently, a moderator for an art forum advised me that the infamous “Stacy English” has been ripping off my name and artwork. This is not the first time someone has attempted to pose as myself. I’m trying to understand why anyone would want to steal my creative identity in this manner to begin with–what is there to be gained from it? Thankfully, members, with an astute eye for fraud, brought the impostor to the attention of the moderator and the individual was prevented from posting

“Unless an art group is listed on my links page and/or appears in a legitimate gallery with obvious copyright permission granted (and I am selective about where and how my art should appear on the web), assume it is an impostor. To everyone: I would greatly appreciate you helping me to stop this kind of unwelcome behavior by those who have seemingly nothing better to do than to pretend that they are me. Please e-mail me if you think someone is ripping my artwork off. Thank you for your kindness and support–and for other artists, beware of imposters! No one is immune from falling victim to art/identity theft. But by spreading the word and keeping informed, we can help prevent the proliferation of such perfidious behavior and protect our artistic integrity.”

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It’s sad that it’s necessary in this day and age that a hardworking artist such as Lisa has to remind people of the rights she is owed. I suspect that, with the abundance of riches on the web and in print, people assume that if something is posted or published it’s fair game to be used as they decide. One example: a music video producer informed me that since they had purchased my tarot cards they had purchased the right to reproduce them on television.

Not so. Just because artists choose to share their work with their world doesn’t mean that their right to control how it is reproduced comes to an end. It’s like saying that once your child goes out into the world, anyone can take charge and do as they see fit.

As for people like Stacey English, that’s a whole other story. From what I’ve heard, this is not the first time she has attempted to impersonate well known illustrators on the internet. The compassionate response would be to state that Stacey clearly has some identity issues that she needs to work out. Then, instead of putting her energies toward taking credit for others’ work, she could then work on making her own art for a change. Hopefully no one will steal it from her.

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