"A thing of beauty is a joy forever," said Jane.
Lower New York, The Bridge in Winter
Leon Kroll, 1915
Oil on canvas
Deborah & Ron
Every session is special and dear to my heart. However, what made this particular session especially special was author, speaker and creativity catalyst Deborah Shouse came to visit the program with her partner Ron Zoglin. Deborah and Ron are storytellers who travel around the United States and other countries to share their memoirs (dealing hands on with Alzheimer's) and their support with Alzheimer's Associations, caregiver groups, and other organizations that serve people with Alzheimer's disease. They also host creativity workshops. Deborah recently published a book in November 2013, Love in the Land of Dementia: Finding Hope in the Caregiver's Journey. Both Deborah and Ron are wonderful, sweet people and were such a joy to talk and do art with. They kept us smiling and laughing in the galleries and studio the entire time. Please read Deborah's personal reflection of her and Ron's time visiting Art Focus at her blog Deborah Shouse Writes:
http://deborahshousewrites.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/focusing-on-art-and-drawing-on-memory/
http://deborahshousewrites.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/focusing-on-art-and-drawing-on-memory/
In the gallery...
Think - Pair - ShareOne of the challenges of the the program is keeping each participant engaged and focused during our gallery time. In the past we hired teaching artists to come in and perform a gallery talk or lecture to the participants about a painting or piece of artwork. The format is common and works well for a small group who interested in art history, however |
I am always looking for ways to keep the program fresh and also explore possible areas for growth, keeping the participants and care partner's best interests in mind. And while watching teaching artists over the years I realized that during the lecturing some participants in the back were falling asleep or having a hard time hearing the talk. Moving forward with this information, I decided to try out the Think, Pair, Share learning method with the group.
This method not only involved everyone in conversation but also invited continued talk about observations others had maybe overlooked or already questioned. |
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After listening to everyone I began to ask questions based off of their reflections. A woman sitting in the front said, "I see boats on the water." I then asked, "Does anyone know what type of boat that is?" A man in the back answered, "Tug boats!" I asked him why he said that and he did not reply. So I moved to the next question, "Where do you think the boats are?" "It looks like New York!" somebody yelled. "Has anyone been to New York?" I replied after a couple people were done discussing why it looked like New York. Then, the same man in the back spoke up and said "we marched through there and got right on a boat."
In the studio...
In the past we have presented a step by step/ follow along art project for the participants during the studio time. This format is wonderful if your goal is for all the participants to leave the session with art that usually ends up looking very similar to everyone else's art in the room and almost identical to the instructors artwork.
Reflecting over this teaching style I began to reevaluate it's effect and also see if it follows in line with the programs goals and perspective outcomes. In March of 2014 I lead this program with a group of 37 participants. I was curious to see how everyone would respond to a completely open ended format, so that is what I planned. In the studios I asked everyone to draw a special moment either from a personal memory or something imagined. Unfortunately it did not go well. Many people were confused and others complained that they had no artistic ability to create on their own. One care partner even confronted me and asked if I had any experience with these people because my teaching style is ineffective. I learned a lot from that day.
A step by step style and an open studio style are two opposite teaching methods and neither of them were producing the outcome that I had hoped. So I developed an art project that meets somewhere in between both styles: Controlled Open Studio.
Reflecting over this teaching style I began to reevaluate it's effect and also see if it follows in line with the programs goals and perspective outcomes. In March of 2014 I lead this program with a group of 37 participants. I was curious to see how everyone would respond to a completely open ended format, so that is what I planned. In the studios I asked everyone to draw a special moment either from a personal memory or something imagined. Unfortunately it did not go well. Many people were confused and others complained that they had no artistic ability to create on their own. One care partner even confronted me and asked if I had any experience with these people because my teaching style is ineffective. I learned a lot from that day.
A step by step style and an open studio style are two opposite teaching methods and neither of them were producing the outcome that I had hoped. So I developed an art project that meets somewhere in between both styles: Controlled Open Studio.
A Controlled Open Studio is an art project that begins with a planned foundation (in technique, style, art materials, and content) and ends in individuality through personal exploration, creativity and imagination.
For whatever reasons, I was having a difficult time coming up with a new art project for this session. We all have those days of dry creativity... that week just happened to be mine. After a couple hours of sketching and researching new materials online I began to realize that I was making this whole process so much more complicated than it needed to be. Taking a walk in the gallery to clear my mind I decided to go back to the basics and create an art project around what I know: beauty. My personal art practice studies healing through beauty within the arts - something I think applies to this program. Next, I printed out pictures of local bridge scenes that the participants may have driven by on their way to the museum or perhaps visited at some point in time. I hoped that by having those visuals in front of them maybe a couple participants would identify the scene. When everyone was comfortably seated in the studios I vaguely described our project goal - to make a bridge scene. Taking an oil pastel I had everyone outline the pencil lines on their piece of paper and then lead them in a basic bridge drawing. I then demonstrated how tempera cake paint can be painted over oil pastels without effecting the lines made by the pastels. After I invited the group to finish their artwork by drawing | Looking at Kroll's painting I decided to mimic the content and have the group paint a calm and pretty bridge scene using tempera cake paints and oil pastels. Before everyone arrived for the session I took a pencil and lightly drew three lines on all the white paper. One pencil line outlined the horizon and the other two outlined the river boarders. I've found that a lot of the participants are more likely to be uncomfortable making their first mark on a blank piece of paper. Laying down a simple guideline for them acts as that foundation or starting off point for them to build on. |
and painting other images (such as mountains, trees, flowers, animals, the sky...) that they would imagine or see at a bridge scene. While the participants were beginning to place their individual touches on their artwork I would ask a series of guided questions to jump start their creativity. "What season is your bridge in?", "What time of day is it?" "Are their people nearby?" , "What material is your bridge made out of?" , "Is the water large enough to sail on? or small enough to sit down and enjoy watching the lily pads?" I then encouraged them to share with the person next to them what they are drawing and why. Soon people were sharing ideas, painting techniques, and later - stories.
There was one particular woman who came to the program with a residents facility. During the gallery time she kept to herself and later barely said a word in the studios. I tried a handful of times to engage her in conversation however she wasn't in the mood. As the studio time progressed she began to place individualized touches on her piece of paper. Already thinking that I wouldn't have an interaction with her today I heard her say while painting her picture, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Not realizing that she just quoted from memory a poem, her care partner looked at her and said, "Well that's a nice things to say, Jane." I immediately walked over to Jane and asked if she likes poetry. She didn't answer me with words but her eyes sparkled and she smiled. Thankfully, Endymion was a favorite poem of mine in college. Looking at Jane I finished the verse for her. Still smiling she looked at me and replied, "Yes."