Third Place in Show . . . First Place in Artful Aging!

Pterodactyl

Sam Hanselman’s entry Pterodactyl has been awarded 3rd place in the 36th Annual Juried Art Show at Hopkins House Gallery of Contemporary Art. Congratulations, Sam! But the really interesting news is that when Sam was awarded 3rd place, the jurors had no idea she was 90 with dementia!

Sam is Teaching Artist Barbara Hanselman's mother. Barbara shares her mother's artful journey:

Sam, who is 90 and suffers from dementia, has finally found something she can 'get lost in' and feel a sense of accomplishment about - I call it painting with tissue paper. Sam has always loved color but was never encouraged to use color alone to create a work of art. There was nothing freeing about her past experiences with water color, pastels & colored pencils and as a result, making ART for her became synonymous with failed struggles. Now that is no longer the case; painting with tissue paper requires no formal training - if someone can put glue on a board and rip paper, they are on their way to making a masterpiece! It's amazing how some Mod Podge glue, recycled mat boards from a local frame shop and torn tissue paper from Target can be the means of self expression so desperately needed. I am convinced that people who suffer from dementia & depression yearn to tell the world of their angst and this (as well as clay which I teach) are wonderful ways to do so.

If you are interested in seeing Sam's art in person, here are the exhibit details:

The 36th Annual Juried Art Show

Hopkins House

Gallery of Contemporary Art

250 South Park Drive

Haddon Township, NJ 08108

The Opening Reception will be held

Saturday, October 23rd from 2 to 4pm

The exhibition and reception are open to the public and free of charge.The show runs from October 23rd to November 22nd, 2010.

Read about Barbara Hanselman's creative journey in clay on her blog BH Claysmith and view her art-making videos on YouTube.