With a successful art debut and a bachelor’s degree in Art from Pitzer College, freelance artist Perry Marks achieved his life dream after decades of pursuit.

Mr. Mark took part in the New Resources Program of Pitzer College, an initiative for diversifying the campus by offering scholarships to non-traditional age students. Now he is one of the graduating art major students whose work was included in TWELVE: Senior Art Exhibition, 2009. It opened at different Pitzer gallery locations on April 23rd.

Mr. Marks’s life reads like a modern bittersweet fairy tale. He was born on September 7th, 1958, into a comfortable middle-class family, but comfort and happiness were soon taken away. After the deaths of both his parents, he entered the Southern California foster system and, separated from his two sisters, lived in a string of homes in the area.

Since very early on, art was an escape for him. “It kept me focused on the positive things,” he said.

Life looked anything but positive and hopeful when the young Mr. Marks came across his case file one day. The note read, “A lost cause, will never amount to anything. I realized I was just a statistic in the system and that was the turning point for me.”

He graduated high school early, became the third emancipated minor in the state of California, and started a family with his high school sweetheart. But art remained an important part of his life. 

Just when he thought things were taking a good course, Mr. Marks faced new challenges. After his first wife died five years into the marriage, he turned to art once again. “It helped me keep going,” he said. 

A few years later, Mr. Marks remarried and had three daughters, who are in their teens now. Working at home as a freelance artist gave him the opportunity to spend time with his family and connect with his children on a deep level. This would later influence his art.

In 2005 Mr. Marks applied to the New Resources Program by submitting essays and artwork like any other prospective student and the scholarship. “I was well-aware of the Claremont Colleges, but I never thought they were viable for me,” he said, looking back. He explained that education had changed its value since the time he was a teenager. “When I was that age, the economy was mainly labor-based; you didn’t have to have an education to have a decent life. Now people need an education in order to attain the American Dream.”

As a “non-traditional age student,” Mr. Marks had the chance to add his wisdom to class discussions, sharing personal experiences his classmates never had. He was also fascinated with the creative power of the younger art majors. “Interacting with inspired students who haven’t been too jaded by life yet made me realize that I want to stay in this environment,” he said. After graduation in May he plans to teach art, while pursuing a Masters degree in Fine Arts at the Claremont Graduate University.

Mr. Marks described his experience at Pitzer as exclusively positive and very influential for his art. “It is a special place—unique and well worth it,” he said. He was impressed with the efforts for social awareness that permeate the campus. “Pitzer asks students to give back to the community, to be socially responsible, and apply the concepts they learn academically to the issues of the real world.”