PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Featured at UMPI’s Reed Art Gallery from now until mid-May is the Senior Artists Gala Exhibition.
Over a dozen members of UMPI’s Seniors Achieving Greater Education (SAGE) program have art on display for the public to enjoy.
A Gallery Reception was held on Friday, April 7, 2017 in conjunction with Presque Isle’s First Friday Art Walk at Reed Art Gallery. Attendees were treated to art and talks with the SAGE artists.
“It was about the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen at an art show up there,” Alice Bolstridge, SAGE instructor and artist, said.
The exhibition showcases the variety of visual arts undertaken by seniors who have remained creative as they age, including: painting, sculpture, photography, weaving, recycled paper arts, knitting, crochet, and more.
“Their creative expression shows playfulness, imagination, improvisation, spontaneity, originality, and divergent thinking, putting to rest the myth that retirees spend their time lolling in rockers on the front porch, just watching the world pass by,” Pam Crawford, SAGE member who has assisted in the organization of this exhibit, said.
SAGE is one of 17 senior colleges in Maine, affording intellectually curious adults aged 50 and better a variety of opportunities for lifelong learning and creative adventures.
“Aging is inevitable, but remaining creative enlivens the spirit, increases one’s energy, and provides an artful outlet for storytelling and celebrating the fundamentals of a long life well lived,” Reed Gallery Director Hyrum Benson said. “The participants in this show demonstrate what their hearts and hands must reveal—the capacity to pass on to the next generation their stories, their passions, their culture, their history and their values—through their art. Their art is, therefore, an inventive transformation of their daily experience; it shapes the artists in the same way the artist may shape the clay.”
SAGE and Reed Gallery officials encourage everyone to explore this exhibit and develop a deeper understanding of the vastness and the value of these artistic expressions of elderhood.
All are invited to view the show. Follow gallery happenings on the Reed Gallery Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ReedArtGallery.
The Reed Art Gallery is located in the Center for Innovative Learning. The gallery will be open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The gallery is closed during campus holidays.
For more information about this event, contact Benson at hyrum.benson@maine.edu
