We are excited to announce that the Creative Aging Calgary Society Board has decided to select “Isolation” as the mandate for our organization’s work this year. Whether you are or work with an older adult that is isolated physically or psychologically, we hope to use creative activity in the form of Pop Up Art Sessions to decrease isolation.
Over the past year, we have hosted numerous pop art sessions in a variety of formats across the city for isolated older adult populations. We explored different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to ensure we experienced a good sample size of the type of older adults that would benefit the most from our “Pop Art” Sessions.
The concent of Pop Art came to be after hearing from participants of a Senior Housing Forum in 2018, with many older adults approaching our Creative Aging Board Members inquiring about how they could inject some creative activities into their lives. They were willing to do the activities but did not know where to start. They were often low-income, had mobility issues, or language barriers.
We decided to create a 6-week curriculum where each week we would go to the independent living facility to host a pop-art session. We invited local artists to share their craft, and the resulting activity always incited humour, shared memories, and wonderful narratives. The unexpected result of the pop art session was the conversation between the residents that lived in the same independent housing building but had never talked to one another before. It was magical to witness. They shared stories, tips, and were able to brainstorm other creative activities they could participate in.
The types of activities we engaged in were low-cost, easy to implement, and required little artistic experience. We also covered a variety of artistic activities to ensure the participants got to engage with different creative art forms.
In one of our recent projects, the seniors were so excited that one of the residents was inspired to create an art nook in their common room. They would all pitch in a bit of money for supplies so that anyone feeling creative and go and pick up a canvas and start painting.
Our projects included:
- Intuitive painting
- Planting and painting potted plants
- Birdhouse design
- Body drumming and rhythm
- Photo and surprise walk in the park
- Collaborative Mural
Stay tuned as we continue to bring art projects to seniors to improve physical and mental health.