Older Adults and Artistic Creativity

Remaining creative is an excellent way to "age well," says Dr. Bradley Fisher, director of the Missouri State University Gerontology Program. You'll hear from him, and from local artist Jane Waschick, as KSMU's "Sense of Community" series looks at aging in the Ozarks.

RANDY: This week the KSMU “Sense of Community” series looks at aging in the Ozarks. We have a growing population of older adults in the area, and we’ll explore various efforts to keep them healthy physically, mentally and socially. One way to keep the mind sharp is to engage in artistic activity, and that’s our subject today. One of the most active and important organizations promoting artistic talent and activity among older adults is Studio 55 Fine Arts Guild, founded in 1996 and dedicated to supporting, showcasing and promoting the many talents of artists after the age of 55. Jane Waschick is one of Studio 55’s active members.

How long have you been involved with them?JANE: Well, I couldn’t join until I turned 55! (laughs) So I think it was probably around 1998. RANDY: And you joined why? What advantages have you seen, being a part of that organization?JANE: Well, it’s being in a group that encourages you and spurs you on, and gets you interested in shows and exhibitions. We have a monthly newsletter that comes out… we have programs every month… we have demonstrations and other artists coming in… we have arranged workshops… we have our own show in June. It’s just continuing all the time. The nice thing about Studio 55 is we aren’t REQUIRED to exhibit a certain number of times a year--if we have something, we do it.RANDY: But it’s a nice venue for it--JANE: It’s a wonderful venue, yeah.

RANDY: Jane’s family was artistic, especially on her father’s side of the family--JANE: So I kind of came by it naturally.RANDY: She studied art a bit in college, and took some commercial art classes, which she says she “loved.” But getting married and raising a child intervened.JANE: I really never got going until I joined Studio 55.

RANDY: Jane Waschick works mostly in watercolors. She and her husband like to travel, and he’s a photographer, so Jane especially likes to do landscapes. She’s entered numerous competitive art exhibits over the years.JANE: I often enter exhibitions at Waverly House, and have gotten in. Most of them are juried, and it’s very exciting to be accepted.RANDY: Do you sell any of your artwork?JANE: I have, but not a lot. It’s thrilling! (laughs)

RANDY: She entered two of her paintings in Missouri State University’s Senior Art Exhibition, which is now on display on the fourth and fifth floors of the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts. It’s been a major venue for art by older adults for 15 years now. Dr. Bradley Fisher is head of the MSU Gerontology Program, which sponsors the exhibit.Dr. FISHER: The Gerontology Program has a long history on campus--we’re actually celebrating the 30th anniversary of the program, which began in 1980. The goal of the program is to educate students to be able to go out with a Bachelor of Science in Gerontology, and be competent professionals providing services to older adults. The broader goals of the program are essentially to, not only train students, but to reach out into the community and be a resource for the community.

RANDY: The annual Senior Art Exhibition is one of the program’s major projects.Dr. FISHER: We were interested in providing some sort of venue for older artists who were still creative, and to highlight--and, mostly, educate the public that older adults are still active and still contributing. And activity and creativity is right on target--it’s very important. Active bodies are happy bodies. There is all sorts of research to support the idea that when people are more involved, more engaged, that they do better in later life… that one of the worst things that people can do in later life is simply--you know, the stereotype of the old person simply sitting back in the rocking chair, I suppose sipping lemonade, watching life go by. Activities, and an active lifestyle, keep people involved, not only in relationships--which is incredibly important--but also just engaged in community life. And this art exhibition offers just one opportunity for older adults to do so.

RANDY: The exhibition is co-sponsored by National Art Shop, which provides the prizes for the top winners among other considerations, and by Studio 55 Fine Arts Guild… which was, in fact, formed as a result of the first MSU Senior Art exhibit in 1996.Dr. FISHER: Yes, it did beget that. And that’s one of the wonderful things--in some ways, (it’s) this whole idea of “pay it forward.” You do something to benefit the community, and you don’t always know what the side benefits will be. It is a competitive show, and one of the fun things about it is when the artists bring in their work and I watch these artists as they walk around, admiring each others’ work.

RANDY: You’ll hear more from Dr. Bradley Fisher in part two of this report, this afternoon at 4:30. We’ll look in at Hammons Hall as the artists deliver their entries for the show.