David Little – Aging Artists: Challenges in Living and Legacy 

All we have to decide is what

to do with the time given to us

—Gandalf to Frodo in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings

Getting old is not for sissies.

—Bette Davis

The Challenges Facing Artists as They Become Elderly Are Real

In his introduction to the topic of “Aging Artists,” David Estey, Belfast painter and past President of UMVA, wrote, “All artists are different, with changing abilities, interests, means, obligations, and therefore issues as we age.” Estey’s focus on this complex topic began in conversation with former Belfast Poet Laureate Tom Moore who lamented “his waning ability to write poetry.”(1)

In late June, Estey convened a Zoom call of the Midcoast Salon to introduce Moore and his poetry. “New poems don’t come to me anymore,” the poet reported. “I am struggling in writing groups, drawing blanks.” He read several earlier, lovely poems. In response, salon members voiced their support. Moore’s new reality hit home.

Estey’s leadership in facilitating a dialogue and creating talking points was timely and overdue. He hoped the results of his questions and possible options for aging artists and their legacies might be an article or report. It sparked much back and forth before and during the call.

Several salon members engaged with Moore. Some asked questions, others made suggestions. Robert Adler suggested changing the time of day to work and perhaps trying a different approach. Estey suggested the possibility of something physical going on and moving to another discipline. Russell Kahn suggested a cut up technique similar to using the letters with refrigerator magnets to form words and phrases.

Inviting Moore proved especially relevant: collectively, we are all challenged to find words, phrases, and complete thoughts. For us, not being able to paint, sculpt, find a subject, or mix colors would be daunting.(2)

Salonista Kathryn Shagas suggested we read art critic Richard Lacayo’s book Last Light, which highlights “how six great artists made their old age a time of triumph.” In his talking points, Estey cites these six artists (Titian, Goya, Monet, Matisse, Hopper, and Nevelson) whose late work was pioneering. In her review of the book, Natalia Nebel wrote, “Each artist continued to create, grow, and generate a new art aesthetic despite the epidemics and wars that surrounded them, as well as their physical disabilities brought on by age and illness.”

These artists inspire us, demonstrating the importance of adapting to their circumstances with resilience, dedication, and courage. One qualifier from the Simon & Schuster promo for Last Light: “With their legacies secure, they’re free to reinvent themselves . . . sometimes with revolutionary results.” Think of the long arc of art history and how different our situations are today. While aging is a given, a legacy of some sort may be hard to come by.

Lesia Sochor added a personal take on aging. “I am getting older, feeling time is getting shorter. I need to make choices, cutting back on things like gardening for more creative time. Time and mortality help me focus on my process.” Realizing she can’t do it all, Sochor shifts the balance of her time.(3)

For me the Zoom call triggered thoughts, ideas, memories, and much online research. The forum’s takeaways helped motivate me to share my concerns with siblings and friends—and, as my wife and I have no children, to look to the future and ask tough questions of ourselves.(4)

Estey shared advice received from estate planners, auction houses, money managers, and storage facilities on what to do with all the work he has created over a lifetime. In doing so, he suggested the topic of “legacy” for a follow-up Zoom.

In his initial talking points David had shared many ideas on how to address legacy. He referenced different artist’s families’ challenges, including appraisals, storage, sales, costs, and a definitive will, as well as downsizing, gifting, conserving, inventorying, photographing, auctions, and much more.(5) See the appendix for research questions I asked Google.

Estey’s thoughts helped light a fire under all of us. He gently gave us options for how to feel. “Isn’t that ok? and is that the answer? And it would seem only natural . . .” He highlighted differences in how we grow and work in our later years and how each of us might handle issues of success and failure, sales or lack thereof, what to do with the troves of work we have created and objects we have collected, and any hope of a retrospective or published book—or none of the above! “Create for the sake of creating,” Sochor said, “be in that space, don’t judge yourself, be curious, stay engaged.”(6)

Another salonista suggested a balance between accepting where you are and working to push ahead: prioritize with what physical capacity you have. Estey said he tries to reach a higher level of creativity or success but realizes with the time he has left and other things to think about, it may not happen. He quotes an aging artist friend from New York who advises, “The creative moment is everything: there is nothing else. Getting older means closing up shop earlier. When the window closes, don’t try to hold it open; it will be there tomorrow.”

