E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Friday, July 17, 2009
O'Keeffe Museum To APS: Busted
By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
Georgia O'Keeffe Elementary School opened more than 20 years ago, not long after the death of the famous artist who spent much of her life in New Mexico.
Now, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe says the school must get prior approval before placing her name in front of the school.
"I have been asked to remind you of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's recent acquisition of the rights to Miss O'Keeffe's art, likeness, and name," said Agapita Judy Lopez, the museum's historic properties and rights and reproductions manager, in a July 15 e-mail to the elementary school's principal. "Any unauthorized use of this material may constitute copyright infringement."
Lopez said the letter was in response to a T-shirt received by a museum official that said "Georgia O'Keeffe Kindergarten."
A June 12 e-mail brought up the proposed use of the initials "GOK" in front of the elementary, which opened in 1988 and is being rebuilt.
"When the elementary school was named after the artist, no one asked for permission," Lopez said. "However, her Estate and Foundation had no objection to its use at the time and did not pursue it any further. Now that the Museum has acquired the rights mentioned above, it is diligent in making sure that any uses of the material will promote Miss O'Keeffe and her art in a respectful manner."
The e-mail also said the museum is willing to "collaborate with projects that extend rather than exploit public knowledge of Miss O'Keeffe and would be pleased to work with you on projects that relate to the Artist."
The museum's curator, Barbara Buhler Lynes, said that the letter was "standard procedure" and that the artist had copyrighted her own name and signature before her death.
"All (Lopez is) asking them to do is send her a design so it looks appropriate," Lynes said.
In the case of the sale of school products as fundraisers, she wasn't so clear.
"I think in this case, we'd work with them," she said. "They should contact us, and we'll make a decision based on their situation."
Other e-mails from APS attorneys to district officials suggest that Lopez took offense to the occasional use of calling the school "GOK," which sounds "just awful" to her and "she does not believe Ms. O'Keeffe would approve of."
APS attorneys are looking into whether use of the artist's name on school materials would constitute a copyright or trademark infringement.
"The Albuquerque Public Schools does not believe that it has improperly used Georgia O'Keeffe's name, and we have not received any requests to stop using the name for one of the district's finest schools," attorney Art Melendres said in a prepared statement Thursday.
Nearly all of Albuquerque's middle schools are named for former U.S. presidents, and many elementary schools are named for former senators, governors and and prominent local figures, among them author Rudolfo Anaya, potter Helen Cordero and the late author Tony Hillerman.
No one else has raised the issue about rights to prior approval.
"They were very excited about it," said APS chief operations officer Brad Winter. "I think it would be very exciting to have a school named after you."
Winter said that, while architect renderings of the rebuilt school show a "GOK" sign, some parents had also expressed reservations about the abbreviation, and that APS had not yet made a decision.
The former PTA president at the school had not heard about the museum's request and was puzzled by it.
"We wear the name with pride," said Jackie Jahner, "and use it on T-shirts and sell things to try to make money for our schools."
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
