Meet Moon Watcher
In partnership with Iona Senior Services and the Corcoran College of Art + Design’s ASID Student Chapter, AFTA designated one of its many programs for seniors to participate in designing a Modern Classic plastic molded chair to celebrate a competition which was sponsored by Herman Miller and American Office.
In January, AFTA conducted a series of three workshops with older adults attending Iona Wellness & Arts Center in Washington, D.C. Students from ASID — Whitney Osterhout, Kristen Wong and Meghan O’Malley– assisted Teaching Artist Carol Siegel in leading the workshops. The participants collaboratively turned the chair into a work of art.
They drew inspiration from Billy Collins’ poem, “The Chairs That No One Sits In,” the philosophies of mid-20th century designers Charles and Ray Eames, and through discussion of the furniture, people and places that had personally provided them with comfort over the years.
One participant shared a story about a rocking chair built by his grandfather sitting on a large, wrap-around porch. As a child, he enjoyed sitting in this chair to read. Sometimes when the wind blew, the chair would move by itself and he would talk have conversations with the chair as if it were a living person.
Each individual created a round collage using materials that featured circular designs, representing the unity, wholeness and the circular nature of life. Teaching Artist Siegel says, “The circle represents comfort (the chair) as a container to hold their art making. It is a safe space for the group to connect as they work within a circle of friends.” The collages, along with words and phrases from their discussions, were applied to the chair which they fondly named “Moon Watcher” for its pale appearance and skyward tilt.
Thank you to our group members at Iona for sharing your stories and talent and to center staff Sharon O’Conner, Sarah Grogan and Jackie McGeehan for helping bring “Moon Walker” to life.
THE CHAIRS THAT NO ONE SITS IN
Billy Collins
You see them on porches and on lawns
down by the lakeside,
usually arranged in pairs implying a couple
who might sit there and look out
at the water or the big shade trees.
The trouble is you never see anyone
sitting in these forlorn chairs
though at one time it must have seemed
a good place to stop and do nothing for a while.
Sometimes there is a little table
between the chairs where no one
is resting a glass or placing a book facedown.
It might be none of my business,
but it might be a good idea one day
for everyone who placed those vacant chairs
on a veranda or a dock to sit down in them
for the sake of remembering
whatever it was they thought deserved
to be viewed from two chairs
side by side with a table in between.
The clouds are high and massive that day.
The woman looks up from her book.
The man takes a sip of his drink.
Then there is nothing but the sound of their looking,
the lapping of lake water, and a call of one bird
then another, cries of joy or warning—
it passes the time to wonder which.
Program Photography: Gene Carl Feldman and Emily Wathen
"Upcycled" Art at the Kensington Club (Rockville, MD)
AFTA Teaching Artist Marcie Wolf Hubbard led older adults at the Kensington Club in a series of hands-on art workshops and we are excited to share the artwork they created.
Much to the delight of the participants, Marcie arrived at each session with bags of found objects – vintage postcards, scraps of paper, pieces of costume jewelry, and a few items best termed as “unidentifiable”. Marcie frequently uses found materials in her own artwork, and admits she is known for collecting items others would consider throw-away.
Participants used bits of paper and other odds and ends to make abstract geometric collages. The members of the Kensington Club have rich life experiences that show in their artwork.
They combed through piles of vintage postcards and used their imaginations to expand the images beyond the edges of the card.
Memory boxes using found objects.
Our participants at the Kensington Club can’t wait to have Marcie back — and we’re eager to see what they make next time!
Councilmember Hans Riemer Brightens AFTA Program
Arts for the Aging welcomed special guest Montgomery County Councilmember Hans Riemer to a recent program at Misler Adult Day Center in Rockville, MD. Formerly a senior advisor for AARP, Reimer is dedicated to improving safety-net services for older adults in Montgomery County. He is also a member of AFTA’s National Honorary Advisory Council.
On this wintery day, participants at Misler warmed up with musical selections from balmy climates, including Africa and the Caribbean. Havlik and participants then discussed different types of light. Several people stayed seasonal — candlelight in the menorah, the twinkling of Christmas tree lights — others mentioned moonlight, sunlight, electric light and even flashlights.
Participants then used realistic LED candles as props as they moved their bodies in their seats and through the darkened room, interacting by weaving darkness with light. The mood in the room was magical. Misler staff could not resist joining in as well.
The session concluded with a lively group dance. Each participant had an opportunity to strut their stuff.
Hans gamely joined in, sharing a few moves of his own!
Thank you again Mr. Riemer for your dedication to our precious senior community and for your support of the arts.
As we head into the wintery months ahead, heed this advice from Nancy Havlik: “If you’re cold, don’t put on a sweater – put on some music and MOVE!”
A Neighborhood Revisted, Family Memories Uncovered
Photography by AFTA Teaching Artist Carol Siegel was featured in a recent exhibition titled “Spirit of a Neighborhood Revisited: The Parker-Gray Community 1985 – 1986” at the The Alexandria Black History Museum in Alexandria, VA.
In July 1985, Carol Siegel received a grant from the Alexandria Commission on the Arts to document the African-American community of the Parker-Gray Historic District. These photographs were originally exhibited at the museum in 1989. Revisiting her work today, it is apparent how the community has changed over the past 23 years: some photo subjects are no longer living, many buildings are lost to new development, and small children are now adults with children of their own. Visitors to the exhibition delighted in seeing faces — sometimes their own — and locations they thought were lost forever.
One remembrance resonated more strongly than others. Carol invited seniors from Alexandria Adult Day Services Center, where she leads monthly Expressive Arts workshops for AFTA, for a special afternoon viewing of the exhibition. Many of them worked and raised their family in Parker-Gray and the surrounding neighborhoods. They took their time carefully inspecting each image they passed. They chuckled at the series of photographs of twins – an unusually large number for one neighborhood – and their rhyming names. They reminisced about the church and the barbershop.
One guest paused a little longer than the others, even coming back for a second look.
After Maebell returned to her seat, she quietly told those sitting near, “There’s a picture of my mother and my sister”. Returning to the photo, the family resemblance was undeniable. Maebell had uncovered an image of her own mother and sister, both of whom passed away many years ago.
Carol remembered Maebell’s mother and sister well – her sister was known for smoking a pipe, as she is in this photograph. Maebell was away at school when the photograph was taken. Carol, who spent years creating art and poetry with Maebell and others at Alexandria Adult Day Care Center, never realized the connection.
Memories are often unearthed at AFTA programs, but connections like these — the kind of bring goosebumps to your arm — don’t happen every day. Thank you Carol Siegel for your dedication to community service. You remind us that you never know whose life you might touch, even decades later.