A few years ago I named a painting Use My Sky. I don’t know where the name came from. It just did. It appeared and it felt right. It wasn’t a blue painting, but that didn’t matter. It was my sky, my vision. As time goes by, my vision changes. At the moment, my sky is open. No boundaries, no rules, no script. Things are changing for me now and I have no idea if I can verbalize anything. I will try.
I am an artist. I paint. I have been teaching, mostly drawing, at the Art College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the past twenty years. Due to someone’s view (not mine) I am now about to face mandatory retirement. To make room for younger, fresher, less experienced teachers (yes, I’m not happy about it). My students have organized a brigade to argue on my behalf, to express their appreciation of my teaching skills and to try to override a rather archaic/immoral rule. They went to the President, the Vice-President, the Dean of Academic Affairs, and finally, to the Division Chair of the Fine Arts Department. All to no avail, it seems. It feels very good to know that the people who really make a school, the students, care and are willing (and eager) to challenge the rules to keep me teaching.
Yet as of December 15 my life will be uncertain. Several students asked me, in the hall a few days ago, how I felt about it. They all know I would prefer not to stop teaching. I said I have mixed feelings. I am looking forward to more time to paint. I’m looking forward to being able to stay home on cold, snowy, storming days, not having to drive into Halifax in bad weather at seven in the morning. I will miss the students, the fashion shows, the tattoos, their ideas, their projects, their work. I will miss the paycheck. I’m not predicting the weather. I can only hope for more sales. I can only hope for clear skies.
Posted by leya at December 1, 2006 06:10 PMThat is absolutely outrageous. Why is it that schools -- which love to spread the notion that they are the true defenders of freedom and thought and human values -- all too often turn out to be rigid defenders of mindless bureaucracy. Ah, yes, of course, there are rules...
During this past spring semester I enrolled in a continuing education art course at RISD. I approached this with much trepedation because I work in the realm of computer software and here I was daring to take a course at one of the top art schools in the world. It turned out to be one of the most interesting and challenging and rewarding courses I have ever taken. The teacher (a RISD professor and a talented artist) was not a young man -- in fact, he was perhaps four or five years younger than I am (and I'm 63) -- and I would certainly hope that RISD would never seek to push this amazingly talented teacher out of the classroom merely because of something as meaningless as age.
As I noted, I am 63 -- and I do not plan on retiring from my current occupation in software training until I am 68 or 69 (at which time I will probably do some part-time consulting and writing or perhaps teach as adjunct faculty at a college). It would be illegal here in the U.S. for an employer to force retirement based on age (except for certain occupations where there are age rules such as airline pilot, police officer, etc.)
Good luck.
Posted by: Jim at December 4, 2006 10:09 AMThanks Jim. I’m sure I will have more to say on this subject soon! It’s a major change in my life, albeit not the kind I would ask for.
Posted by: Leya at December 4, 2006 06:35 PMIt seems everyone in the work force is facing uncertainty and change.
I hope this new beginning in your life is a beautiful one.
Blessings!
Merry Christmas
Love Jeanne
Ontario Canada
Thanks for your good wishes, Jeanne.
Posted by: Leya at December 7, 2006 06:01 PM