Sharon Louden: Last Artist Standing

Cleveland Institute of Art moCa Cleveland

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• Date Friday, September 26, 2025
• Time 6:00PM - 8:00PM
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Cleveland Institute of Art is one of the nation's leading accredited independent colleges of art and design. For more than 130 years, the college has been an educational cornerstone in Cleveland, Ohio, and produces graduates competitive as studio artists, designers,... more

Sharon Louden is an artist, educator, advocate, consultant, community builder, founder and director of the Institute for Sustained Creativity, and editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books. Her latest book, Last Artist Standing: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life Over 50, explores what it means to sustain a lifelong creative practice and offers 31 artists' insights into building a durable, fulfilling career at any stage of life.

This talk is open to all creatives working at every stage of their careers. Louden will be joined by artist, appraiser and Deep Dive Art Projects owner Bellamy Printz, for a dialogue on the themes of the book. The talk will be followed by a moderated audience Q&A focused on strategies for cultivating long-term, sustainable artistic practices.

• 5:30pm: Mingle and tour moCa Cleveland galleries
• 6–7pm: Artist talk and Q&A
• 7–8pm: Book signing

This event is free and open to the public. Register here.

Sharon Louden: Last Artist Standing is presented by moCa Cleveland and Cleveland Institute of Art.

Artist bio
Sharon Louden wears many interchangeable hats: artist, educator, advocate, consultant, community builder, founder and director of the Institute for Sustained Creativity, and editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books. As a changemaker, Louden amplifies unheard voices and advances meaningful opportunities for artists across all disciplines toward sustaining their creative lives.

As an artist, her work has evolved from using writing as a medium, to figuration then abstraction through her paintings and drawings, to creating many physical environments that involve an inclusive advocacy using a varied range of media.

A visionary leader with decades of experience in academia, Louden is also a committed connector—bridging communities and catalyzing change, particularly on behalf of underserved artists within institutional structures. She is a skilled collaborator, bringing together siloed stakeholders from the nonprofit and business sectors to spark dialogue and drive collective progress. All of her work—no matter the form—is rooted in her active creative practice as a working artist.

Louden graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Yale University School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Drawing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Weisman Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.