PRESQUE ISLE — Adult learners 55 and up will have a unique opportunity to learn about expressive drawing this spring thanks to a $1,600 matching grant from the Maine Arts Commission and the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Designed to return adult learners to the spontaneity and worry-free creativity of childhood, Mark Making and Expressive Drawing, a personal enrichment class offered through UMPI’s Conferences and Special Programs office, will provide a relaxed environment for participants to make tools from found and other objects and to use them to hone their intuitive drawing skills. During the class, participants will be encouraged to integrate their lifetime of personal history into their art.
“It has long been demonstrated that engaging in creative endeavors provides older adults with the opportunity for self-reflection, stress relief, relaxation, and visual expression,” class instructor Pam Crawford said. “Art is good for one’s health, socialization, and sense of mastery and control. Join us to banish cabin fever this winter and begin the new year with a very different creative challenge!”
The class will meet in UMPI’s Campus Center, Room 118, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays, January 26 through March 9. Crawford said she will provide a class environment that is “typically active, noisy, playful, and fun. Problem solving is encouraged throughout the art-making, with individual instructor attention given to the participants. Show and tell feedback sessions provide the opportunity for sharing and discussion.”
Tuition and all materials are free and sponsored by the matching grant, which includes an $800 grant from the MAC and an $800 match from UMPI.
Class participants will be chosen by lottery. To register for the lottery drawing for one of 10 class seats, contact Lisa Udasco at 768-9558 by Jan. 20.
