First Steps: Setting the table, an open invitation

Art classes are stirring and evocative. I continue to take painting and printmaking classes from time to time to challenge myself and to develop my artistic fluency. Yet, despite my training, I do experience profound moments of uncertainty and fear within the learning context. Imagine then how a less experienced person might feel when invited to join an art class. Furthermore, imagine how a person with Alzheimer's might perceive such an opportunity.

My first assumption about people with Alzheimer's is that they are not patients (as I so often hear them called), but rather, they are people with Alzheimer's. Secondly, they have lived rich and interesting personal and professional lives. All of the people with Alzheimer's whom I have known (and I have worked with many) have held demanding professional careers and raised families. They are knowledgeable and proficient. Finally, I have unending respect and admiration for these individuals because they suffer in profound ways, while striving to remain connected and active within their social world.

Because communication can be profoundly disrupted, as a result of the disease, it is important to help those with Alzheimer's establish alternative modes of communication and expression. The visual arts can be used as a very direct, stimulating and satisfying mode of expression, which furthermore may serve as a catalyst for storytelling and reminiscence.

Extending the invitation to paint to a person with Alzheimer's takes place in at least two ways. The first is to ask directly, "would you like to paint today?" The second, is to demonstrate the invitation through the use of an organized and inviting space. In the photograph above the table is set for 5 participants. Each place setting is clearly defined, as with Montessori's micro-sphere. Each participant is ensured a space with materials that will be used by him or her alone. Each space in its definition is inviting and orderly. Such an organized and welcoming space implicitly states the value and importance of each participant.