Feature image: Courtesy of Carroll University.
By Frank Juárez
I met retired art educator and artist, Kay Jelinek, in 2008 when she moved to Sheboygan from Janesville, Wisconsin. We developed a wonderful relationship as friends, educators, and artists. She was an amazing artist, advocate, and collector, who developed a diverse collection that was spread throughout her home.
One of our last conversations about art was when she visited my studio. She asked what my plan was with the pile of acrylic skins that was on top of the flatfile. I had no specific plans other than piling it. She asked if she could have them. To her it was an opportunity for exploration for a future work of art. Her curiosity was inspiring.
She passed away in July 2025. I attended her celebration of life the following month. There were a few pieces on display for people to view inside the Deland Home, a rentable space, in Sheboygan. A few weeks later, I stumbled upon her work for sale on Facebook Marketplace, where someone was selling artworks inexpensively. Seeing this bothered me knowing how much thought, time, and planning it took to create her pieces. I began wondering what happens to our art once we are gone?
As artists we amass a lot of art both collected and our own. Yes, we can have our work distributed to loved ones, but I wonder if this is the right solution. It is one thing to give a piece to someone who loves and enjoys our work, but the reality is that not everyone may love or enjoy it, which will either be put into storage, tossed, or donated to a local thrift store.
It is important to look past the surface of the artwork and find other ways to better represent the spirit of the artist.
I was curious as to how artists, stewards, or guardians address this topic, so I posed the question on Facebook. A great conversation occurred, resulting in an informative and diverse thread that led to this article.
Six Ways To Preserve An Artist’s Integrity, Reputation, and Legacy
Artist Executor
An artist executor (or art executor) is a specialized fiduciary appointed in a will to manage, protect, and distribute an artist’s creative estate, including artwork, copyrights, and archives. An artist executor possesses art-world expertise to catalog, value, and sell artwork while managing intellectual property rights. 1
About a year ago, I met with artist Sara Risley over coffee in the Historic Third Ward to catch up on art and life. Our conversation drifted from one topic to the next, with a good portion of the time engaged in what happens to our art after death. She mentioned that one of her artist friends was the executor of her work.
Sara Risley, artist
Frank Juarez: What motivated the decision to include an artist executor to your will?
Sara Risley: I first thought of getting an art executor to protect my photographic series. In the fine art photos I print, I limit the number I make available and didn’t want those numbers ignored after my death as it wouldn’t be fair to those who purchased one of the series. When I asked my artist friend to do it, she said, “Oh yes, you need to be sure the art you own is protected.” So my need was twofold. I noted in my will that the art executor will have access to all my art (owned and created), my laptop, and back-up drives that both hold all my created images, most of which have never been printed.
FJ: How did you determine which artist would be a best fit to your wishes?
SR: I chose a close friend who is an artist herself and who is savvy about art and the business of art and will honor what I leave behind. If a painting is bad, I trust her to opt to gesso the canvas and donate it or use it. She will also know what to do to close out my studio and will make sure any usable supplies are donated accordingly.
My family are not art people and I had a fear of what they might not know about my art.
FJ: What would the role of the artist executor be?
SR: In my mind, the executor will see that friends and family get the art they may want. They will also decide where the art I left that was my creation should go. I would then expect they would sell that and my collection of others’s art that I own. I expect that the executor would take the receipts of any sales and donate it or establish an art scholarship if there is any money raised.
Bequeathing Art to a Local Gallery
Bequeathing art is the act of leaving artwork (paintings, sculptures, collectibles) to specific beneficiaries—individuals or institutions—through a last will and testament. It is a key estate planning process that transfers ownership upon the collector’s death, allowing the owner to enjoy the art during their lifetime while deciding its legacy. 2
I met gallerist Kimberly Oliva last summer at the inaugural Door County Contemporary at PenArt in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. I was excited when she responded to the Facebook thread. She mentioned in her response that she was going to be discussing her tips on estate management, secondary market, auction sales and catalog management during the Annual Learning Symposium at the Hyde Park Art Center this summer.
