The Southern Utah Art Guild invited participants in Memory Matters Utah/Nevada’s Fun Art program to take part in their “Spring Forward” art show at Red Cliff Art Gallery. The opening reception is set to take place March 3 from 4 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, who will have the opportunity to meet some of the artists. Refreshments will be served.
Memory Matters Utah/Nevada is a local nonprofit organization that serves seniors with dementia illnesses and their caregivers. Fun Art is a program that enriches the lives of people who are dealing with dementia. Memory Matters will display 18–20 art pieces from Fun Art participants from the Memory Activity Class as well as five local facilities. Most of the participating artists have never painted before. They have painted what makes them happy.
“This is a program that I have envisioned for five years but had no one to take it on,” said LuAnn Lundquist, Memory Matters Utah founder and executive director. “Then came Harold Tanner, a respected artist with work hanging in galleries in three states. For the past two years, Harold has been to our dementia activity groups and facilities working with residents and getting them to paint. With his enthusiasm and energy, Harold connects with them on a fun level, hence the name Fun Art. As the artist says, this is not fine art we are doing. It is fun art. If it’s not fun, we are doing it wrong.”
John Macumber, one of the participating artists, says he loves Thursdays because he gets to paint on canvas.
“I love to paint now — on canvas without any lines,” Macumber said. “When we were cleaning out my father’s home we came across a framed pastel painting that he did in high school. It was beautiful. Father’s life got busy with work, and he never painted again. I have never painted, but now I get to, and it makes me think of my dad.”
Lundquist says that Fun Art is a way of expressing emotion and feeling when the area of the brain that finds words slows down. She says it is a new way of communicating that produces an object that brings pride and a feeling of achievement to the artist and that for many Memory Matters clients it is one of the only things that they feel accomplished at in this phase of life.
“Having the public support this art showing will help reduce the stigma of Alzheimer’s and related diseases,” said Lundquist. “While they have lost so much with this disease, this is something that they gain,”
Red Cliff Art Gallery is located at 220 N 200 E in St. George. More information about Fun Art or Memory Matters’ services is available at memorymattersutah.org or by calling (435) 319-0407.
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