Here & Now
Mae Orm, local artist and owner of Pinedale Art and Craft, leads the class.
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Madeleine Murdock (L) helping Margaret Olson (R).
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Here & Now
Julie Konicek (L) with Ruth Chesnovar(R)
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Here & Now
Shirley Mills (front)working with Jo Crandall.
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Nationwide grant helps PFAC expand community programming
by Pinedale Fine Arts Council
November 14, 2018
This fall, The Pinedale Fine Arts Council (PFAC) debuted a new series of community arts programming specifically targeted to local seniors. The new Elder Care Programs began in September with "Firsts – An Evening of Stories by Seniors" where 6 local seniors told long-form stories to a crowd of 70+ people on the Rendezvous Pointe stage. This past month, PFAC premiered its "Here & Now" program – a cognitive-based arts class where 11 seniors and a handful of volunteers gathered at the Sublette Center for an afternoon of still life-painting. Later in the month PFAC presented a similar class in Big Piney.
Hear and Now, which is instructed by local artist and owner of Pinedale Art and Craft Mae Orm, is designed to provide a supportive environment for seniors and their loved ones where they have a chance to experience sensory and intellectual stimulation, communicate through art, and explore various art media including paint, clay, collage and printmaking.
While PFAC has hoped to expand its community programming to target seniors for years, it was receiving funding from The Laura Jane Musser Fund, a nationwide granting organization, which finally got the ball rolling.
"PFAC has been providing free tickets to Sublette Center and the Southwest Sublette Pioneer Center for years," says Kari DeWitt, PFAC Director. "Seeing firsthand the positive benefits those performances have had on our senior population really got us to thinking that there was a lot more we could be doing for our elder population. To be awarded a national grant from the Laura Jane Musser Fund to launch these programs is quite an honor."
Established by the estate of Laura Jane Musser of Little Falls, Minnesota to continue the personal philanthropy, which she practiced in her lifetime, the Musser Grant is a very competitive grant, something PFAC knows all too well.
In addition to "Firsts" and "Here and Now, both of which are offered in Pinedale and Big Piney," PFAC will be premiering it’s third program "TimeSlips" this Spring. Tailored to seniors living with dementia "TimeSlips" uses visual art to open storytelling to everyone by replacing the pressure to remember with the freedom to imagine.
For more information on PFAC’s new Elder Care Programming visit pinedalefinearts.com.
Photos courtesy Pinedale Fine Arts Council
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