Alan Crichton briefly mentioned the preparations that Harold Garde and family made before his passing. The collection would remain intact for a minimum of five years, giving the family the opportunity to promote the work and honor his legacy as an important post-war American artist. Doing so required completing documentation of the work, including photos, details of each piece, provenance, records of his career, and storing it safely. Apropos of this mammoth family challenge, Lynn Travis’s final question got right to the point: “What do you actually want to leave behind?”

The challenges of aging artists underscore the importance of sharing ideas on how to cope and the group support we all need as we age. It’s like having a late chapter visual memoir group. We are very fortunate to have the staff and resources of the Union of Maine Visual Artists with its growing community of artists, new website and online Maine Arts Journal.

 

Legacy: Planning What to Do with Your Life’s Work Before It Is Too Late. How Do You Want to Be Remembered?

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

—Henry Ward Beecher

To leave a legacy isn’t just about leaving your artwork; it is also about leaving “a lasting imprint on the world through accomplishments and character” . . . influencing “future generations by the way you lived your life and the decisions you made.”

—Estate Planning for Visual Artists: A Workbook for Attorneys and Executors, Megan Low, Director of Services, Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston and Joan Mitchell Foundation.

 

The subjects of aging artists and legacy that our host David Estey articulated included an “Encounters” submission to the Maine Arts Journal summer 2025 issue. To open the meeting, he picked up on the unforeseen, personal encounter thrust upon Peggy Muir by the sudden death of her husband Bryce. Her essay, “Bryce Muir: What Artists Leave Behind,” speaks volumes to what might occur if the artist doesn’t leave a will or instructions. In her “act of love” for her husband, Muir spent almost two decades thoughtfully disposing of his possessions, “curating his memory.” The experience created “an emotional disconnect, and much fatigue.”(7)

The topics of aging and legacy are intertwined. Both involve time considerations and advance planning. Having the space to continue being creative in the studio while planning to do the unthinkable: to organize a long career into a manageable legacy in whatever form that entails.

The opening sentence of Véronique Plesch’s introduction to the MAJ summer issue, “We are shaped by encounters and so is art,” might well illustrate the “transformative” challenges of aging and “encounters” that motivate us to pay attention to how/if we want to be remembered.

Anne-Marie Nolin complimented Estey on all he has done to document his life’s work (a visual catalogue raisonné) and offered research options for steps he might take to achieve his goals. Tony Machowski mentioned the Dead Architects Society in Baltimore which begged the question of whether there are any institutions in Maine that are creating archives for the biographies of contemporary artists.

While searching the internet, two different archives, both with recorded interviews in film and video, turned up: UMVA member Richard Kane’s twenty  Maine Masters films, which include artist Harold Garde and a film by Anita Clearfield and Geoffrey Leighton on Natasha Mayers, and the eighty-four short (eight to fifteen minute-long) documentaries on contemporary Maine artists made by Lights Out Gallery co-founders Reed McLean, Daniel Sipe, and Karle Woods in Norway, Maine. Nolin mentioned the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art as a possible place to research donation requirements.(8, 9)

Estey mentioned art storage facilities through Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland and Barridoff Galleries in Portland. The UPS office in the Mill Creek Plaza in South Portland has handled packing and shipping art work for Barridoff Galleries for many years.

When artist Samuel Gelber and his son Noah joined the call, Estey pressed them about their plans. Since the Pandemic in 2020, Gelber has created forceful floral abstractions “embracing negative space”. He works day to day and is not concerned about passing or legacy. He admitted not having the same level of stamina at age ninety-six. Gelber reported that Noah “takes care of storage, inventory. He has everything up to date, keeps things in order.” A revocable trust was mentioned. About his children, Gelber said, “they don’t have this load after I pass,” that his kids can decide what to do with his art.

From all his research, Estey felt his conclusion was important for fellow artists: those who have an abundance of work that takes up a lot of space and who aren’t prominently recognized by collectors, galleries, or museums may find that paying exorbitant fees for climate-controlled space until the works eventually might be sold or placed would be prohibitive. However, there are some alternatives. A dry, warm, air-conditioned room in a home may be perfectly adequate for most work. If preservation of the work, not profit, is paramount, planning for sale of the work at reduced prices or giving it to appreciative family or friends at least keeps it somewhat within the artists’ control. Whether gifting or assigning responsibilities for the art in a will or setting up a revocable trust to handle it or neither, it is essential to photograph, document, and track the work, if it is to be a lasting legacy. “Do not leave the burden to others ill-prepared for and uncomfortable with it,” he said.

