In March 2020, immediately before the pandemic reared it’s ugly head, Rare Nest addressed a growing challenge. How can heirs and executors manage artist's estates? Imagine - learning you are responsible for the future of an artist's entire archive. You've lost a beloved family member, friend or associate who was an artist. You unlock their studio and find a lifetime of work - alongside documents, materials, books and more. What you find can present enormous problems and few opportunities. Where to start? Through a brief presentation by museum studies professor Dr. David Sokol, and a panel discussion with leading curators and the heirs to large artist's collections, we begin to develop tools and approaches to practical collection management and dispersal.
Program Structure
Dr. David Sokol reprised a greatly abbreviated paper he delivered for the Popular Culture Association a few years back - this is also the source for our title, "Inherited Collections: A Blessing or a Curse", followed by a 45 minute panel and information sharing session including a Q & A.
Panel Members
Keith Bringe, Director, Rare Nest Gallery
Dr. David Sokol, Professor Emeritus, Art History and former director Museum Studies, University of Illinois Chicago
Douglas Stapleton, Associate Curator of Art, Illinois State Museum
Lynne Warren, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art
Jane Wenger, artist and collection administrator