« Community, happiness, pride, intermingling of generations, all of these aspects came together for the Painting and Photography show at the Eglinton Hill Centre on May 28 where I teach a weekly photography class for active older adults who are members of the Centre.

Pride exuded from members as they described their painting and photography styles to their families and visitors and posed for local newspaper photographers. The show took up two rooms: one for painting and one for photography. Many of the members are multi-talented—they paint and take photographs.

I would like to present my behind-the-scenes observations leading up to the show. Even the planning of the show involved the artists at many levels. We had a general meeting to plan everything from the hanging of the show to the food served. Members volunteered to help with each part.

As a group, I led the photography class to pick out the best photos to exhibit based on a variety of styles from nature photographs to portraits. I also scheduled an extra class the week before the show to frame the photos. We conserved resources by reusing some frames and mats. The show-planning brought two class members who hadn’t attended in a while, in addition to newer members. Framing the photos was a production line, and everyone did their part from wiping the glass to deciding which photos should go in which frames.

I came in to hang the show the day before the opening. I anticipated that the painting teacher, Eliud Cruz, and I would do most of the work. Not so! A woman who had been very active in the class at the beginning, but was not attending now so she could attend ESL classes, volunteered to help me hang the photos. She quickly took all the old ones off the wall and was helpful in hanging and placing the new ones.

As Eliud and I were getting ready to hang the paintings, a very active member of the photo class came by to pick up soda for the show in his shopping cart. He stayed after his errand to help us hang most of the paintings and place the labels underneath them. Without his help, we would have been there late into the evening!

I also learned new things about my students. One student in both the painting and photography class wrote in her a bio that she wanted to open her own gallery one day and she identified herself as an “artista”.

If you are interested in finding out more about the show, please click on the following link to the Eglinton Hill Centre newsletter: http://www.servicesforseniors.ca/images/stories/docs/rd_edit_ehc_news_june_2014_rdedit.pdf »

-all text and photos by Sonya Young, ArtBridges’ Outreach Coordinator and Member
Read Eglinton Hill Centre’s profile in ArtBridges’ Community-Engaged Arts Directory and Map