that need healing and attention. Visiting Skid Row is a pilgrimage to the broken place within myself, and in that way, it’s a spiritual place; my temple where I go to worship.”
Creative Care for People with Dementia Drawing from her theater background, Anne Basting, author of Creative Care, has developed an innovative approach to dementia and elder care. “Our current caregiving model envisions one person that’s empty and has lots of needs and the other person that’s full and pours themself into the other person, which leads to burnout,” she says. “Dementia and aging are experiences of increasing separation. People isolate themselves and learn not to trust their own expressive capacities, because their relatives and friends no longer know how to relate with them and often ignore their words.”
Wildlife Artist • Carol Terry GREETING CARDS
Basting’s Creative Care changes this depleting dynamic. “In improvisational theater, you observe everything that’s happen-ing on stage and try to figure out how you can add to the performance positively,” she explains. “Applying that idea to a care situation, you observe the person’s facial expressions, what they’re saying, how they’re behaving and then invite them into expression out of that moment with what we call a ‘beautiful question’, one that has no right or wrong answers and draws on the person’s strengths.” A beautiful question might be, “If your feet could talk, what would they say?” This offers people with pain a poetic way to express it. “I invited a gentleman with dementia who had no language—no words left—to show me how water moves. His response was the most beautiful dance I’d ever experienced, performed in the kitchen of his duplex,” Basting recalls, adding that it’s important to acknowledge the person’s expression so they know they’ve been heard. The final step in Creative Care is to accumulate these experiences over time and shape something larger and universally meaningful that can be shared with others—an artistic product. Basting founded the nonprofit TimeSlips to train artists and caregivers worldwide to do this visionary work. Their efforts have resulted in art exhibits, dance and theater productions, books and animations. “My dream is that meaning and beauty will be made every day in nursing homes, creating care settings so interesting that people want to visit them—a new kind of cultural center, integrating health and art,” she says.
Transforming a City with Public Art More than 4,000 works of public art grace the city of Philadelphia, three-quarters of which are breathtaking murals that combine world- class paintings and images with provocative words and healing messages. Art permeates virtually every neighborhood on walls, billboards, sidewalks, rooftops, swimming pools and basketball courts, enriching people from all walks of life, even those that don’t have access to galleries and museums.
“Public art lifts our spirits, provides us with beauty and inspires us,” says Jane Golden, founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia (MAP). “It can be evocative, challenging and educational, as well, serving as a barometer of our time—a system of checks and balances and a mirror that we hold up to people and say that your life counts and you matter.” In addition to sponsoring 75 to 100 new works every year, MAP’s $10 million budget funds programs related to criminal justice, art education, housing insecurity, behavioral health, community development and environmental justice.
Box of 12 original prints can be given as a gift, sent as thoughtful greetings, or framed individually as beautiful works of art.
To order, visit
www.serenitycenter.com and click on top PURCHASE tab. Set of 12 only $25.
18 Central Florida
www.NACFL.com
According to Golden, the healing power of art is not just in the mural, but also in its collaborative creation. In addition to artists and educators, hundreds of people work on these projects, including individuals grappling with addiction or homelessness, veterans with PTSD and immigrants and refugees facing isolation and stigma. “The act of creating is a meditative and healing experience, and because you’re part of a larger effort, it connects you to your community,” Golden says. “People
start to feel a sense of purpose and value. They start to believe in themselves again.”
Sandra Yeyati, J.D., is a professional writer and editor. Reach her at
SandraYeyati@gmail.com.
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