Planning Your Legacy: Artists & Estate Planning

Sunday February 8  |  2 - 3:30 PM

Koffler301

REGISTER HERE

Moderator: J. Anthony (Tony) Baker

Panelists: Bruce Eves, Katharine Harvey, Kal Mansur, Vera Frenkel

When artist Sybil Goldstein passed away in 2012, she left behind a remarkable collection of over 1,000 artworks—yet, she did not have a formal estate plan in place. This story highlights a vital, often overlooked aspect of an artist’s career: the importance of planning for the future of their work and legacy.

In the context of the Sybil Goldstein / URBAN MYTHS exhibition, the discussion will explore artists’ current stage(s) of estate planning and will provide practical guidance from the moderator on strategies to preserve, manage, and protect artworks, archives, and legacies.

Topics include:

• drafting your last will and testament

• designating an executor

• storing and distributing artworks (sales, donations, etc.) and personal papers

• managing copyright and licensing

The moderator and panelists will take questions from the audience.

Before earning his law degree, J. Anthony (Tony) Baker worked in the film and television industries in Vancouver for CBC and in Los Angeles for Metromedia Television. After earning his J.D. at the University of British Columbia in 1980, Tony moved to Toronto to article at Rosenfeld, Schwartz – the oldest entertainment law firm in Canada. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1982. Tony’s first position as a lawyer was with First Choice Pay TV as the Director of Legal and Business Affairs. In 1984, he started his own law firm and for over 30 years he has operated a solicitor’s practice in the areas of wills, estates, real estate, and small business law.

Bruce Eves was the recipient of the Governor-General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2018 and was ranked 26th on the Alt-Power100 list compiled by ArtLyst (UK). He was assistant-director at the Centre for Experimental Art and Communication (CEAC) in the 1970s; in the 1980s was the co-founder of the International Gay History Archive (housed in the Rare Book and Manuscript division of the New York Public Library). Eves has since expanded his work to include spoken-word projects at the Black Eagle’s Dirty Queer Poetry Nights. His work can be viewed at the Paris-based Singulart.com.

Vera Frenkel is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Her installations, videotapes, performances and new media projects address the forces at work in human migration, the learning and unlearning of cultural memory, and the ever-increasing bureaucratization of experience. Frenkel was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, lived in England during her childhood, and has resided in Canada for her adult life. She graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from McGill University in 1959, then pursued further studies in Montreal under Arthur Lismer and Albert Dumouchel. Since the early 1970s, Frenkel has exhibited in solo and group shows in Canada and internationally, including at Documenta IX, the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and the Biennale di Venezia. She was awarded a Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts in 2005.

Katharine Harvey is a Canadian conceptual painter and multi-media artist based in Toronto. Her 40-year artistic practice ranges from painting to installation and public art. A bold, energetic palette characterizes all her multi-layered works. Throughout her career, she has naturally shifted between media, allowing her paintings to inform her community-based art and vice versa. This process inspired her to create site-specific acrylic works, recycled plastic installations, kinetic sculptures, and illuminated drone shows. Her large-scale public artworks include ceramic mosaics for Toronto’s Chester Subway Station, hand-painted glass for Great Gulf, and digitally printed glass for Concord Adex.

Kal Mansur is known for translucent and colourful acrylic sculptures, which he has been producing since 2006. His sculptures are encased within translucent acrylic panels that visually change as light strikes their internal elements. This kinetic quality is foundational to his work, creating a hybrid between geometric abstraction and the pristine constructions found in minimalism. Mansur completed his BFA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. His work has been exhibited in Canada, Europe, and the United States, and was featured at the Canada Pavilion at Expo Dubai. He has completed major commissions for Hines Tridel Aqualuna, Sammarco Toronto, and Le Meridien New York. His pieces form part of the collections of Global Affairs Canada and TD Bank. He lives and works in Toronto.