{"id":1683,"date":"2018-02-27T14:35:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T19:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maryahernartist.com\/art-blog\/?p=1683"},"modified":"2018-02-27T14:35:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T19:35:00","slug":"what-i-did-after-art-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryahernartist.com\/art-blog\/what-i-did-after-art-school\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Did After Art School"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned in a previous post<\/a>, Professor Louis Finkelstein,<\/a> the Art Department Chairman abruptly walked out on me at my senior thesis show when I mentioned that I was about to be a single mom declaring it to be impossible that I could also be an Artist. He previously had offered to sponsor me to the notable, Robert Pincus-Witten<\/a> for a Whitney Museum Graduate Fellowship program but suddenly I was anathema. That event took my breath away for quite some time until I began to gather the pieces of me that felt flayed and strewn to the wind.<\/p>\n

So what did I do to salvage my heart and soul? Since 4 years of art school didn’t train me for anything remotely connected with making a living, I knew I needed more education. I also found out that if you worked at a college your tuition was free. So I made a list of colleges I wanted to attend & found a job in the career services office at Barnard College. During my lunch hours, I attended computer programming classes at Columbia School of Engineering. Going from such intense right brain to left brain work was so difficult it often physically hurt.<\/p>\n

Barnard at the time was a bastion of feminism and my boss, Martha Green guided me and untold numbers of other women into successful and rewarding careers based upon skills which, I for one did not know I had. She recognized in me untapped horizons and restored my confidence.<\/p>\n

\"1986

Mary Ahern demonstrating the Chyron Chameleon electronic paint system 1986 at the Cablevision television studio in Woodbury New York<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the support and direction I received from the women surrounding me at Barnard, I launched my career into sales, because that’s where the money was, and computers, because that’s where the future was. I zig-zagged my career in computers over the years to capitalize on my Fine Arts degree by selling computer graphics equipment to the creative departments in the television broadcast and industries. My art helped me sell those systems.<\/p>\n

So here I am, still painting, still an Artist, proud of having supported and raised my sons on my own. Now I work every day in my studio surrounded by the gardens I created that inspire my Art.<\/p>\n

I kept my eyes and ears open and when one mentor slammed the door another mentor opened it for me so I could charge through. Success is the sweetest revenge. Thank you Martha!<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/a>

Mary Ahern’s studio. Still painting after all these years!<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned in a previous post, Professor Louis Finkelstein, the Art Department Chairman abruptly walked out on me at my senior thesis show when I mentioned that I was about to be a single mom declaring it to be …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10,145],"tags":[170,176,183,177,13,43,266],"class_list":["post-1683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-education","category-business-of-art","category-musings","tag-art-education","tag-business-of-art","tag-career-changing","tag-digital-art","tag-dream-chasing","tag-influences","tag-musings"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat I Did After Art School - Art Naturally<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Professor Louis Finkelstein, the Art School Department Chairman abruptly walked out on me at my senior thesis show when I mentioned that I was about to be a single mom declaring it to be impossible that I could also be an Artist. 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