We are sad to report that in July of 2023, Levison Design partner (retired), Peter Levison passed away. Many of you knew him well. If you have any messages to pass along to Mark or Ruth, please send them to mark@levisondesign.com. Peter will be dearly missed. His obituary is linked here. Peter Levison Obituary.
Levison Design is proud to now be representing Studio 731. The studio artists are verteran in the licensing industry. The art is amazing, in our humble opinion. Please check them out. We're adding more all the time. We're so excited!
You all know and love Geoff Allen's design and illustration artwork. But he's also an extremely accomplished watercolorist. He's featured in the Summer 2022 edition of Watercolor Artist Magazine. Below is a preview, or find the full article at Watercolor Artists Magazin - Summer 2022 (with paywall, unfortunately). I wish we were allowed to share the full thing. An easier to read version of the start of the article is below the image.
text from first the first page of the article...
However pristine and picturesque a beach resort or marina may be, we'll invariably find, not very far away, a dustier, grimier, working world of boatyards, dry docks, repair shops, suppliers and fitters. For an artist, such places offer a wealth of curious sights: elegant boats pulled out of the water to reveal chunky hulls, cranes, rail tracks, scattered tools, boating paraphernalia-and a cast of characters who are expert in their trades.
This is the world that California artist Geoff Allen is drawn to: He's happy to paint the splendid beaches and picture-perfect scenes that the Southern Californian coastline is famous for, but he's continually drawn to the working life that undetpins it all. His paintings, all executed en plein air, give us candid accounts of whaat it's like to be in a boatyard. letting us in on the action of a business with which most of us are unfamiliar. I live in North County San Diego, and the pandemic restrictions made me dig deep into where I live," says the artist. "My favorite places to paint are Shelter Island and Oceanside Harbor, in Oceanside, Calif. On Shelter Island Drive, the one road accessing the island, there's a menagerie of dry-dock companies. One company allows me to paint on site, and it feels like I'm accessing a unique culture that's in constant flux. It's a huge still life that changes every day as boats come in and go out."
Visual Opposites
Although clearly excited by the life and action of such places, it's the visual qualities on display that seem to intrigue the artist most. "It's a place of visual opposites," he says. "I've been drawn to smooth, curved sculptural forms throughout my art career, and it seems natural to me now that I love painting boats. I'm attracted to the contrast of huge smooth white forms against all the sharp, angular, dark and grungy surroundings of a dry dock or boatyard."
Allen's visual pleasure is increased by his enjoyment of the denizens...
Featured in the June 2021 issue of Gifts & Decorative Accessories is Jennifer Brinley's new collection of Geranium Art Planters manufactured and sold by Studio-M. It's in the Trending Home section on page 121. There's also a corresponding mat, flag and art poles (last two not shown). Studio-M chose to highlight this group in the industry magazine because of their great confidence in the design and long-time relationship with Jennifer.
Jennifer Brinley has long been a top artist for Studio•m. Her flags, mailbox covers, yard signs and decorative planters have been big sellers. So they turned to her when developing a new product called "Floor Flair". Here's how Studio M describes the product:
"Designed for comfortable, colorful living, Floor Flair™ is a casual, trendy alternative to traditional fiber floor coverings. This artful vinyl rug is the easiest way to elevate the look of your space - instantly giving any room a pop of color and personality. Each Floor Flair rug features a long-lasting, high-quality design that is ideal for high-traffic areas like kitchens, hallways, living rooms, and more. With an ultra low-profile and non-skid backing, our vinyl rugs won't trip you up. Best of all, Floor Flair is a breeze to clean - simply wipe with a damp cloth. Designed to be used indoors or in covered outdoor areas."
Regarding her designs for this new product, Jennifer says, “I really enjoyed designing these new vinyl rug collections because it gave me the opportunity to work with patterns in a variety of scales and really think about the visual impact each size would have in peoples’ homes and outdoor spaces. It’s always fun to see these projects come to life on a useful, high quality product.” We'd love for you to see more of the designs here on Studio•m's website.
