An Artist's Legacy

There is much more to an artist's life that making the art.  To be sure, the part that drives each of us to the studio: lovely materials, lovely (we hope) images to test out, cool ideas to ponder in material form...

There is the attendant not so lovely office work: bills, shipping, orders, recordkeeping, show seeking.

And then eventually, there is the artist's estate to contend with!  What are our heirs supposed to DO with all this stuff we produce?

Hold a community bonfire and roast marshmallows?

Maybe, if that is what you want.  But somehow, neither my son nor I want to throw out or burn my life's work.

If your work is small, and desirable, you can give it away!  That's what I did a couple of years ago.  Building on existing collections and extending my requests, I offered my artists books and archives to a variety of museum and university collections with great success. But now I need to plan for my larger, newer work.

I recently attended the College Art Association Conference in NYC.  I am still exhausted from all the running around!  But that is for another post!.. This post is about one panel I attended which was worth the price of admission.  Squeak Carnwath, Sharon Louden, Jan Wurm, and Shervone Neckles-Ortiz led a panel on estates and legacy.  I had been to one before.  But this one electrified the audience and lots of info was shared.  Artists of modest means can work together to create foundations to take care of their work!  Truly modest means.  I will be studying this in the coming months. 

Click any of the links that follow to blow your mind!

http://www.artistslegacyfoundation.org/

https://www.artistestatestudio.com

https://www.archives.gov/

https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2016/05/18_1108_ARIS-White-Paper-AEFI.pdf?_ga=2.102159233.1476832362.1550097300-1068812914.1550097300

http://art-legacy.com/

https://www.aaa.si.edu/home

http://www.artagencypartners.com/about-artists-estates-and-foundations/

http://www.thekunstworks.com/

https://cerfplus.org/get-ready/studio-protector/get-ready-portal/artwork/

https://cerfplus.org/news/new-crafting-legacy-resource-available/

http://callresources.org/

http://callresources.org/estate-planning-workbooks/

NECESSARY ARCHIVE INFO TO COLLECT

artwork: title, size, exhibition history, materials & processes

exhibitions: each show in a separate folder with images, press, catalog

bibliography: print out online media

audio

professional activities

contacts: collector data?

newsletters

personal documents

More Studio Life

Big old photo day on Monday was devoted to more that the Horizon piece.

I have been working on an ever expanding series of 3-d color studies.  The series is titled Widgets.  They are small, most less that 12" h.  They are built from Davey board, putty, modeling paste and what-all! Most are paired.  The goal is to develop complex color in beautifully tactile surfaces.  They are a pleasure to handle.

Now all these new pieces must be added to the database and the website.

Like I said yesterday, studio time is not all joyful creation.

Studio Life

Studio life is full of myriad activities...precious few are actually the joyous act of creation!  Saturday was cleaning day...to the very edges of the space.  Thread and paper litter was everywhere and tools were buried under stacks of this and that.  Now, it nearly gleams!

Yesterday was photo shoot day.  That involved painting my grey wall, which works for most photoshoots, WHITE to accommodate the grey horizon piece that was too big for the white walls elsewhere in the studio.

This piece was also inspired by Bridget Riley.  It is 6.5 feet wide and hangs high on the wall so you need to look UP at it.  My hope is that it brings a certain sense of peace. It does so for me.  I am considering expanding it with small sized pieces that expand it "into the distance."

Materials:  Grey outdoor canvas; digital embroidery; backed with grey felt; hung from a 3" deep wood shelf/armature.