From Studio to Museum Wall: Artist, Collector, and the Life of an Artwork

What is the relationship between an artist and a collector? How does a work of art travel from the studio to an exhibition, and eventually onto loan at a museum? Behind every object on a gallery wall is a chain of relationships, decisions, and logistics that rarely gets discussed in art school, yet shapes the careers of artists and the afterlife of their work.

In this conversation, artist Cosmo Whyte, collector JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey, and collection manager Elizabeth Tenenbaum pull back the curtain on that journey. Each brings a distinct vantage point: the artist who makes the work and sets its terms, the collector who lives with it, supports it, and makes it available to the public, and the manager who handles the practical details of cataloguing, care, documentation, shipping, and loan agreements that keep a collection in good order.

Whether you’re a practicing artist navigating the collecting world, a student artist looking at career paths ahead, or an emerging collector, join us for an insightful conversation with professionals to strengthen your roadmap. An audience Q&A will follow the conversation.

Free and open to the public. Registration requested.

About the Speakers

Cosmo Whyte
Cosmo Whyte (b. 1982, St. Andrew, Jamaica) received a BFA from Bennington College, a post-baccalaureate at Maryland Institute College of Art, and a MFA from University of Michigan. In 2020 he had solo exhibitions at MOCA Georgia and ICA San Diego. Whyte has exhibited in biennial exhibitions including Prospect.5 New Orleans (2022) 13^th Havana Biennial, the Jamaica Biennial (2017), and the Atlanta Biennial (2016). His work has been included in exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; The Drawing Center, New York, NY; The Somerset House, London, UK; Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, CA; Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; and the National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. His work is in public museum collections including the High Museum, Atlanta; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; International African American Museum, Charlotte, NC; Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia; National Gallery of Jamaica; and the Pérez Art Museum Miami. In 2022 he joined the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture as an assistant professor. Whyte lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey
JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey has spent much of her adult life engaged in the visual arts as practitioner, patron, friend and advocate.

Upon abandoning the art studio and any potential advancement as a young practicing artist, her mentor and teacher wisely advised her to continue on by ​“enjoying an art experience every day.” Reading, museums, galleries, studio visits, board work and philanthropic engagements became the artistic playground where her eye and individual sensibilities continued to develop.

A move to New York City in 2002 prompted JoAnn to think more formally about collecting. Certainly, living in New York City, a major international center for contemporary art, offered opportunities for a direct and targeted exploration. She spent the next couple of years visiting private collections, seeking perspective on the various approaches employed by collectors. During this period of time she realized her eye was most often drawn to works on paper. In 2005, having gained clarity and vision, she set out to formally build a collection focused entirely on unique contemporary abstract works on paper. In 2012 JoAnn created the Syzygy platform. Syzygy offers her collection for study by college and graduate academic institutions to engage in a multitude of interdisciplinary projects. 

JoAn was a speaker at the Vail Symposium, ​“Art, a Matter of Mind,” in 2018 and has lectured at the University of Minnesota, Colorado State University, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), and numerous other colleges and universities across the US. Internationally, she participated in a panel on collecting at Vienna Art Week in Austria and featured in a video interview with Joana P.R. Neves, a London-based independent curator and Artistic Director of the Drawing Now Art Fair.

The collection has expanded considerably over a 20 year history. It offers the fullest expression of what a drawing can be while articulating the range of language employed by individual artists. JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey believes there is value in connecting with the artist in order to gain an understanding of the underlying forces central to the artist’s work. 

JoAnn currently resides in the mountains of Colorado. When she isn’t looking at art, her time is spent enjoying other cultural arts activities, fly fishing and two young grandchildren. 

About the Collection
The JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey Collection is a significant collection of unique contemporary works on paper by over 450 early to mid-career contemporary artists from around the world. While the collection can largely be characterized as abstract, there are exceptions yielding to figuration and the narrative. Paper is the essential element of the collection. Ms. Gonzalez Hickey established SYZYGY, a curatorial and study platform to promote a deeper understanding of the nature of works on paper. 

Elizabeth Tenenbaum
Elizabeth Tenenbaum is an art advisor, private curator, collection manager and a qualified accredited USPAP appraiser who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Elizabeth is also the Director of Syzygy, a curatorial study platform focused on unique contemporary works on paper. Elizabeth attended Syracuse University, graduating with a BFA in 1998. She received her Certificate from NYU in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts. Her career began at Art in General, a nonprofit organization that assisted artists with the production and presentation of new work. She has been active in the New York City art world for over 25 years working with galleries, assisting other artists in residency programs, working as the art director for a nationwide publication and as the assistant director at an art foundation.

In 2013 she founded her art collection advisory and appraisal firm, Art Wise, Inc. She was a visiting critic in 2014 for ABUBUYA KM0 2014 an International Workshop involving visual artists, cultural managers, curators, interacting with the moxeño community El Rosario in Beni – Bolivia, accessible by the River Mamoré only; in 2015 visiting critic at the Wassaic Project Residency in Amenia, NY; and in 2021 studio visits with NARS foundation residents. Her writing was published in the 2015 book Abubuya. She has presented and lectured about contemporary art collections to students in various Masters of Fine Arts Programs including: Sotheby’s Institute, New York; School of Visual Arts; New York, University of San Francisco, CA; Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia; and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. She lectures annually at Artist in the Marketplace, at the Bronx Museum of Art.