A “Logical” Leap
Nell Painter
Ivy League Professor to Professional Artist
Nell Painter has a perfectly fitting last name for someone who decided to take up painting at 64. Nell didn’t simply take a class at the senior center or take an adult education course - certainly there’s nothing wrong with that! - but enrolled in a fully-accredited art school, getting a B.A. from Rutgers University, following that up with an MFA from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design. After gaining this education she launched a successful, income-producing career as an artist.
This undertaking is impressive at any age: that Nell decided to set off on a new and ambitious path at age 64 is nothing short of inspiring. Nell’s story is yet more fascinating as her previous life included a career as an academic, many of those years spent as Professor of American History at Princeton. She also penned and published a book about this transition and Her Next Act, Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over.
About starting a second career Nell says “You don’t have to do it whole hog…like I did. …There are so many ways.” She encourages people to go for it! “Yes, you can do it. Enroll in art school at 64.” Or whatEVER it is that you want to do!
My note: My kids both took a graphic design/photography course in high school. At the end of the course parents were invited for a presentation of the students’ projects. This event also included a full tour of the facility and a talk about the courses offered. Jazzed and impressed by everything I saw and heard, including what the beginning students were able to create, I said to my kids “I’d like to audit a photography course here.” Of course this was a horrifying notion to both of them, thinking that their mother would be joining them on the high school campus. I assured them I would wait until they had both graduated but then… Of course like many ideas I have had, “then” never happened: I didn't enroll in the course. Fast forward to NOW, however, and I have a “professional” - albeit beginner’s - camera (you’ve got to start somewhere) which I’m learning how to operate: it was a gift from my children for my 64th birthday. I’m not sure where I’m going with it, or if it even matters, but it has really brought me some joyful moments. It’s never too late to do the thing. Until - it IS!
Inspired? Please join me in our private fb community for more conversation and to take steps towards creating your Next Act. I’d love to connect!