Artist keeps promise to live dream

By Vanessa Renderman
Features Editor

Victoria Stetler’s love for art began when she sculpted a horse out of soap for a national competition in fourth grade. Now in her 40s, she’s a student at Purdue, making sacrifices to reach the dream she promised herself.

"As I got older, I made a promise to myself that when the children were raised, I was going to enroll in Purdue," Stetler said.

It might mean having to stay up until two in the morning doing dishes because there isn't enough time during the day, but Stetler doesn’t mind.

"When you’ve waited till you’re 40 to even start this, you have a ravenous appetite to learn," she said.

Stetler, who works 30 hours a week as a hairdresser, has been taking two classes a semester at Purdue for nearly the past 10 years. It’s important for her to keep one foot in the real world and still allow herself the creativity she needs to express herself.

"Life is about trading off," she said. "You always do one thing to do another."

But trying new things can be scary.

The first time Stetler walked into a classroom, it was scarier than anything she'd ever done. She assumed that because everyone was younger they were brighter and quicker. But then she realized she had something they didn’t — perseverance and an uncomplicated life.

Most students have complicated lives; their minds aren't focused on only school.

"It’s just a totally different lifestyle," Stetler said. "For the first four or five weeks, you really stand out."

As the semester progressed, students started talking to her about her work. While some students bring energy to class; Stetler brings a different perspective, she says, because she has experienced life already.

"At my age, if it takes 10 times, it takes 10 times," she said. "Your goals are often times different than academic."

And if anyone is going to learn a lesson from that, it's one of her kids. Two of her children go to Purdue, and were between 25 and 30 when they decided to enroll. Stetler says it's supportive to have multiple people from her family in college at the same time.

It gets weird when Stetler has class with her kids. She tells them not to tell anyone that she's their mom because she doesn't want people to know.

Other parts of her life mix into her art.

A couple of Stetler's paintings hang on the walls in the salon where she styles hair. The people she meets there and the stories they tell help broaden her knowledge of what is important to people.

She hears regrets from her customers — "Oh my God. I wish I had done that … I wish I had the guts" — they often say about her courage to follow her dream of being an artist. But her theory is that if she doesn’t try, then failure is a given.

"For the first 40 years, you keep quiet and listen, and the next 40 you have things to say," she said.

"Being an artist gives you a larger voice. How could a housewife from Indiana affect the world?" Stetler says that, for her, it's through art.

In her art, she uses a glazing technique that makes the painting glow. Stetler prefers traditional art — painting it and looking at it. "When I look at (art), I don't have 45 minutes to contemplate what it means — a green stripe and a red dot. I have a healthy respect for those who can," she said.

But Stetler says all art returns to tradition somehow. "You look backwards to go forwards. With any art, it goes way out in left field and then always returns to tradition. And then you take that tradition as far as you can go," she said.

Other art inspires artists, she says. "Everything in art says something. You can say something very poignant very simply."

Stetler faces the same struggles as every artist. She doesn't always like her work. But she also recognizes that she's not the only audience. "I've done work that I think is terrible, and people love it," she said.

The biggest problem, she says, is deciding when it's finished. She compares the process of painting to having a lover. "You love him and you hate him, and you keep going back," she said.

Spending so much time focusing on details can make her actually lose track of time. She'll start painting at 8 a.m., she'll look up, and it'll be nearly 2 p.m. "It's so intense," she said.

But it's the intensity that she wants. She doesn't want to be a student who goes through college just to earn a degree. "You can go through your classes, but if you want your education, as opposed to your degree, you have to go after it," she said.

Stetler says she's so eager to learn that she'll ask a question four years in a row until she can find someone who knows the answer.

Another way to go after a career in art is by participating in shows. It costs some money, but Stetler says showing her art is worth it. "If you don't show your work, no one knows it's there," she said.

Stetler has had work on display at the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, Munster Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Lafayette Savings Bank and Purdue.

Having art on display gives people a chance to give her feedback. At some undergraduate shows, she can get feedback from peers and professors that have never seen her work before. One of the problems with showing art is being able to transport the paintings that can sometimes be quite large.

She says it's good to have her art on display because it makes her feel like she's going in the right direction.

The direction she eventually wants to head is toward the field of medical illustrating. When she was in seventh grade, she saw paintings of the human body and was amazed. She is enrolled in a medical drawing class at Purdue.

But if Stetler ends up doing something else, she's prepared. "Don't plan too far down the road; get ready for it, but you never box yourself in because that also limits you," she said, adding that she may go to graduate school if the opportunity rolls around.

Stetler has sold some of her work and has some of it hanging up at work because the paintings were too large to bring home.

She has worked with other forms of art, including ceramics. "That's a door I want to leave open," she said.

Stetler says anyone can become proficient in something if they have the drive. Her advice to other students is to be proud of their art. "You should never be afraid to put your name on it," she said. "If you're afraid, then it's because you're not secure; if you're embarrassed, then you know it's not what you're capable of.

"Take one more chance. You may lose it, but you also may get it."

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Features editor: Vanessa Renderman

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