Collection Assessments

Know Your Art: Track, Organize, and Assess

Sorting through an artist’s collections is a delicate process requiring care and sensitivity. Filmmakers and other artists accumulate extensive materials over time, often becoming overwhelming whether it’s a couple productions or larger in scope. Enlisting an archivist or preservation consultant helps clarify goals for a maker’s work and legacy. This guidance alleviates the burden from the artist by mapping out the activities to reach each benchmark.

Documenting an Artist’s Work, Empowers the Artist

Independent works risk being lost without proper documentation, making archival efforts imperative for their longevity. Many artists store audiovisual materials, production papers, photographs, equipment, and artwork in their homes or studios—some have partially archived their collections, while others are just beginning. Organizing these materials allows for conditional evaluation, assessment, facilitating a repository, and often initiating restoration and reintroduction of the work into the marketplace.

“Over the past several years Kirsten has been an invaluable collaborator and consultant on the archiving and restoration of my earlier films.  Her expertise, vision, and resourcefulness have been critical assets in achieving both the 4K preservation and public visibility of these works.” ~ Mirra Bank, Producer/Director

Ensure Your Art Endures: Choose the Right Repository

Regardless of the collection’s organizational stage, every artist should know what they possess, on an item level, empowering them to creatively utilize and monetize their library while securing their place in the larger cinema canon. The discovery of what is missing is also very critical. Archivists can often help track down missing assets. All these efforts help ensure an artist’s work remains findable and accessible to scholars, researchers, and the general public.

I have helped many filmmakers establish relationships with archives dedicated to protecting both existing and future productions. I do this independently and through IndieCollect, a nonprofit which supports independent film and its creators.

Projects vary in scale, but I work closely with filmmakers and estates to prepare collections for archival acquisition and donation, restoration, distribution, and exhibition—securing their work for the long term.

To learn more specifics, please visit my Services page or Contact me.