Bringing VTS-based discussions about art to local assisted-living or senior housing venues is a worthwhile and stimulating experience for older adults. Also, seniors in local memory-care facilities have benefited from the kind of creative expression sparked by the initial question: "What's going on in this picture?".
Unlike the typical "UnPACking Art" events at Petaluma Arts Center where attendees are in a gallery setting, attendees in Creative Aging visits are provided individual handouts of the images to be discussed so that all participants can have their own up-close view, addressing both mobility and vision challenges.
Please complete the form in the link below to book a date for Creative Aging to come to your facility.
Creative Aging
Reflections from Lydia Assilen, Creative Aging volunteer
“What’s going on in this picture?” This is the first question that launches any of PAC’s Creative Aging discussions about art, based on the precepts of Visual Thinking Strategies. VTS brings people together to wonder about art, using images that are specifically chosen for their implied narrative and sense of ambiguity. This ambiguity fuels spirited dialog as the second question—“What do you see that makes you say that?”—is posed, designed to draw out evidence-based observations.
When PAC began its Creative Aging programming at the beginning of 2022, I used this painting by Joan Brown as the initial introduction to our senior audiences, thinking it would elicit comments about love and loss, memory and longing. What I wasn’t prepared for were the numerous observations and musings on the dog’s role, the fact that the musical notes were actually gibberish, and that, just perhaps, the painting illustrated a truism about their current residential facility, where the women were more interested in their pets than the men. The beauty of these VTS-based discussions is that they will go anywhere, based on the participants’ observations. No two sessions are alike.
Now, ten months into the Creative Aging Program, PAC volunteers have held over 30 discussions, in five different senior facilities in Petaluma, and touched almost 250 seniors. The level of engagement, the sense of community, and the pure joy of some seniors at having someone ask them for their opinion has been tremendously rewarding to see.
We have also embarked on these discussions on a regular basis in two memory care facilities, and have been bowled over by the participation. Some interactions have even brought us close to tears. One non-verbal resident, in one session, shook her head “no” at every image we showed, until the last image was brought in front of her. Her eyes lit up, and she said “like!” Then she ran her hand over the image, and said “Texture!” What a special moment to witness. In another group, a painting we showed triggered a conversation about what sounds everyone remembered from their childhoods.
I believe every one of the volunteers working with these senior groups will say they have experienced as much personal enrichment as they’ve imparted.It has been a wonderful journey.
