Arts and the Aging

My last field observation was at the IONA Center for the Aging in Tenleytown. The center provides adult day health care including, fitness and computer classes, Alzheimer's care, counseling and support groups. Depending on the day, the center brings in different activity leaders which include art activities and art lectures. In addition to these lectures and activities the center also has a full-time art therapist. On the day I visited, I observed an art history lecture. It was interesting to see the varying factors in participation. The first was that it was nearing the end of the day and many of the seniors in the lecture were quite tired. The second was that it was a group of mixed functionalities, some were quite coherent and involved in the conversation, while others I was later told, were further progressed into Alzheimer's and dementia. The third was that the topic was clearly one of interest to some members while other were merely there to pass some time before being picked up by their families for the day. I personally thought that this would be a very difficult task, managing to teach adults of varying abilities of comprehension, let alone teaching to people who have had 60+ years of experience and learning prior to that class. I hope to be able to go back to the center to observe an art therapy course and expand my horizons of what's out there in arts education.