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| 'Old Town Palm' watercolor by Leslie Warren |
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There is a revolution at work amongst the post 50 year old set. Many of us have changed our career hat and now call ourselves artists. We have earned the title by joyously re-living the student experience we enjoyed decades before.
· We’ve studied with the region’s celebrated artist/teachers…. for years.
· We’ve matured enough to capture our own, recognizable style
· We’ve produced a collection of respectable work.
· Perhaps we’ve even sold our first piece!
· We’re even beginning to LIKE what we produce!
And, you’ll still find us enrolled in the community art class; sitting at our easels attentively listening to the art philosophy and studying the technique of our teacher. Or we may be taking instruction in a plein air setting from working artists who create a medium for our own creativity. After all these years, all this toil, all this progress and all this study –Why are we still in school? Why are we still students?
The historic image of the solitary artist – sequestered away in a tawdry studio – torturously producing works of genius - hardly fits our artist experience. Our art “work” emerges in a social setting. We find inspiration in the community of other working artists. We are actually maturing as artists in our own right…despite the fact that this is a new career venture and we are so very far along in our life span.
How can this be that we are still working, struggling students? Perhaps art is the career we’ve always wanted. Perhaps art is simply a new quest and personal discovery. I think what delights us is that as art students; we find that our brains, rather than succumbing to the stereotyped decline of aging – are shedding past inhibition and enabling us to express ourselves more freely.
New research actually documents physiological changes to the brain with age and art is a youth serum for our brains – making it strengthen and “bulk up”– actually boosting its power, clarity and subtlety. Add to that, the fact that active social engagement we enjoy in the art class is linked to better mental health and you’ll understand why we are still enrolled in our art classes. We are harvesting the enormous potential for growth and happiness.
Perhaps we once thought that artistic talent resided in our genetic disposition. If we did not display creativity at a young age – it does not mean that creativity is forever elusive! Research now identifies a distinct developmental phase for those older in their 50’s and beyond. It is also not a genetic disposition to see creativity flower later in life – it is because our wonderful brains are still evolving and with it deepening our connections, emotions and expressive abilities.
All over the world, artists and those aspiring to be artists - find opportunities for growth through retreats, courses and workshops with teachers who may alternate between leading and being led by other artists. We are all growing through communion with other artists and we will forever and gratefully still we are students!
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