gina: Press

National best-selling unicorn artist, Gina Befera, will be onsite autographing her 2010 fantasy-fairy-art calendar, Unicorns Signs and Secrets, on Saturday, December 12th from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM at Calendar Club in the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth, Minnesota. In the spirit of the season, she will also be giving shoppers who purchase a calendar a free unicorn holiday greeting card she designed and a vintage CD of her and her mother Claire singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. While they last.

Gina’s unicorns started out as simple sketches to amuse her mother, Claire, who died from complications of COPD on December 7th of 2006. Her Mother’s wish was for a calendar full of her daughter’s unicorns. “She saw 11 of the unicorns before she died.” Gina recalls. “The 12th unicorn is on the inside cover of the new calendar. She is black with a rainbow main and is singing to a chickadee, just like my mom used to do.”

“Sharing art and music is just the perfect way to honor the memory of my mom and thank key people like Rachel Dashnaw, Buying Manager from Calendar Holdings LLC and Michael Malone, Senior Calendar Buyer from Barnes and Noble who gave me a chance.” Gina Explains.

This is Gina’s 3rd unicorn calendar and her first calendar to receive national distribution coast to coast in 165 Calendar Club superstores and kiosks. It is also the first unicorn calendar on store shelves in over 20 years.

The art for Gina’s 2010 calendar was created using pastel and marker on recycled 18 x 24 inch 80 lb. Strathmore drawing paper, photographed and digitized for layout using CS2 software. Gina does all the work herself, including custom-design of the calendar grids to match the art. The calendar is sweet-tempered and suitable for everyone, especially girls of all ages. Each work of art is titled and every month includes inspired writings composed by the artist. Unicorns Signs and Secrets, 2010 Art Calendar is 12 x 24 inches, printed by Delario and retails for $12.99. For more information or a personal interview or signing appearance please call 218.349.9079.

By: Patrick Garmoe, Duluth News Tribune 12/15/08

Duluth artist calls calendar tribute to Mom
When Gina Befera’s mother first began showing signs of pneumonia three years ago, the pair would spend hours at St. Luke’s hospital waiting for doctors. So Regina got in the habit of toting along a notepad.


Gina Befera works in her Duluth home on the final drawing for her 2010 calendar featuring unicorns and fairies. Her 2009 calendar has been one of the top sellers in the fantasy calendar category at calendars.com.

When Gina Befera’s mother first began showing signs of pneumonia three years ago, the pair would spend hours at St. Luke’s hospital waiting for doctors. So Regina got in the habit of toting along a notepad.“ I would amuse her with my little drawings of unicorns,” said Befera, who has lived in Duluth since 1990 and runs Idea Works freelance marketing company. But like most great mothers, Claire Befera encouraged her daughter to think bigger.
Mom wanted a colorful calendar full of her daughter’s unicorns. Her mother passed away from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on Dec. 7, 2006, before the 2008 calendar was complete. But she got to see all but one of the pastel prints from the inaugural calendar. “She just sobbed,” Befera recalls. The memory itself spurs tears.
The calendars showcase unicorns, fairies and mermaids in front of all sorts of grand backdrops, from cities and forests to tropical beaches and oceans.
While that first calendar got out late and didn’t sell many copies, Befera got an education in the calendar business through it, and has since published a 2009 16-month calendar that has been among the top sellers in the fantasy category on Calendars.com for the second half of this year.
After going on sale in July, Calendars.com and the Calendar Club kiosk in Miller Hill mall have sold nearly half the 400 “Unicorns and Other Magic” calendars they have purchased. Normally by this point, the kiosk has sold about 30 percent of each kind of calendar, she said.
Right now, she’s working as her own wholesaler, paying to have her calendars printed by Superior Print in Duluth. Now that her calendar sales are steadily rising, however, companies such as Borders that originally turned her down are far more open to carrying them, she said.
Lesley Paff, who sells Befera’s calendars from Fallston, Md., on www.unicorns.com, said she probably sold about 25 of Befera’s 2008 calendar, and is likely to sell a similar number this year. “It’s great,” Paff said of the business relationship and calendars. “She’s wonderful to work with.” Her calendars also are “clean,” unlike some in the fantasy category that include naked beings from the waist up, Paff said.
“My kids love the unicorns,” said Roxanne Moline of Duluth, a friend of Befera’s who bought the calendars for her girls.
While Befera has studied horses, she freehand sketches the drawings with a refillable pencil, constantly erasing and adjusting lines before adding the color with pastels. She typically gets through the full “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy three or four times while working away on each picture, she said. “I just listen to Gandolf,” she said, and the fantasy drawing flows. She already has worn out two copies of the trilogy. She said it helps fill the silence left by no longer being able to work while talking with her mom.In addition to the mall where the calendar is for sale for $12.99, her 2009 calendar is on sale at Peasant Works in Canal Park and other stores in town, and her next calendar is set to hit store shelves July 1, 2009.

