The Arts and Older Adults

Valerie Kimpton

Visual Arts

Working at the West Island Women’s Centre, my home studio and the Hudson Community Centre with older students is a great experience for me; I love seeing them light up as they step away from their usual lives into the play of my workshops. I am older too (58) so have also walked this path. I notice how these students always appreciate my workshops as they are very open to trying new ways of working and I am flexible in turn to working with the particular needs of different groups. The more mature student is also wonderfully more individual and I really welcome this. Finally, it must be said, that an important objective for me is to support the community through my workshops and this is so important for the older population as families evolve and more people are living alone.

Sample workshop:

My workshops are adaptable to the group’s interests. I do not expect students to have any experience in art making (collage, drawing, monotype, painting, and more) and I combine art making with breath work/mindfulness and gentle movement if desired so that we tap into our creative selves. I focus on themes of self-care and how we can manifest this discovery through art. We make what I call reflection cards that are meant to remind us after the workshop is over of the process of self-discovery and the kindling of self-kindness. I use different starting points for imagery to work from nature, still life, short journal texts, and other traditional subjects. The art experience I share is rooted in traditional materials and methods with a view to contemporary practice. I want every student to enjoy the practice of art more than the product- methods like blind contour, are used so the student can focus on the process over the result.

Materials:

Heavy paper, scissors, pencils, paint; I have most of these available.

Listed with:

ArtistsInspire

Available for:

In-person workshops, On-line workshops

Language(s) of facilitation:

English, French

Contact:

ensemble4arts@gmail.com

514-220-4379

Montérégie

Land Acknowledgement

ELAN is an official minority language organization within a country that recognizes two languages as official. ELAN is located in Tiohtià:ke, the original name for Montreal in Kanien’kéha, the language of the Mohawk—also known as Mooniyang, which is the Anishinaabeg name given to the city by the Algonquin. While we are based in this city, our projects have also taken place in many regions across Quebec.

We acknowledge the colonial origin of English and French in Canada, and recognize that both languages benefit from official status throughout the land. The province that we know as Quebec is an amalgamation of the traditional territories of the Innu and Inuit nations, Algonquian nations, as well as the Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kanien’kéha and Anishinaabemowin are but two of the original languages of this province; Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, and Innu-aimun are also among the many Indigenous languages spoken across Quebec as majority languages, all well before French and English.

ELAN acknowledges the important work being done by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to revive the traditional languages of these territories, and their advocacy for the official status of Indigenous languages.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.