This Artist has gone BTS and with “Time is On My Side” - Tara J. Agen
“BTS” was a cycle of innovation in my corporate career that delivered new PCs and Printers for ‘back to school’ sales and promotions. In late August, I embarked on a second higher education journey at Pratt Institute/PrattMunson to pursue my Bachelor of Fine Arts in art. With a spirit of lifelong learning, my decision to return to school, again, and improve my artistic capabilities and skills has truly pushed me to feeling that courageous feeling again in my lifetime.
Orientation was not what I expected. In my corporate career, I grew to know so many colleagues across the 52,000-person Fortune 100 company, that anywhere I traveled for the company or anytime I went into my office, I knew many people. At Pratt, I know…no one…except for the Admissions counselor that I met with when considering Pratt. At orientation, even though there was a course on teaching diversity before classes started, I was asked frequently where my ‘kid’ was…from check-in to the art gallery tour to campus security. 😊 At those moments, I found myself being looked at oddly and for the first time in a long time, I really felt my age. There were times in life, and especially my career, that I felt’ ahead of my time,’ ‘a futurist,’ a ‘predictable transformer that could not wait for then and do it now.” For that first week, I was courageously confronted with my age.
As a positive thinker, I know that time will grant me an opportunity where classmates, faculty, and administrators see me as me…in embracing new challenges, learning and growing with drawing, sculpture, light, color, and other design challenges, and showing the way to be what you want to be, no matter what your age. For those who know me, I am really humbled by this journey and the next chapter and yes, I will find at least one or two friends to collaborate, create, and learn with.
Navigating my campus, my new studio assignments, and yes, even a few academic courses (although I had a few credits/courses transferred). My fellow classmates and professors are all younger than me and they see I am a blend of eagerness and grace. I have tried to contain my abundance of excitement to learn and do more of what I love…art; From my LCD (Light, Color, Design) to my Space, Form, and Process (sculpture) to my Visualization/Representation class (drawing and painting), I am immersing myself in why I truly challenged myself to go back to school, improve my skills and capabilities as an artist. Absorbing new techniques, exploring alternative perspectives, and understanding how to create, at a deeper/more knowledgeable level, is why I am here.
Bei My age is not a barrier, but a badge of honor — it will help me be more critical in my thinking and doing. It is a testament to a life lived fully, with big challenges along the way that did not set me back, or kill me, literally. This chance to live larger and be more me is my biggest desire with a level of determination that I now know why I have.
My artistic next chapter and my “why’ Pratt Institute experience will transcend the conventional narrative of education, art school, and the timing of structured learning. It will bypass what classmates and professors think of me. It will help others, friends, family, former colleagues, and new people I meet along this way, to live with more curiosity and purpose, both in their current career and how to think about what is possible and next. I want it to be a testament to the enduring power of passion, focus, hard work with a purpose, and the limitless potential of human creativity and spirit, no matter what age. Many artists ‘start’ their road to more incredible work at a later age in life. As I draw, paint, and sculpt today as a student, and tomorrow as a more visible and elevated artist into my 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, I want to fully embrace my creative journey with curiosity and artistic expression that knows no age limits — I want to show that any journey can be embarked upon at any stage of life. 😍 As the Rolling Stones sang: “Time Is On My Side” and I want to prove that, too.
