Bemis School of Art provided space on Nov. 17 for four Indy Give! 2010 organizations to create a a new kind of intergenerational and inter-species workshop. Silver Key Senior Services, FutureSelf, Urban Peak, and Dreampower Animal Rescue to combine forces.
Each of the four participating organizations share one thing in common: their clients benefit from the social and familial connection that every living creature needs to feel cared-for and loved.
Dream Power brought its participants, puppies and dogs waiting for placement, to open the evening as a social ice-breaker and representative of the many animals who also need people in their lives. With this easy introduction, participants were then led by Wendy Mike, founder of FutureSelf, through a series of artistic explorations allowing participants to feel comfortable with their varying degrees of skill, their ability to express feelings and emotions non-verbally and the power that a stroke, a dash or a block of color will lend to their voice.
The finale was a group project where each participant completed an oil-pastel on paper which was then collected, tiled, and mounted to display a large “portrait” of kids, seniors and pets. They didn’t know it until that moment, but life had imitated art, a concept Oscar Wilde made popular.
One senior participant, Sharon King, wept at the unveiling of the final piece and the moment of realization that, she too, is special and necessary. All who left that night were looking forward to the Colorado Springs Festival of Lights, in which all four groups will participate, and the post-parade LUAL celebration on December 4, 2010.
