The Research Center for Arts and Culture’s recent study, Above Ground: Information on Artists III: Special Focus New York City Aging Artists, revealed that artists are in many respects a model for society, maintaining strong social networks and an astonishing resilience as they age. Yet 61% of professional visual artists age 62+ have made no preparation for their work after their death; 95% have not archived their work; 97% have no estate plan; 3 out of every 4 artists have no will and 1 in 5 have no documentation of their work at all.

For the teams of artists and graduate fellows, Ms. Brewer provides technical support and guidelines for art cataloging according to museum standards.  The project employs Gallery Systems’ art database, EmbARK, for maintain objects, exhibition and artist records.

ART CART is currently working with visual artists based in New York City and Washington DC.

All born after the early 1970s, the artists in this exhibition were asked to read selected writings from the Black Arts Movement (BAM), the artistic branch of the Black Power movement, and create drawings in response to the readings.  The writings included articles on the AfriCOBRA aesthetic, “Black is a Color” by Raymond Sanders, and others.  The artists explored several questions.  Given the rich history of BAM that defined cultural aesthetics in many art forms during a specific time period in American history, what does it mean for African American artists, who were not born during the time of the BAM, to be young, gifted and Black in the age of an Obama presidency?  What is the response of young, educated African American artists today working in an “art world” that, in most cases, has shunned their voices?  Yet, in the months leading up to the 2012 U.S. Presidential election, why is the national dialogue asserting that the nation has moved passed institutionalized racism and that the country has moved into a “Post-Black” era?

The opening reception will be held Friday, September 7 from 6-8PM.  All the artists are planning to attend.  A curator’s talk will be held Sunday, September 23 at 4PM.  The public is invited.  All events are FREE.  Kentler International Drawing Space is located at 353 Van Brunt Street (cross street is Wolcott), Red Hook.  See www.kentlergallery.org for directions.  For more information call 718.875.2098.

Two issues are of concern here:  Was the work properly insured; and did the collector hold title insurance for the work?   The collector is suing the magazine in Manhattan Supreme Court for damages of $300,000 for the sculpture.  Was the sculpture appraised and insured at this amount?  Did the collector hold proper title for the sculpture, which comes from a genre of work interconnected with international legal conventions?  If these steps were not taken and in place, does the court consider the lack of due diligence, in fact, the value the collector placed on the work.

Nok sculptures are protected by the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, which both the Untied States and Nigeria are party to this convention.   Did the collector’s acquisition of the sculpture violate the convention?  If the owner of the broken Nok sculpture is unable to establish a history of legal acquisition, various international legal issues arise. If the sculpture were properly acquired through legal means, proper title insurance on the object would have been essential.

All that glitters is not necessarily gold.  It pays to address all legal matters when developing art collections.  This includes maintaining proper object facts and provenance information, title insurance and valuation appraisals.

The ideal record keeping system should maintain:

A hard-copy file. The file may contain:

The original receipt of purchase, deed of gift, or statement of trade for the object of art.

Any print photographs of the object.

Any correspondence directly related to the object and its history. Examples could include: a letter from the artist discussing the work, transportation receipts, exhibition catalogs where the object is illustrated and/or mentioned, press clipping or critical reviews mentioning the work, or any other print information about the object’s provenance.

Electronic records and files.

Object information needs to be included in an electronic database system, which uses metadata standards for art-related information.  (Standards include Getty Vocabularies and VRA Core.)  The use of cataloging standards will contribute to data integrity and the longevity of data, as data can be easily migrated to new systems as art collections, information about individual works, and the information technology evolves.

For a variety of reasons, collecting, recording, and maintaining this art object information from the moment of interest and object acquisition is helpful for the art collector in the long run.  You’ll be happy you took the time to protect your art assets.

Photograph the object, if possible, in front of a non-reflective, neutral color surface. Indirect natural light will show the object better than any other light. If an object has a highly reflective surface, avoid using the camera’s flash and shoot the object at angle to avoid “hot shots” on the object’s surface.  Also, when necessary, use a tripod or any other device (boxes, table or ladder), which will aid to hold the camera steady.

Images should be taken of the following:

1. The subject object in its entirety.
2. The verso, or reverse-side, of a 2-D object or the under-side of a 3-D object. Take close up shots of any gallery, framer, or museum labels.  The information on these labels is extremely important for the appraiser.
3. A close-up of the artist’s signature and/or any inscriptions noted on the surface of the object.
4. A couple of close-up shots of key elements in or on the object.
5. If damage or issues of age are present, close-up shots are needed of any chips, flaws, cracks, tears, water damage, etc. on the object.
6. If the 2-D object is framed, a close image of one corner of the frame is very helpful.

Object damage occurs primarily when objects are handled.  If you follow these basic photograph steps, you’ll provide yourself and others with value information without excessive object moving and handling.

So you have time to collect….

Camille Ann Brewer

I currently spend a great deal of time traveling to clients to manage and appraise  their collections.  After a series of bad airline flights and endless airport security “theater”, I hope over the next year is to minimize my travel by developing new and improved methods of collection management using the new tools being developed now in today’s market place.  One of my goals is to bring newly developed museum metadata standards to private collectors.  As art objects move from private hands to major cultural institutions, the respective metadata will migrate seamlessly into the larger database systems.

In my mind, being Future Ready means keeping abreast of the latest developments in technology while engaging creative thinking as to how these new tools and systems can augment what I do as an arts professional.   I am more excited now that I was five years ago about the opportunities that are presenting themselves as I approach my career from an interdisciplinary perspective.  It is in the intersection of these disparate disciplines where the excitement and hope for the future begins.