?Follow your dreams? is advice everyone would love to take but many cannot for any number of reasons: marriage, children, mortgage, promotion prospects among them.

With none of these encumbrances, Bermudian Peter Lapsley has decided to celebrate entry into his 30s at the end of this month by embarking on a Master?s degree in Fine Art (MFA) at the prestigious Parsons New School of Design in Greenwich Village, New York City.

?Art is my passion. That is what makes me happy,? he says.

The fact that Mr. Lapsley does not have a Bachelor?s degree in Fine Arts (BFA) has been no impediment to his pursuit of the upper degree. In fact, he is one of just 23 successful applicants to be accepted into Parsons? MA degree programme in September. Nor does it faze him that he will be what is politely called a ?mature? student because there is no age limit among Master?s degree students, some of whom are in their 50s.

Instead, the former advertising account executive?s focus will be firmly fixed on acquiring the skills the two-year course will provide in order to achieve his twin goals of translating his passion for art into a full-time career, and through teaching to successfully instil that passion in his future students.

?The Master of Fine Arts programme is open to all mediums. It helps you to explore what is the best way for you to represent your ideas, which is brilliant. You can go there as a painter and come out with a very different understanding of a different medium, which is great. The core of it is to help you develop your ideas, which is what a Master?s programme does in any chosen discipline,? he says.

Currently director of the Bermuda Society of Arts, a post he relinquishes on July 28, Mr. Lapsley says that it was his nearly five years with the organisation, and his interaction with so many artists, that inspired him to seriously pursue his dreams, although he has always had a passion for the visual arts and took an elective art course at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia while majoring in anthropology.

?Here at the BSoA I have had to learn about art so I have really taught myself a lot. I feel as if I have done a practical Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree without having gone to college to do it, and I think that is reflected in my artist?s work resum?. Life experience counts for a lot. I have also discovered that I really like working with people. I have done things that a mentor does, but never really thought to label myself as such.?

To leave one?s ?comfort zone? and begin a new life, even if you are only 30, requires careful consideration of all of the ramifications, and most specifically the financial aspect of attending such a prestigious school where the fees are $55,000 a year. Like all prudent planners, however, Mr. Lapsley has been saving assiduously to meet his expenses, and has also applied for a variety of scholarships, grants and awards, some of which he hopes will bear fruit.

To his delight and relief, he received news this week that at least one application has been successful. He is the recipient of a $10,000 Bank of Butterfield Visual Arts award.

?A Master?s programme is a very costly affair, so the Bank?s generosity has provided a good, solid base from which to work,? he says.

This year, Butterfield Bank has both doubled the number of annual recipients of its Visual Arts Award and the value of those Awards (see separate story) ? something Mr. Lapsley is particularly pleased to see.

?The fact that the Bank has increased its support of the arts means they understand the worth of the visual arts, which is just fantastic,? he says.

Mr. Lapsley also pays tribute to the Bermuda Arts Council for its support over the years.

Acknowledging that there are ?not many scholarships and awards out there,? Mr. Lapsley reveals that, as director of the BSoA, he has received many calls from arts students seeking such assistance, and he is optimistic that more financial assistance will be forthcoming for future generations.

?I think Bermuda is evolving into a place that, hopefully, will have even more monetary support for artists. There are a lot of good artists now, but for the generation coming up I think the situation will be even better, and hopefully what I am doing will help to feed into that.?

Indeed, Mr. Lapsley is hoping that his decision to pursue his dreams, even at the ripe age of 30, will prove an inspiration to others.

Admitting that his decision was ?the hardest one I?ve ever had to make? because a career as a professional artist is precarious in terms of a guaranteed income, he is nonetheless convinced that he has made the right choice.

?If you are passionate about something then you will do it to the degree that that passion will come across in your work. People will recognise that passion and invest money into it. Consequently, it is an upward spiral, and you will be able to live doing what you love to do. That is my hope anyway.?

Meanwhile, the artist is looking forward to this evening?s opening of his solo exhibition ? a fitting end to his career at the Bermuda Society of Arts, in whose Edinburgh Gallery his work will be seen until August 11.

?I have never had my work on its own in a room,? he says. ?Having worked here for almost five years I have hung many exhibitions by a great many talented artists (and now it?s my turn).?

Entitled ?A Crowd of One?, the exhibition features paintings based on Mr. Lapsley?s on-going theme of a ?neutral? figure, which first appeared in the Anne Frank exhibition when he tried ?to express the idea that intolerance is such a negative thing?.

?From that point every other piece I have done has come from that,? he says.

?I have taken that figure and explored a lot of different ideas that I have ? the various groups we interact with, relationships we have or don?t have with people.

I am exploring the figure visually, and I don?t know when I will come to a point where I have done all that I can with it. Some have more meaning than others, but for me it is the meaning that the general public places upon it.

It has been very exciting, and this is the work I submitted when applying for the Masters programme at Parsons.?

Apart from giving the public a final chance to see this body of work ? at least for now ? the artist hopes for brisk sales of his paintings to help raise much-needed income toward his tuition fees, and to that end bids everyone welcome.