Seniors in the Studio

By: Mindy Alexander, School Programs Coordinator, KW|AG

It has been an honour to spend time with the residents of Winston Park, Schlegel Villages during the Seniors in the Studio program, which started in January 2014. Each of the 18 sessions starts with about a focus on the artwork in the current exhibitions, on display at the time at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery.

Taking a moment to reflect on the project in process.

Making adjustments.

Discussions about the artwork often elicit memories about the participants’ lives, which add an extra layer of meaning to the artworks. For instance, the gallery is currently exhibiting photograms by Michael Flomen that have been created in natural environments at nighttime. One of the pieces, called High Ground, has white circles on a black background and was created with the help of fireflies exposing light-sensitive paper. One of the residents was reminded of being a child in Germany and watching bullets flying overhead, aimed at war planes passing by.

Pleased with the results.

After some coffee, tea, and cookies, we dive into some art making inspired by the artwork we’ve just seen. For instance, in response to the repetitive tiles found in the artwork by Yefim Ladinshky, in Extraordinary Folk: Selections from the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Collection of International Naïve Art, we made mosaics using ceramic and glass tiles.

There’s always help on hand for those trickier projects.

Close up of mosaic making in the early stages.

It’s coming together nicely.

A reception to celebrate the artwork made during this program was held on Wednesday June 25, 2014 in the recently renovated Community Access Space at KW|AG. Here, we saw the incredible range and quantity of work this group of seniors produced over the course of the 18 sessions.

Art created by seniors during the program on display for the celebration.

More example of the work made during Seniors in the Studio.