How late is too Late? Ask Grandma Moses.
I realized years ago that I wanted to be around art. I discovered that it didn’t matter if I was working for a gallery or for my mother representing her; I wanted to be around art. With careful self reflection, I understood that it wasn’t just the art but also the artists. At that time, I wasn’t ready to make art; any at all. Don’t get me wrong, I carried a sketch book but nothing else. I was burned out from my art degree and being told what I was going to create and how it was going to be created. I’m sure that isn’t what the college was trying to do but it is what I felt. For 10 years I chased people who created art and supported them rather that doing my own art.
Eventually, I went into business for myself in something creative and found my way to doing art. Unlike my mother, I didn’t actually commit to being a person who sold their art until over 14 years ago. The narrative is important information because it helps people understand that I came to this later in life. I always felt that I had sacrificed those early years supporting my mother’s career but recently I have been looking at my mentors. It isn’t just about what they have accomplished, or where they are in their careers but also where they are standing in their life journey.
Many of my mentors consider themselves too old to keep doing shows. Several of them only send work away and travel to gallery openings and many of them have stopped creating their art and work on community projects instead. Then there is Valeria Yost, one of my greater inspirations and mentors right now. Valeria was doing shows and contacted me before COVID about a show she had to cancel because her husband had fallen ill. When COVID resolved itself enough to open things up the country, I tried the show she mentioned. It didn’t turn out the way I had hoped and let her know about how it went. She was still in Clearwater ID, taking care of her failing husband. She was still painting, she is published by Wild Wings but she wouldn’t leave his side and didn’t until the end.
Here we are in the year 2026, she has relocated with her children and is now an hour and a half away. She is ready to move forward and has taken brave steps and is doing things that I wouldn’t have attempted to do in my 40’s let alone in my 70’s or older. She called me at 7:15 Friday morning all excited about a show she had gotten into. Practically bursting out of her skin like a 5 year old on Christmas morning, she had to tell someone as soon as she got the email. Tripping over herself with apologies for the early call (I had been up for an hour and a half already), bouncing up and down; she wanted to tell me about it. She was so shocked, and yet I wasn’t because she has worked so hard and is so accomplished with what she does.
Why does her story matter? Here I am; working to lose weight, get my body mobility back and fight the stiffness that comes with age so that I can keep moving forward with my art career. I was looking at all of those artists who were slowing down thinking it was an inevitability and I should have been looking at people like Valeria who prove it is not. Slowing down and stopping is a choice; retirement is too and maybe I should stop looking at when it should end and consider that I am creating exit signs when there is still plenty of road left for me to travel. I’ve been working to make sure I can get down the road, why not see how far I can go? So here is to Janene Grende who just got a full 10×20 display, come on the road with us. You should be in the same show with Valeria, you have worked hard and you deserve to be there. You have been an inspiration too, Let’s check out the horizon. Are you ready?