Creative expression is an important part of wellbeing for many older adults. Senior Planet courses and workshops focused on creativity are popular and often full, but 12 lucky older New Yorkers recently participated in a six-week program to look at, discuss and make art together. The program is part of an ongoing collaboration with the world-renowned Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and consisted of six, 90-minute sessions held between April 12 and May 17 at the Senior Planet center in New York City.
The collaboration is part of Prime Time, MOMA’s creative aging initiative to engage New Yorkers 65+ more deeply with the arts and the museum. “The name reflects MOMA’s belief that pushes back against ageist stereotypes, instead framing older age as a time when people can honor their curiosity and interests, and reinvent themselves,” said Lara Schweller, Associate Educator, Community & Access Programs at MOMA.
OATS first participated in Prime Time in 2016. The ongoing collaboration reflects a common goal of helping older adults gain meaning and enjoyment through engagement with art. The program can vary by year depending on participant interest. It could be built around bolstering artistic self-expression, exploring the relationship between the arts and technology, or just having fun in art class.
Stella Fosu, Senior Planet Center Manager, reached out to Schweller in October 2023 to begin planning the course, which was limited to 12 participants to ensure that each had time to prepare and work through the creative process with class instructor Jaime Mirabella, a practicing and teaching artist.
Registration filled up fast. “We had a waiting list of 10 people for the MOMA classes,” Fosu said. “A lot of older adults in NYC are very artsy.”
Classes began with a discussion about different concepts of art, such as the concept of negative and positive space. People were highly engaged from the start, describing their perceptions and perspectives of artwork with the class. They built collages with a variety of fabrics, picture fragments, textures, and other materials, and experimented with patterns, shapes, and watercolors, completing three or four projects by the end of the class. The Senior Planet center then hosted an exhibition on May 24 featuring favorite pieces chosen by participants.
Prime Time teachers love working with and learning from older adults. “We think about honoring what people are bringing to the table, their expertise and history with art, and how that will inform their interests and work,” Schweller said. “Older adults are engaged, curious and excited, and have this newfound free time to explore parts of themselves they might not have had time to when they were working and raising a family.”
Senior Planet and MOMA are looking forward to hosting another class soon, possibly in the fall. “There is a yearning for it,” Schweller said. “Creating and thinking outside of the box is a great stress reliever and is so good for social engagement. Art making is a great community builder.”