Still pondering what to do with all his work, Estey asked Crichton to tell the stories of his close friends David McLaughlin and Theodore Czebotar. After McLaughlin’s passing, Crichton tried to sell the artist’s sculptures at auctions with proceeds benefitting Waterfall Arts. McLaughlin, a former Waterfall Arts board member, had purchased the old cannery building in Liberty in 1972 with its many tons of scrap metal. He recycled some of this stuff into quirky, compelling sculptures.

Crichton met Czebotar on the latter’s travels to Maine. When the painter passed in 1996, he helped the artist’s sister inventory his vast oeuvre, 15,000 works on paper and canvas. They loaded up everything in a U-Haul truck and drove it to Racine, Wisconsin, close to Czebotar’s birthplace in Milwaukee. Carl Little later shared with Crichton an article about the Kohler Foundation’s accession and conservation of a collection of artwork from the Czebotar family. The foundation gifted 191 paintings to nine organizations in and around Wisconsin.

In terms of my own life’s work, I spoke of the importance of setting up revocable trusts with my mother and with my wife Mikki. (See the appendix for more info.) I then related my experience helping the son of my longtime painting buddy Chris Huntington organize and move his 500 works of art and artifacts from his home in Patten into secure storage during the winter of 2024.

To bookend the discussion of diverse legacy challenges and scenarios, Estey and Crichton recounted the plan hatched by the family of artist Harold Garde and Crichton’s conversations with principal heir Amy (Garde) Asher, Harold’s daughter. Asher had several advance planning recommendations: have your affairs in order, good organization, photographs, records of sales, exhibits, dates, collectors, inventory, preservation, storage, and costs. Estey wrote, “Harold’s heirs decided to pay for storage of his work for five years during a concerted effort at promotion and sales before making a distribution of the work among them.” Asher recommended the web app they use, Artwork Archive. Gianne Conard mentioned having someone afterward to help with your estate.

Sochor shared a “silver lining” story: one of her large, early paintings of an open window and view outside that she had taken to the dump was brought home by a disabled man and hung in his windowless bedroom. The man tracked Sochor down and she was delighted.

Carl Little related the meaning of “potlatch,” a Native American term meaning “to gather all your possessions, give them away, or burn them.” Lynn Travis mentioned putting artwork that she didn’t want to show in the trash. I told the story of Edward Redfield.(11)

Carol Sloane said she had no kids and a studio full of art to give to friends from some shows she has been in. She suggested we should not fret, that so much luck is involved. Kathryn Shagas summed up the two Zoom calls: “I admire everyone’s work, energy, love, and incredible talent.”

We thank Estey for leading these calls and providing a lengthy outline of the primary messages; Shagas for recording them; and all the salon members who listened in and participated. I apologize in advance for any errors I may have made and for all those whose contributions I was unable to squeeze into this report.

 

