The Gather at the Gallery program is celebrating a year long success.
The program was created by the Alzheimer Society of Kitchener-Waterloo to give recently diagnosed individuals and their caregivers a chance to take part in different visual art activities in the community. Participants at the Gallery, with the help of KW|AG artist/educator Kate Carder-Thompson, have created a variety of artworks including floral illustrations with watercolours, geometric creatures, tessellation drawings with oil pastels and sculptures made from books (one of which is featured in the Gallerys’ Annual General Meeting invite).
Since its inception last summer, the Gather at the Gallery program has had thirty-one participants. Dr. Lisa Meschino, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo who is assessing the impact of the program on participants, calls it a “happy accident that a lot of the same people have wanted to continue the program throughout the whole year.” She says it has, “resulted in a deeper social experience for everyone involved with the program.”
Participant Marilyn says she didn’t know how artistic her husband was until this program, “now he spends hours doing art.” She says it has made her realize that, “when doors are closing in one area of your life it gives you hope to know that others are opening.”
Join us at the Gallery on Tuesday, May 29 at 7 pm for our Annual General Meeting when Dr. Meschino will share some of the results of the program with guests. Cara Dowhaniuk, a Dementia Support Counsellor with the Alzheimer’s Society will also speak.
You will also find select works of art created by participants in the program on view at the Button Factory through May 31, 2012.
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