Kimberly Oliva, gallerist, Oliva Gallery
FJ: Is this type of symposium common amongst galleries?
KO: I would not say this type of symposium is common but we do have a generation of boomer artists that need to have a plan in place. I’m known to many colleagues as a secondary market art dealer so I always coach my artists on their legacy and how they want to protect their vision.
FJ: Are galleries more accessible than institutions? If so, how?
KO: Galleries are way more accessible than institutions. They answer the phone, email and grassroots help building the collection to maybe “ready it” for some of the larger institutions.
FJ: How do you select the right gallery?
KO: Selection of the gallery would be a personal preference. Some choose for fair representation others pick because the gallerist could be trusted. Most of my clients cold called, then we developed relationships over many years and later decades.
FJ: What is the best approach to establishing or overseeing an artist’s estate? What does this relationship entail?
KO: Full control of the estate is important. To really present a unified marketing approach. A multitude of options are available but the first step is to build the secondary market online portfolio, then with those rate of sales, get some substantial auction traction and then go for a higher retail number.
If you go:
Annual Learning Symposium
September 26, 2026, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
The Art Center Highland Park
1957 Sheridan Road, Highland Park IL 60035
Tony Nickalls, gallerist, Aquae Nguvu Gallery and Studio
FJ: What collection did you acquire? How were you selected as the guardian of this collection?
TN: The Eugene Donner Estate includes over 230 works which were virtually all in the Donner house at the time of his passing. The family, being in the mid-west wanted to bring the collection back to the area, from California. I met and worked with the family including the executor of the estate to agree on a plan to fulfill the original trust, set up by Donner and his wife, where possible to have the work on public display and donated to institutions that would show the work.
I was recommended by a mutual friend to the family to open discussions on what might be possible for the works.
FJ: Tell me a bit about the artist.
TN: Eugene W. Donner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1935. He attended the Layton School of Art (1956 – 1960) which was later known as Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD). In the 60 years of Donner’s career as an artist he was an art instructor at Segal School of Fine Arts in London, a private tutor in Seattle and Milwaukee, worked on the Wisconsin Pavilion of the 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair as well as independently studied art throughout Europe and Latin America.
Eugene and his wife Katherine designed a custom geodesic dome home/art studio among the Redwoods in the state of Washington. It there that Donner expressed his passion for the forest through wood sculpting. They later moved to Sonoma, California where Donner continued to sculpt, paint and draw.
Eugene (“Gene” to his friends) often painted with his friend Bob Faux. Bob has shared some insights about what he knew of Donner; “Art was an expression of oneself; his totems gave him energy and connected him to the universe.” Gene loved architecture, especially Frank Gehry; also automobile designs. His personality was individualistic, eccentric, reserved, not social, but generous to friends. He viewed friends as family. Politics were important. He called himself “a common sense conservative”; very liberal on social issues; distrustful of government, very progressive anti-capitalism. His marriage to Katherine was key: her death by ALS angered him greatly; his art became very intense afterwards. He had a personal interest in astrophysics; he said that string theory and quantum physics helped him understand and visualize the universe. Gene was also known as “Mr. Champagne”; his favorite drink, he always had a bottle in the fridge ready to take to someone. — Submitted by Bob Faux, artist and friend of Eugene Donner
“Peace on Earth & Justice for All” – This was a recurring theme that enriched Donner’s life, fueled his soul, and was often revealed through his work.
Eugene W. Donner Passed in February of 2025 at the age of 90.
FJ: What type of work is in this collection?
TN: The collection consists of:
- 7 large wooden “totems” (approximately 6 feet high).
- Over 25 table top balsa wood sculptures.
- Nearly 200 Oil paintings.
- Over 30 “iconoclast” paintings (small – approximately 6 x 10 inches).