Notes

1. “Art historian Sir Kenneth Clark once asserted that poets almost always decline in old age but visual artists often flourish, producing new work born of boredom, isolation, and irritation.” Richard Lacayo, Last Light (Simon & Schuster, 2022).
2. Recently there have been several programs on NPR about ChatGPT’s new role, both beneficial and problematic, as a type of amanuensis or artistic assistant. On the beneficial side, ChatGPT, if set up carefully with oversight, can help a painter, composer, or poet overcome creative blocks, acting as a “naïve assistant.” Perhaps this novel AI tool might help Moore use words, phrases, titles from his existing poems to suggest new ideas for poems.
3. In an interview about the creation of Richard Russo’s new book Life and Art, the author says, “One thing the pandemic did was make us very aware of our mortality. And the older you get, the more necessary it seems to be to look to the past and try to make sense of things.”
4. Our nephew Guy Walker, up for a visit from Kentucky, caught my wife Mikki and I (post the legacy Zoom call) by surprise. “Have you thought about who is going to care for you when the time comes and you are unable to? Do you want me to come up from Louisville and help?” The urgency of his words was unexpected and shocking.
5. See the appendix attached to this report for the list of questions I asked the Google search engine to answer.
6. In a recent review by Jancee Dunn in the New York Times of Professor Kerry Burnight’s upcoming book Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second Half, Dunn writes that one must focus on “four non-negotiable actions to lengthen your joyspan. Grow a sense of curiosity and continue to learn. Adapt to your changing circumstances by brainstorming solutions. Find ways to give to others, whether it’s time, attention, patience, wisdom, or kindness. Maintain social connections with new and existing relationships. Ask people questions.” A fifth action might be to reinforce the idea of appreciation and gratitude for your life, friends and family, for feeling more alive as you realize you have less time.
7. Peggy Muir. “Bryce Muir: What Artists Leave Behind,” Maine Arts Journal, Summer 2025.
8. The Dead Architects Society, begun in 1989, is a research committee of the Baltimore Architects Foundation that collects and archives deceased Maryland architects’ biographies. UMVA sponsors the Maine Masters series with community outreach screenings “to inspire people to create art and recognize its value.” The Lights Out Gallery interviews are archived in Colby Libraries Digital Initiatives Division and available through JSTOR.
9. I mentioned legacy building in the old days, when there was less competition than today, recounting the career of the artist William Kienbusch (1914–80). Uncle Bill taught at Brooklyn College, enticing students to attend his openings every four years at the Kraushaar Galleries in New York City. The gallery promoted his work and placed his work in museum collections, handled his estate and wishes after his passing. Today his online presence has depth as does the recorded oral history interview archived at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art.
10. Carl and I first became aware of Gelber in artist Alan Gussow’s landmark book A Sense of Place: The Artist and the American Land (Friends of the Earth, 1972). From an interview in 1970 Gelber speaks about his painting Orchard II: “I paint what the landscape dictates [trees]. I trust the landscape; it tells me what to paint each day.” See his essay in the MAJ summer 2020 issue.
11. In 1947, at age seventy-eight, Bucks County master Impressionist landscape painter Edward Redfield “burned a huge inventory of his paintings (700) that he judged substandard.” From the exhibition catalogue Edward Redfield: Just Values and Fine Seeing (The James Michener Museum, 2004–05), p.45.

 

Appendix: Avenues for Further Research on Legacy, Help for Aging Artists

Here is a list of ideas and questions I asked Google. The questions helped me get a handle on how complex the issues are, of what to do, how to do it, and where to look in Maine for help.

• Are there any extant archives in Maine for contemporary artists?
• Are there online databases of Maine artists’ works?
• Storage facilities in Maine for art?
• How do artists set up and operate their own foundations in Maine? Which foundations in Maine have been created by Maine artists?
• How do institutions in Maine collect? How do museums in Maine accession works of art into their collections?
• How can an artist sell his works of art at auction in Maine?
• Planning your legacy as a living artist in Maine, what steps are involved? Legacy and estate planning for artists? The Joan Mitchell Foundation, The Rabkin Foundation.

In a recent free publication, Estate Planning for Visual Artists | A Workbook for Attorneys & Executors, the authors “share a range of considerations and options for artists beginning to plan their legacies” and add “there is no end of possibilities depending on the artist’s wishes, resources, priorities, connections, practice, output, and history.”

The Artists’ Rights Society (ARS) provides visual artists and museums support for copyright clearance.

On Revocable Trusts:

The Living Trust: The Failproof Way to Pass Along Your Estate to Your Heirs Without Lawyers, Courts, or the Probate System by Henry W. Abts III. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1989. This book was invaluable to my family, setting up a revocable trust for my aging mother and also setting up another for my spouse and myself, both in 2001.

Abts’s plan was “approved by estate planners and legally valid in all fifty states. The Living Trust obsoletes the old-fashioned will, eliminates estate devouring probate charges and attorney’s fees, speeds up the distribution of funds to your heirs by months or even years, assures that no one may contest or overturn your wishes regarding the disposition of your estate, is entirely private, rather than a public document open to anyone, and is totally revocable, allowing you to change your mind at any time.”

 

Henri Matisse, The Sorrows of the King, gouache on paper on canvas, 115 x 152 in., 1952, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (photo: Wikimedia Commons).