Children’s art
gallery in seniors’ home inspires connection between elders and youth
A continuing care centre
is the site of a new gallery of children’s art, thanks to an innovative
Alberta’s Promise partnership aimed at connecting elders and youth.
The Children’s Art Gallery
at CAPITAL CARE Strathcona was unveiled Friday November 24, 2006 in
Sherwood Park. The gallery is inspired by the mission of Alberta’s Promise
and is a partnership between The
CAPITAL CARE Group, The Information and Volunteer Centre for
Strathcona County and Picture This! Framing and Gallery.
The
gallery contains 30 pieces of artwork created by elementary school
children. The themes range from favourite pastimes, like golf and
skateboarding, to summer holidays at the lake and depictions of the
weather.
“Today’s event is about a
partnership between our elders and local school children, a form of
communication with each other, where activities of life, growing up, and
memories are depicted,” said Helen Shea, Administrator of CAPITAL CARE
Strathcona. “It’s an opportunity for the youth in our community to
connect with the elders in our community in a way that is meaningful to
both groups.”
The
gallery uses a unique wall mount system that allows for the individual
artwork to be easily changed by the centre’s volunteers. Artwork is also
mounted so that it may be enjoyed by the residents who use wheelchairs.
“I think the art
demonstrates a level of maturity beyond their years,” said Margaret
Street, a long-term care resident of Cranberry Cottage at CAPITAL CARE
Strathcona. “I think the attention to detail, like the raindrops in
the picture of the rainbow, is really quite clever.”
The gallery was initiated
by The
Information and Volunteer Centre (IVC) for Strathcona County and Picture
This! Framing and Gallery.
“For the last few years,
I’ve been looking for a way to display children’s artwork in the
community, and so I was delighted when I was approached by the IVC to get
involved in this,” said Rollie LaMarche of Picture This! Framing and
Gallery. “The children were so positive about the idea of creating
something that could be seen and enjoyed by others, they were happy to
volunteer their time and talent to this project.”
LaMarche says he likes to
see the idea of a children’s art gallery inside a public building take
off. “The program could be expanded to include the artwork of the
grandchildren of a care centre’s residents or taken into hospitals. It’s
simple to do, and the benefits to both the children and the elders are
enormous.”
click here to read Media Release-Children's Art Gallery.pdf
