Art for the Young at Heart
Over 80 Humboldt County community members who were 55 and older participated in “Art for the Young at Heart,” a 10-week drawing and design course, and a 10-week watercolor painting course during 2020-22. Online art classes, using Zoom, allowed participants to develop their personal artistic vision. These classes helped these seniors through the isolation and fear surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maureen McGarry, the Lead Artist and Project Director, taught weekly classes for the first year in collaboration with two licensed clinical social workers. The one and a half-hour art classes occurred each week and began with a peer support/mindfulness exercise guided by a licensed clinical social worker. These classes began in July 2020 and ran through June of 2021. The second year of classes were conducted only by McGarry. Class size ranged from 7 to 12 participants in each class.
Classes included an introduction to the elements of design, portrait drawing, drawing and painting still life, landscape, and experimenting with watercolor techniques.
The project was funded by the California Arts Council, the Ink People Center for the Arts, Telebehavioral Health.US, the Ingrid Nickelsen Trust, the Humboldt Area Foundation Covid-19 Regional Response Fund and Senior Citizens Fund, the Sisters of St. Joseph Healthcare Foundation Emergency Response Fund, Coast Central Credit Union, and local private donations.
The 2022 “Art for the Young at Heart” participants artwork and statements:
