I had a wonderful thing happen to me last week: I got accepted to the Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts)! I am absolutely thrilled. At 54 years old, it is a new adventure, but something I have wanted to do my entire adult life.
It feels a bit daunting – knowing that I will be attending classes with young, energetic souls with big dreams and bright futures. I believe my future is bright as well, but my interest in diving into post-secondary education again is purely for the love of learning. Honestly I can’t wait. I can’t wait to register for first year classes, receive a supplies list and explore the campus environment. I will be the gray-haired woman buying all the university merch – the sweatshirt, the scarf, the keychain – you name it. Go big or go home.
The biggest challenge may be choosing a major. AUArts offers many options, including visual arts, textile, sculpture and photography. Throughout my life I have gravitated toward painting, but more recently have found artistic expression in textile arts and photography. How will I ever choose? Luckily, the first year program is designed to help one decide on an area of focus, so I don’t have to make up my mind just yet.
Moonlight, hand-sewn textile, 2015 LSilver
In sharing my excitement, I hope it inspires you to think about what you want to learn next. It doesn’t have to be art! Is there a course you can take, a language to learn, or a new sport? Speaking of physical movement; did you know that the very best prevention against dementia is not word puzzles or intellectual games, as we so often hear? It is actually learning a new physical movement.
It’s never to late to start something. Laura Ingalls Wilder started writing at age 64. Anna Mary Robertson Moses (a.k.a. Grandma Moses) is one of the biggest names in American folk art, yet she only started painting at the age of 76 because her arthritis made embroidery (up to that point, her primary creative outlet) too difficult. Before gaining fame as an artist, Moses began to sell her oil paintings alongside pickles at county fairs.
Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison wrote her first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” at age 40, while she was working at Random House as an editor. She won her Pulitzer Prize when she was 56, and her Nobel Prize in Literature at 62.
It’s a new, beautiful day. What would you like to learn?
Art of Small Things 