National best-selling unicorn artist, Gina Befera, will be onsite autographing her 2010 fantasy-fairy-art calendar, Unicorns Signs and Secrets, on Saturday, December 12th from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM at Calendar Club in the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth, Minnesota. In the spirit of the season, she will also be giving shoppers who purchase a calendar a free holiday gift.

Gina’s unicorns started out as simple sketches to amuse her mother, Claire, who died from complications of COPD on December 7th of 2006. Her Mother’s wish was for a calendar full of her daughter’s unicorns. “She saw 11 of the unicorns before she died.” Gina recalls. “The 12th unicorn is on the inside cover of the new calendar. She is black with a rainbow main and is singing to a chickadee, just like my mom used to do.”

“Sharing art and music is just the perfect way to honor the memory of my mom and thank key people like Rachel Dashnaw, Buying Manager from Calendar Holdings LLC and Michael Malone, Senior Calendar Buyer from Barnes and Noble who gave me a chance.” Gina Explains.

This is Gina’s 3rd unicorn calendar and her first calendar to receive national distribution coast to coast in 165 Calendar Club superstores and kiosks. It is also the first unicorn calendar on store shelves in over 20 years.

The art for Gina’s 2010 calendar was created using pastel and marker on recycled 18 x 24 inch 80lb. Strathmore drawing paper, photographed and digitized for layout using CS2 software. Gina does all the work herself, including custom-design of the calendar grids to match the art. The calendar is sweet-tempered and suitable for everyone, especially girls of all ages. Each work of art is titled and every month includes inspired writings composed by the artist. Unicorns Signs and Secrets, 2010 Art Calendar is 12 x 24 inches, printed by Delario and retails for $12.99. For more information or a personal interview or signing appearance please call 218.349.9079.

PRESS RELEASE

UNICORNS.COM TO FEATURE UNICORN CALENDAR BY GINA BEFERA


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 10, 2008


Unicorns.com, the most widely known online website for unicorn art, jewelry and keepsakes has added local Duluth, Minnesota artist Gina Befera's 2009 unicorn calendar to their online store. Unicorns.com is showcasing the piece under Stationary and New Items.

Lesley Nickel, CEO of unicorns.com explains "the calendar is 'beautiful’ with 12 unique prints suitable for framing. When I saw it I knew it was a must-have for my store for my unicorn lovers and collectors."

This is Gina’s second calendar that follows the success of last years inspired limited edition unicorn calendar. Her 2009 calendar is called Unicorns and Other Magic and is a 11 x 17 wall calendar and includes 12 original works of art featuring unicorns in scenic settings with faeries, hummingbirds, chickadees, dragonflies and other creatures. It also has an extra page of calendar grids for September through December 2008 so you can start using it right away.

The fantasy art that Gina fancies is a favorite theme inspired by her Mother Claire. Gina explains, "It has been a long journey for me from inspiration to design, printing and packaging and finding just the right shops for my calendar." I could never have made it through without my family and friends."

Gina Befera's 2009 unicorn calendar is currently a national best seller online at calendars.com and available for a limited time in area shops in Duluth, Minnesota at the Electric Fetus on Lake Avenue and Superior Street, J. Skylark in the Dewitt Seitz Marketplace, Peasantworks above Hell's Kitchen in Canal Park and Lady Ocalat's Emporium in the sky walk level of the Historic Hunter Building. For more information please contact Gina Befera at gina@befera.com or call Idea Works STUDIOS at 525-2076.

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