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Old in art school : a memoir of starting over / Nell Painter.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Berkeley, California : Counterpoint Press, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First hardcover editionDescription: xvi, 331 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781640090613
  • 1640090614
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue: You'll never be an artist -- How old are you? -- Leaving my former life -- Getting there -- So much to learn -- Familiar artists, new ways -- Illustration versus the context of art -- Transcription -- Look like an artist -- Drawing -- I could not draw my mother dying -- A bad decision -- Euphoria -- Grief -- Peers -- Crit -- Art school + history history -- You'll never be an artist -- Discovery -- MFA thesis -- And now? -- Newark artist -- Art history by Nell Painter -- Coda: Happy ending.
Summary: Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school--in her sixties--to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived. How are women and artists seen and judged by their age, looks, and race? What does it mean when someone says, "You will never be an artist"? Who defines what "An Artist" is and all that goes with such an identity?--from publisher's description.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library Biography Painter, N. P148 Checked out 05/15/2024 33111008899979
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Painter, N. P148 Available 33111009210549
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, this memoir of one woman's later in life career change is "a smart, funny and compelling case for going after your heart's desires, no matter your age" ( Essence ).

Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school--in her sixties--to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School , she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived.

How are women and artists seen and judged by their age, looks, and race? What does it mean when someone says, "You will never be an artist"? Who defines what an artist is and all that goes with such an identity, and how are these ideas tied to our shared conceptions of beauty, value, and difference?

Bringing to bear incisive insights from two careers, Painter weaves a frank, funny, and often surprising tale of her move from academia to art in this "glorious achievement--bighearted and critical, insightful and entertaining. This book is a cup of courage for everyone who wants to change their lives" (Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage ).

Prologue: You'll never be an artist -- How old are you? -- Leaving my former life -- Getting there -- So much to learn -- Familiar artists, new ways -- Illustration versus the context of art -- Transcription -- Look like an artist -- Drawing -- I could not draw my mother dying -- A bad decision -- Euphoria -- Grief -- Peers -- Crit -- Art school + history history -- You'll never be an artist -- Discovery -- MFA thesis -- And now? -- Newark artist -- Art history by Nell Painter -- Coda: Happy ending.

Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school--in her sixties--to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived. How are women and artists seen and judged by their age, looks, and race? What does it mean when someone says, "You will never be an artist"? Who defines what "An Artist" is and all that goes with such an identity?--from publisher's description.

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