WYWH: “Estate Planning and Preserving Archives of Artists” Workshop

July 18, 2023

On July 6, 2023, Center for Art Law hosted a virtual workshop to introduce artists to different archiving and registering approaches, and business and estate planning. The Estate Planning and Preserving Archives of Artists‘ workshop was led by guest speaker Darlene Bialowski, Principal of Darlene Bialowski Art Services, LLC. Darlene Bialowski is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in the museum and cultural heritage preservation field. She has held various roles, including Curatorial Assistant and Registrar for prominent museums. Darlene is also an author, lecturer, and co-founder of the non-profit Collections Care & Conservation Alliance. As an accredited member of the Appraisers Association of America, she specializes in appraising fine and decorative arts. With her extensive background and network, Darlene provides valuable expertise and assistance to clients in the art and preservation industry.

During the workshop, Darlene offered resources, an in-depth guide to archiving, and some personal anecdotes providing all the necessary tools to build an artistic legacy. She provided concrete first steps to start an inventory with a detailed template of the different categories that artists should include in their artwork. She also covered the different inventory formats noting the different benefits and drawbacks of each medium. Her presentation was curated to a broad demographic of artists offering a range of solutions for each artist’s preferences, briefly introducing some more complex inventory formats like File Maker without undermining the tried and true method of a pen and paper.

Screenshot from the workshop led by Darlene Bialowski

Darlene then covered art storage, as well as some unexpected benefits of archives in understanding an artist’s personal market. Throughout the presentation, she included commonly asked questions, answered with valuable and specific information. She also shared examples of assignments she had taken on or rejected giving participants some practical scenarios where such preventative measures become vital to the preservation of an artist’s legacy.

This session offered a strong foundation for the preservation of artists’ archives and the first steps needed for any artist to get started on their artistic inventory.