Painting your life: A study of aging visual artists in New York City

As the graying of America progresses and the baby boomers begin to enter their twilight years, government and other agencies are deep in discussion over issues of physical and mental health care, Social Security, retirement, and attitudes and policies toward aging. The Research Center for Arts and Culture's study of aging visual artists in New York's four boroughs, using a method called Respondent-Driven Sampling, employs an innovative method to explore a normally “hidden” population (i.e., one whose membership is not known to researchers). This allows, in turn, a rare portrait of aging visual artists and finds that 85% of professional visual artists aged 62+ years sell their artwork and make some money from their art, 93% have health insurance, 84.1% are not retired from their work as artists, and 77% communicate with each other daily or weekly.

Research highlights▶ As the graying of America progresses and the baby boomers begin to enter their twilight years, government and other agencies are deep in discussion over issues of physical and mental health care, Social Security, retirement, and attitudes and policies toward aging. ▶ The Research Center for Arts and Culture's study of aging visual artists in New York's four boroughs, using a method called Respondent-Driven Sampling, employs an innovative method to explore a normally “hidden” population (i.e., one whose membership is not known to researchers). ▶ This allows, in turn, a rare portrait of aging visual artists and finds that 85% of professional visual artists aged 62+ years sell their artwork and make some money from their art, 93% have health insurance, 84.1% are not retired from their work as artists, and 77% communicate with each other daily or weekly.