'Old In Art School': An MFA Inspires A Memoir Of Age
Upon retiring from Princeton University at age 64, historian Nell Irvin Painter decided to pursue a second career in visual art among students a third of her age.
At the age of 64, when some retired people would look at brochures for cruises, Nell Irvin Painter — professor emeritus of American history at Princeton University — decided to go to art school.
This wasn't just an adult extension course. First, she went to the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers for a new bachelor's degree, and then Rhode Island School of Design for her MFA. She is now a real-life, income-producing , and has written a memoir about going to art school with students a third her age, and how art
