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March 4, 2005
Jewish teacher turns artist
Facing the prospect of retirement made easier with a love of watercolor.
LEN SHANE
So what do I do with myself when I retire? This is a question that
I anguished over in my last year of teaching and, yes, it was truly
a difficult process to go through. I am a husband, father of three
boys and long-term member of Richmond's Beth Tikvah Congregation.
Other than the usual ups and down of life, I managed to reach my
35th year of teaching elementary school successfully but now I had
"hit the wall" – my mind and body were telling me
it was time to pack it in.
I recalled those images from Gail Sheehy's book Transitions,
in which she followed a group of powerful CEOs who tried to make
the transition into retirement, some with immediate success and
others who simply got stuck in that no man's land that lay somewhere
between being somebody important, someone everyone looked up to,
to a person who had gone onto the next phase of their life and literally
had to redefine themselves. Well that was me, stuck in my last year
of teaching, knowing it was time to go but not believing it, totally
unsure of what this next chapter would look like. Here I'd spent
my whole career working from a daily plan where every minute, every
lesson was carefully laid out and I would always know what lay ahead.
Well, I came through this process and now, four years into retirement,
all is well.
What I found was that when I allowed myself quiet moments with nobody
else around, I was indeed able to confront the frightening reality
that I had to change hats and "move on." I literally came
to a place of peace with my decision, so much so that my last months
of teaching became amazingly pleasurable, as I recognized what I
had achieved in my career as a teacher and knew I was ready for
whatever would come next.
What came next was the reappearance of my love for art in my life.
I guess it all started when my fellow colleagues gave me a complete
set of paints and art gear at my retirement. They recognized something
I had failed to see in myself and, as it happened, the art went
on to play a pivotal role in what I believe to be a successful transition
into what we call retirement.
I've realized that we, as a society, get stuck on this word "retirement"
as it conjures up all kinds of images – Freedom 55, living
on the golf links, endless travelling and, for many of us, sitting
about hopelessly lost, not knowing what to do with ourselves, literally
afraid to recreate ourselves. I soon realized that to enjoy my days
as a retiree I had to feel alive, to find something to be passionate
about. I found myself searching for those experiences in my life
that made me feel just that, alive and passionate. Images came to
me of how, as a 12-year-old, my mother used to send me to her artist
girlfriend's house for weekly lessons, and how I got my first Brownie
box camera at my bar mitzvah and soon ended up having my own dark
room. I also recalled how, as a teacher, I had always loved to put
up as many bulletin boards as I could find to display my students'
writing and art.
Then there was Toastmaster's. Several years prior to retirement,
I joined a local speaking or Toastmaster's group, curious as to
how a person could get up and remember a 10-minute speech. Well,
what I discovered was that this was yet another place where I could
tap into my inner passions, for here, I could literally come to
life in front of an audience.
It seemed to all fit, and slowly, but surely, from that point on,
I began to put myself out there, displaying my work in local craft
fairs and getting my cards and paintings into numerous local art
shops, book stores, flower shops, and fine-dining restaurants. Lately,
I've found that this passion for expressing myself through art,
tutoring young children and getting out and speaking to merchants
and people about my art seems to be a force or energy that has really
come to life.
In the last month alone, I have gotten my art on the prestigious
international Jewish website www.kosherdelight.com
and, just recently, I got my art featured on a series of websites
for condominium rental companies who advertise Whistler all over
the world!
Also in February, the Beth Tikvah gift shop began selling my latest
painting, "Illumination," depicting the Wailing Wall and
the old city of Jerusalem, plus I've approached the Louis Brier
Home and Hospital about donating this same piece of work to the
home in order to give pleasure to the residents there.
My love for art and people has further helped me in the transition
into retirement because it gets me "out there," meeting
people, sharing my art, even learning to face rejection at times.
As my wife Linda said to me when I first started going to craft
fairs and was feeling dejected about my lack of sales, "Len,
you love your art and people, just go out and enjoy sharing it with
people and allow it to happen." Well, she was right, I changed
my attitude and the sales started to happen. By simply changing
how I approached my art, it brought a new vitality and energy to
my retirement experience. I now focus my days more around sharing
my passion for art with others and taking joy in watching them delight
in it, thus giving something and enriching the lives of others,
being a part of that circle that connects us all.
So what lies ahead for me? I can't truly say but I do know I've
got the formula to feel the passion I want in my days and my life.
I'm now doing Whistler-related art paintings, with the goal of getting
my work into the marketplace in anticipation of the 2010 Winter
Olympics and into the many condominiums up there. Lastly, I want
to follow my roots and do more paintings with a Jewish theme. Who
knows, maybe I'll even reach my next goal of having a showing of
my art at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.
They say life is a journey with many forks in the road, and from
what I can see I'm now firmly launched on a new path, the one of
teacher-turned-artist.
Len Shane is a Vancouver teacher-turned-artist. He can
be reached at 604-274-6923.
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