BRATTLEBORO — Residents at the Garden Path Elder Living community at Brattleboro’s historic Bradley House displayed a variety of handmade artistic creations at a resident art gala.
Showcasing their creativity across a variety of mediums, the resident art included works created during in-house art programs, as well as independently crafted selections. Desserts and treats, mostly provided by the residents’ friends and relatives, were served at the Feb. 26 gala.
Garden Path hosts a variety of artistic enrichment programs for residents, and launched the art gala as a way to encourage their creativity, and offer a space to showcase their artistic expression, said Director Michael Jones.
“We have a lot of interesting people who live at Bradley House who naturally are artists, and we had this idea to compile their art and put it on display,” said Jones. “A lot of the art that they’ve made over the years was already here, sitting in their rooms or in closets, and we thought it would be fun to make an event out of it. We have weekly art classes here, and a lot of what is on display was made in-house, and other creations were brought from their lives before the Bradley House. We feel that it is important to give them every opportunity to express themselves artistically.”
Jones estimated that between 50 to 60 art pieces were on display, which were made by 12-15 residents.
Activities Director Tami Traft said that it was rewarding to see the pride residents have in their artistry.
“They are proud of their work, and it has been very nice to see them bringing out their favorite pieces. There are dolls, paintings, sculptors, needlework artists, and all different types of art on display that they have made,” said Traft. “I’m new to working here, and as an artist myself, it has been really exciting to see this come to fruition. It has really been a community event that everyone is excited about, and all hands were helping.”
Jones said the resident art gala may succeed as an annual event in later years.
Resident Walter Schwarz has lived at Garden Path for six years, and displayed a model airplane he had built. Schwarz, a United States Army Air Corps veteran and former pilot, said he has loved aviation and model airplanes for his entire life, and chose to display his love of aviation during the gala.
“My entire life, or at least up until the age of 60, has been taken up by aviation. I was born in 1926, two decades after [Orville and Wilbur Wright] first got off the ground. I made my first model in the third grade, a model of a Gee Bee race plane,” said Schwarz. “Back then, my father told me that he would give me five dollars if I can make one that flies. Back then during the Great Depression, that was a lot of money. What I’m showing today is such a simple project, but it is always nice to be able to show off a little. The workmanship is alright, and I got it painted up and decorated.”
Resident Patricia Propster has lived at Garden Path for four years, and is known by her fellow residents for the hand-knitted scarves and accessories she has gifted her neighbors, many of whom were wearing her creations at the gala. Propster, an artistic jack-of-all-trades, displayed a variety of pieces across multiple artistic disciplines, including paintings, hand-made dolls, knitted art and her signature crochet fashion.
“I have pretty much been an artist my whole life. My grandma taught me to crotchet, and my sister taught me to knit when I was 14,” said Propster. “It is good therapy, and the people here are my family.”
Propster said her knitting, along with others’, can be purchased at the Brattleboro Senior Center’s knitting display to fund activity programs and Meals on Wheels.
Resident Mary Mader, who has lived at Garden Path for four years, discovered sculpting at one of the in-house art programs. Mader, who was a painter and writer before losing her eyesight, said she found a new artistic medium in sculpting and feeling the art with her hands.
“Usually you work with clay, and you do not know what you are doing. You kind of squish it around, and the clay tells you what it wants to be. One of my pieces was originally supposed to be a prehistoric bird, and turned into a water fowl because that is what the clay was telling me it wanted to be,” said Mader. “The clay looks at you and tells you what it is supposed to be. This is new for me because I cannot paint anymore. I have painted since the ’70s, and the first time I tried this was a maybe a year and a half ago.”
Community member Jeremy Aldridge attended the gala to support Mader, as well as other friends who are residents at Garden Path. According to Aldridge, events like the art gala give residents a chance to express and uplift their creativity.
“This is such a wonderful show, and the people who live at [Garden Path Elder Living] still have creativity as a deep part of their existence, and there are so many great examples of that creativity all throughout the building,” Aldridge said. “It is so essential to give that creativity a home, and the people who work here and support the residents are marvelous.”
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