- A number of painting series – including “sisters”, “civil war”, “war”, “molecular”.
- Additionally, over 80 “sketch” books (18*24) that are filled with almost fully executed oil pastel images (mostly figurative).
FJ: How did the initial conversation go?
TN: Good. My initial impression was the work was of considerable interest and quality. Also the family expressed great admiration of their uncle and. Desire to see his work recognized in his home state.
FJ: What are your goals for this collection?
TN: To seek to fulfill the goals of the trust where possible and then seek distribution of remaining works to family and by sale to the public.
Secondary Art Market
The secondary art market is the resale of artwork after its initial sale from the artist or primary gallery. It consists of subsequent transactions involving collectors, auction houses (e.g., Christie’s, Sotheby’s), and dealers, where prices are driven by demand, rarity, and provenance rather than original studio pricing. 3
As artists we work hard to develop a market for our work. Many artists are not represented by a gallery so they have to create their own market. Documentation and keeping track of sold works are two great ways to establish a fair market value for art. Yes, we are creative in nature, but we cannot ignore the benefits of engaging in the business of art practices. Maintaining an active inventory list is an effective tool for documentation including the provenance, where the art has been exhibited or sold to, is an important element in this process.
Institutions
Carroll University has an extensive Wisconsin art collection that dates back to 1980. Like many collections; updates, circulation, and documentation are ongoing necessities of maintaining a collection’s presence and relevance to its community.
Amanda Crary Gallas, Curator of Carroll University’s Wisconsin Art Collection
FJ: What role do you have with the Carroll University Wisconsin Art Collection?
ACG: I am the curator. I maintain an inventory of pieces, advocate for and share the collection with the Carroll community, and the Waukesha community; communicate with artists and donors; and work with the university Advancement office about acquiring pieces.
FJ: Why is an institution a good steward for art?
ACG: An institution is a good steward for art because there are policies in place to care for and keep the art. The artist’s work lives on in spaces that are frequented by people of many ages, backgrounds and walks of life and can continue to be appreciated. Institutions help to keep artwork safe through storage solutions and having pieces on view. Institutions who accept artwork care about the legacy of artists and how it continues to live on in public spaces.
In a world full of AI, office art, craft-store-art, adorning public spaces with original art from artists is full of love, care, lived experience and human touch.
FJ: What advice could you provide for an artist who is interested in donating work to an institution?
ACG: If an artist is interested in donating work to an institution, I recommend they research institutions that already have a collection. Does the institution align with your values? Would you want to have your art be a part of that institution? Then, reach out to the institution and ask if they are accepting artwork donations. For example, at Carroll, we receive questions like that and we work with our Advancement office about acquiring donated works. Some institutions may not be accepting donations, or may not have the space, but it never hurts to inquire and ask.
FJ: Provide a brief summary of Carroll University’s Wisconsin Art Collection
ACG: The Carroll University Wisconsin Artists Collection consists of more than 600 pieces from over 100 artists native to Wisconsin, or who otherwise have significant connections to the state. It dates from the 1980s, established by former art professor Marceil Pultorak. The collection was initially built from donations from faculty, alumni, artists, and people’s private collections; from there, it grew and grew. Carroll even receives donations from prestigious institutions, such as the John Michael Kohler Art Center.
The collection includes all medias: paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, fiber art, and installations. Most of the art is displayed throughout public spaces on Carroll’s campus.
Non-Profit Arts Organizations
Non-profit arts organizations seek ways to generate revenue to meet its mission and vision. A silent/in-person art auction is one way to seek donations, especially original works of art. It is important to do the research before committing any donated artworks.
Linda Popp, artist
FJ: How did you determine that a silent auction would be the best way to go?
LP: I envision some sort of party/celebration with a silent auction. I have participated in several silent auctions to benefit different organizations and like how they are run. It can be in person and also on-line for folks that can’t attend the party.
FJ: What is the significance to donating art to BCPS Visual Arts Program?
