Last Artist Standing: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life Over 50

Edited by Sharon Louden
Published by Intellect Books (2025)
Distributed by University of Chicago Press

Published May 2025

Available now from University of Chicago Press and Amazon.

Last Artist Standing: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life Over 50 highlights the lives of 31 artists who have continued to create, contribute, and lead well beyond the age of 50. Many of these artists—often overlooked by the marketplace—offer powerful models of perseverance, adaptability, and creative integrity. Through decades of personal and professional challenges, they have built enduring practices and become mentors to others, illuminating pathways for artists at every stage of life.

By sharing their experiences, Last Artist Standing offers models of resilience, ingenuity, and pragmatic solutions—valuable for artists of all ages and for those both inside and outside the art world. This book amplifies their voices and celebrates the sustaining power of art across a lifetime.

Last Artist Standing is the third volume in Sharon Louden’s Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series and contributes to a broader body of publications extending through 2030. This growing series, featuring a range of editors and contributors, also includes current titles such as Storytellers of Art Histories: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life and Artists as Writers: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life.

Last Artist Standing explores critical issues faced by artists over 50, including:

• How artists remain contemporary while adapting through generational and cultural shifts

• Contributions to the well-being of others and their vital role in upholding freedom of expression

• The physical, financial, and professional challenges they overcome to sustain vibrant creative lives

• Significance as role models for those arriving later in life to art-making

While the selection criteria vary from book to book, what unites all the artists in Last Artist Standing—and across the entire series—is their willingness to be candid, humble, fearless, and generous. These artists exemplify dedication, resilience, and an unwavering commitment not only to their practice but to the broader artistic community.

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Thank you!

Last Artist Standing is the final publication of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life trilogy. Essays by 40 Working Artists is the first and The Artist as Culture Producer is the second; all published by Intellect Books and distributed by University of Chicago Press.