If we don't already have an appointment set up with you and you'd like to meet, please reach out. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
Sometimes we like to highlight our artists' accomplishments outside the licensing industry. In addition to the great work Laura Freeman does for our customers, she is an award winning children's book illustrator. Her latest is, Fancy Party Gowns: The Story of Fashion Designer Ann Cole Lowe. The story is an inspiring one that underscores Ann's perserverence in spite of racial prejudice.
Laura illustrated the book which was written by Deborah Blumenthal and published by little bee books. The book has received wonderful reviews from the likes of Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. You can read an interview with Laura and Deborah on the making of the book here.
We're scheduled to meet with many of you starting this Sunday, but if we couldn't connect, please stop by our booth, #2825 at Javits. We've got a great new look to go with our sort of new name. And as I'm writing this, our new look website is about to launch (in the next day or so). Our artists have a lot of work to show you. Looking forward to seing everyone. - Mark
We're in a New York state of mind, gearing up for SURTEX. Come see us at booth 325 or contact us for an appointment. The show runs Sunday May 15th through Tuesday the 17th. We'll have a lot of new work to show... but you can preview it right here on the site. Be sure to contact us when you find what you like. As always, we encourage you to use our ArtBoard feature for ease of selection.
We're busy making appointments to show new art live and in person at the Atlanta Market. We'll be attending January 12th to 15th. If you'll be there and would like to meet, and we haven't already contacted you, please let us know.
It can't be time for SURTEX again, can it? It sure is. If you're planning on attending (May 17-19 at Javits Center), please contact us to set up an appointment. That's the best way to make sure you get to see everything new from all your favorite artists.. Of course if you can't make it, or want a preview, we're updating this site all the tiem and you should definitely have a look around.
Ruth, Peter & Mark
After a brief hiatus in 2013, we start the new year welcoming back Stephanie Stouffer. All the art you have come to know and love over the years is available, and much easier to find now that it's on our new site. If you haven't looked at her art in a while, please revisit her classic style. We know you'll find something you will like.
We've just added a great new feature to our site. We call it ArtBoards. It's just like the shopping cart from your favorite online store, except it's for selecting art to license.
View images you're interested in and click "Add to my ArtBoard". When you're ready, see all your choices in one place by clicking "designs on ArtBoard" at the top right corner of the site. You can then write a note, add comments or questions to each image and send it to us, to yourself and your colleagues. It will arrive nicely formatted with all of the images and info.
We hope you find this a useful feature to facilitate your design selection, request and review process. As always we would love to hear your feedback.
The 2013 Christmas Seals from the American Lung Association selection went to Jennifer Brinley for 2013. It's a multi-year process to determine which are the favorites and Jennifer came out on top.
It's quite an honor to be featured on this annual fundraising tradition that has been raising money to fight disease for more than a hundred years. To learn more about the ALA, just visit their site at Christmasseals.org. Christmas Seals were first issued by the Lung Association in 1907 to combat tuberculosis. Today, seals help the Lung Association fight new battles against asthma, lung cancer, influenza, tobacco use, air pollution and more.
Jennifer is honored to be featured for such a good cause.
Surtex is coming! If you're going to be attending and would like to make an appointment, please contact us and we'll find a good time. Hope to see everyone there.
Ruth, Peter & Mark
Well, it's not news to you if you're reading this that we have a brand spanking new website. But if you're here, perhaps you want to learn more. We've made a significant investment into this site as it is a major tool for us to reach our customers.
New features include:
- All related images are grouped together
- Artists work can be sorted by categories we think will be most useful to you.
- You can search for images by name or image number
- Everything works much faster.
- Images automatically load as you scroll the pages and browse the art.
- A new visual design
- This news section
Coming Soon!
- Keyword searches. Right now you will be able to search by any word in an images name, but you might not know what the name is. In the coming weeks after launch we'll be adding key words. So, for example, if you're searching for "bunny", but the file name says "rabbit" right now you won't find it. That will change.
- "Shopping Cart" We're going to have a feature very soon that will allow you to select images you are interested in licensing and easily send that in an email to us with asking for whatever information you may need. We're still working on that functionality but we feel it will be very useful to you.
We ask that you bear with us as we polish the rough edges. There may be mistakes or bugs or images that don't display how we expect. We're working hard to take care of all those things.
If you have any feedback at all for us on how we can improve this site, please don't hesitate to contact us.
We hope you like it.
Ruth, Peter & Mark