ACG: The Baltimore County Public Schools Visual (BCPS) Arts Program is dear to my heart. I would love to help out in some way, even when I’m gone. The Summer Camp is a 2 week all-day program for grades 3-12 art students. It is an exciting and extremely beneficial experience for students, teachers, and the community. I would hope that the proceeds from the sale of my artwork could be used for scholarships for students who might not otherwise be able to attend.
Family & Friends
Celeste Contreras, artist and owner of Studio Tlacuilo + Library.
FJ: Why did you inherit The Joan Moore Collection (Chicano/Latino Research books)? The Cream City Collective silk screens? How did that conversation start? Why you?
CC: It was 2020, I was in my second semester of my 3-year graduate school program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). I was majoring in Print and Narrative Studies. By the middle of the semester, the university was closed for lockdown due to Covid-19 and we were locked out of our studios. But we continued. My focus was 15th Century Codices of Central Mexico; the connection besides my ancestral heritage was that those books/manuscripts I was studying, which were also written during the time of pandemics. I became hyper focused on the pigments used in the pages of the codices. According to some research I have done, all Aztec books made prior to the book burnings were destroyed, but at the same time, those same people continued to write codices. 4 This research led me to online platforms for digital archives and digital libraries since all in person libraries were closed (thankfully we have these digital archives or else I would have been lost).
Speaking with friends, colleagues and professors, they led me to multiple sources, one being Alan Moore, Joan Moore’s son who lives full time out of the country and was looking for someone to archive his mother’s books from her own personal library and then donate them to UWM’s Library as a whole. I spent 3 years archiving and using the books of Joan Moore, most included her own work as she was a highly published author. In her archive there were manuscripts she collected from the 1960s and 1970s and other books that regionally we might not have in Wisconsin (most of the authors are from the Southwest or California or Mexico).
I began working as a Community Ambassador for UWM Archives from 2022-2023, focused on helping archive the Milwaukee Women’s Art Library (MWAL). I learned a lot about how archiving works and what it is used for. One thing about archiving is that you can’t keep everything; an archive is used for specific items and not always objects. For the MWAL, we were not looking for art or objects, unless it fit the narrative. The MWAL is a space to share evidence that the artist existed and created from correspondence to flyers or emails. The MWAL gives living artists a chance to write their history and legacy while they are alive and how they want it preserved. Being able to use Joan Moore’s archive of books was absolutely necessary for my research to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from UW-M in 2022.
Why Me? It was just timing. Sadly, Joan Moore passed away in 2020 and her son needed someone to help him keep the collection together. And why her? She was part of the first large-scale study on Mexican Americans and she helped give voices to exaddicts and gang members from East LA to Milwaukee to Mexico.5 The Joan Moore Book Archive shows a clear timeline of art history within the books, documenting street art and murals to historical movements within the Chicano communities.
After that time I asked Alan, if I could house the Joan Moore Book Archive in my studio for students and anyone to use for their own research and to see them, he agreed to this because I will keep them as a whole collection, which does not always happen and he wanted the entire collection to be kept as whole. Now, this collection lives in my studio.
The Cream City Collective Screens came to me by way of another comrade leaving town. In 2002 I lived in a house called The Sisters of the Road House in Riverwest on the west block of Holton Street. In this house as far as my recollection goes, we started collecting and burning screens for anyone to screenprint. Others in the neighborhood did the same and they all eventually met as one in a space on Fratney and Clarke. After the space closed down, my friend Kaitlynn Radloff somehow ended up with the majority of the lot (over 20 screens). In 2023, she moved out of state and asked if I could take them. Now I have the screens at Studio Tlacuilo + Library. I want people to use them and look at them and see them. And again it was all because of timing and talking with my communities about what we can do to offer space for such materials as books and screens.
FJ: As a steward of these two archives, where do they live and how are you presenting them to the community?
