Aging into the Work

On art-making as a barometer of life stages

This week I’ve been reviewing my current list of projects to decide on which pieces make sense to group together for an art show installation proposal. What strikes me most about my work right now, is the shift in perspective it has taken as I get older.

Rose-Inspired Mixed Media Quilt in Progress

I am firmly in my 50’s now and have become much more aware of the good and bad that come with the perspective of this particular life stage. I think a lot more about the ailments of older family members (from both the perspective of caring for them and also of what will be coming my way); I have become more aware of my bucket list of destinations (and am grateful to be able to take action to fulfill many of them); More practically, it is harder to thread a needle and more work to steadily paint a small detail.

I also notice I have more time but seem to get less done.

And I feel and appreciate the presence of a moment more fully.

As I ride this pendulum of feeling excited about my future and wistful for the past, I see my work for what it is right now. It reflects a full life while questioning what is to come. It risks personal vulnerability while embracing universal experiences.

I believe my work has become more beautiful from this older perspective. Or at least that is what I hope.

“[A]t mid-career, an artist is often maturing into a richer, more nuanced phase of their work.”

~ “The Challenges Female Artists Face Mid-Career” by Anna Louie Sussman

This 2019 Artsy.net article by Anna Louie Sussman struck me for its focus on the obstacles women face as professional artists at a point when their careers are really just getting started. In the beginning, there is that pre-career glow of building a body of work that is new and fresh to the art scene. You are “emerging”. But as an artist continues to grow and develop new techniques, and expand their style and philosophies, the art evolves with the artist. What happens when the art is emerging, but the artist is not? While there are some universal issues for women artists (in what has been traditionally a male-dominated field), each artist’s experience is still unique. We can share common struggles, (such as some stereotypes mentioned in the article - women artists as either old cat ladies who are note-worthy for still making art in their ‘70s or young, avant-garde, and emotionally erratic artists), while also forging our own paths.

For me, the short answer to “what happens” is - I’m still trying to figure that out.

I am grateful that my “mid-career” is hitting a little later in my life than artists who started their careers right after art school. I’ve already found this post-child-rearing and career-building plateau that provides time and stability to engage more thoughtfully with my work. It allows me to take more risks without burning myself out in the process.

However, it can be difficult at this phase of an art career to gain the backing required to move the art forward. I take notice of organizations specifically recognizing the needs of mid-career artists, instead of preferring to bolster the “emerging artists”. One such mentioned in the article above, was “Anonymous Was a Woman”. And while the article stated this grant was once for the forty-plus - it is now open to applicants eighteen and over (and is specific to environmental art). Still, it led me to the New York Foundation for the Arts, which now administers this award, and offers an array of resources for U.S. artists of all ages and career points, including an opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of mature artists with The Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award.

While looking further for professional acknowledgment of mid-career women artists - I find that older women are making their mark in other ways too, as noted in the inaugural “50 Over 50” 2021 article by Maggie McGrath in Forbes Magazine. The article highlights the accomplishments of fifty women over fifty, with several women in the arts (including): Kaywin Feldman, Director, National Gallery of Art; Jaki Shelton Greene, Poet; Faith Ringgold, Artist; Nathalie Stutzmann, Conductor.

As for me, while I feel the energy for my previous work dwindling, I am committed to building engagement in new work. And even though I continue to struggle, I stand on the foundations formed by the work of others to see a world of possibility ahead.

It is probably in that spirit that I pre-ordered the book, “The Story of Art Without Men” by Katy Hessel this week. (I also just started listening to her podcasts - especially enjoying the most recent episode (#102) about Sister Mary Corita which included readings from “10 rules” for the art department where she taught, created from her student contributions.)

A few of my favorite “10 Rules” (available at Corita.org)

Rule 1) Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while

Rule 4) Consider everything an experiment

Rule 6) Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail. There’s only make.

Rule 9) Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.

Helpful Hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything - it might come in handy later. There should be new rules next week.

And so I listen. And learn. And I am choosing to make new rules. And while I do, I feel the full history of the women artists behind me. I commit to recognizing their contributions and finding strength in their story.

I once again look around my studio and at the work before me. I narrow my focus. If I listen closely, I can see the most pervasive theme is wrapped in the passing of time and forgotten moments - mine, my mother’s. Family and friends. Ancestors. History itself. Like the bleached corals of the sea, colorful remnants of memories become but mere ghosts of what they were - only memorialized in the spiraling white, hardened creases weaving throughout the landscape. And yet, somehow, wrapping around each tendril of time, colorful strands of hope persist.

And as I once learned from A.O.C.¹ - Hope is a practice. It is something you create.

Embracing the art that comes with my age,

~ Jennifer

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Article Notes, Sources, and Audio File.

tl;dr - Jennifer is looking for insight as a mid-career artist who is struggling to make sense of new work while seeking out career opportunities.

Audio File Link of this article read by Jennifer (coming soon)

From the archives: Hope, Love, and the Creative Process

Mentions: Sister Mary Corita (artist)

References: “The Challenges Female Artists Face Mid-Career” by Anna Louie Sussman; Forbes Magazine, “50 over 50” by Maggie McGrath; “The Story of Art Without Men” by Katy Hessel; The Great Women Artists Podcast episode #102, “Nellie Scott on Sister Mary Corita”

Resources: “Anonymous Was a Woman”; New York Foundation for the Arts and The Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award; Corita.org “10 Rules”

1. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez shared her story of Hope on her Instagram Live, on August 18, 2020, from which I was so moved that I noted her words in my journal and shared via my first Substack article, “Hope, Love, and the Creative Process”.