#nunofelt

It has been an interesting couple of weeks of highs and lows filled with acceptances to gallery exhibits, new partnerships and awards but also scams. This blog post is going to be a bit different than my usual. I am going to spotlight some of the new places where you will be able to see my work. But my day job is in IT and I think it is important to highlight phishing scams so others can learn how to spot the signs as well. First, let's start with some good stuff. I have referenced a new relationship with the Museum of Wisconsin Art in previous posts. Super happy to announce that some of my pieces, including the Python, Cougar and Owl from my previous blog series plus a few others will be available in the MOWA Gift Shop starting in October. The caliber of work of the other artists featured in the gift shop is amazing. This is a fantastic honor! Also happy to report that my piece the Maple Flounder won first prize in the All Water/Seascape Competition with the Contemporary Art Gallery Online. This was an unexpected win! I think the depth and dimensions of felt is so much better appreciated in person rather than online. This guy was cool enough to jump off the page and prove me wrong.

Maple Flounder

Scams

Now let's switch to email scams - then I will round it out with more good news to end on a positive note. About a week ago I received an email inquiring about my art. The email indicated that his 10th anniversary was coming up and he was interested in purchasing 1-2 pieces between $500-$5000. Seemed innocent enough but a few alarm bells went off. The first being that this email went to my personal account and not my artist account. So, the first thing I did was ask how he had heard of me. He responded pretty quickly and said it was his wife that was the fan and he had caught her looking at my work on his computer and he was an ocean engineer and leaving for work overseas soon so needed to purchase her gift quickly and without her knowing. Still not making me feel super great. I kept feeding him info just in case this was legitimate, but I was careful to only give information that was already available via my website. Then he started to lay his cards out on the table. He wanted to pay by check because his wife controlled the credit cards and he wanted to surprise her. AND his personal shipping clerk would contact me to arrange delivery as he was in the middle of moving to Canada. Personal check and no verifiable address - no way. At this point I called his bluff (sorry about all the poker analogies) and said this was clearly a scam. I never heard back from him. Not even 2 hours later, I got the exact same email about art for a 10th anniversary from a completely different address. Please be diligent with your own security practices. If something doesn't seem right, ask questions and trust your gut.

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