CC: These collections live in my studio, Studio Tlacuilo + Library. Tlacuilo pronounced TLAAH-KWEE-LOW is a Nahuatl word that means bookmaker, writer, painter. You can see the archives by making an appointment.
Currently, Studio Tlacuilo + Library is under construction as the entire House of RAD has recently moved into a new beautiful building. The studio and library should be ready by late Summer for visits.
Studio Tlacuilo + Library focuses on artists’ books, print, paper and ink and myself. Anchor, Press, Print, and Paper (AP3) hosts a biennial artists’ book/print gathering called Fire + Water Artists’ Book Festival. This year, it will be held on Saturday, November 14th, 2026. This artists’ book festival honors the materials and elements it takes to make ink, paper and books. Fire + water are used in these processes and crafts. The festival honors indigenous roots of the codices from Mexico and celebrates artists who work in ink, paper, print and book forms. Everyone is welcome to come enjoy these elements as well as the Joan Moore Book Archive and the Cream City Collective Screens and print some of them as well.
Studio Tlacuilo + Library is located in The House of RAD, 324 N. 12th street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In Closing
Rather than simply handing art to family and friends, have a plan on how to distribute it to whom will truly appreciate and cherish it. Personally, my work is an acquired taste, which most of my family would not understand or know what to do with it. So, I have started to think about how I want my art to be handled and by whom. My art consists of paintings, mixed media works, photographs, and external drives as well as a collection of 300+ artworks. To date, I have donated a painting to Carroll University (2010), which is my alma mater. So, this is a start.
I started reading “Art Legacy Compass: Guidance for Managing, Downsizing, and Transitioning an Artist’s Studio and Estate” by Mary E. Longe. In this book, she shares a 9 step process introducing ways to best prepare for the preservation of your work and how to establish a legacy. Artists are best positioned to define what matters, set priorities, and provide context for their work while they are physically and mentally able to do so.” 6
These are just a few examples of potential directions to explore. I am sure there are more options. My hope is that this article provokes thought as to how to handle your art after death.
Online Resources
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt1g5036sj
Publication
Longe, M. E. (2026). Art legacy compass guidance for managing, downsizing, and transitioning an artist’s studio and Estate. My Art Chat Press.
Cited Works
1 Trice, E. (2022, March 3). Art executors and estate planning for Art Collectors | Artwork archive. Art Executors and Estate Planning for Art Collectors. https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/art-executors-and-estate-planning-for-art-collectors
2 March 28, March, & What is the difference between bequest vs. inheritance? The main difference between a bequest and an in. (2025, March 28). Bequest explained: What, types, Pros & Cons, considerations. Western & Southern Financial Group. https://www.westernsouthern.com/retirement/bequest#:~:text=A%20specific%20bequest%20is%20a,to%20my%20sister%2C%20Alice.%22
3 Fairart. (n.d.). Understanding the secondary art market: The fairart guide. Fairart. https://fairart.com/editorial/guide/secondary-art-market/36
4 Blattner, Simon. Libros de Artista. 20 June 2019.
5 Hagedom, John. “Joan Moore and Latino Gang Research .” Great Cities Institute University of Illinois Chicago, 7 Mar. 2016, greatcities.uic.edu/2026/03/07/joan-moore-and-latino-gang-research/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
6 Longe, M. E. (2026). Art legacy compass guidance for managing, downsizing, and transitioning an artist’s studio and Estate. My Art Chat Press.
Frank Juárez is an award-winning art educator, curator, and arts advocate based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Known for his commitment to elevating contemporary art and supporting Wisconsin artists, Juárez has spearheaded numerous initiatives, including the Midwest Artist Studios Project and the 365 Artists 365 Days Project. In addition to his roles as publisher of Artdose magazine and editor-in-chief of SchoolArts magazine, Juárez has curated exhibitions and juried art shows throughout the Midwest. His dedication to art education and advocacy has earned him numerous accolades, making him a pivotal figure in Wisconsin’s art community.