Let’s Look has conjured up mixed reactions for me personally. The May 4 session has been the fifth session within the Pulitzer Foundation’s building. I have attended each gathering within this space, since the beginning of the program, and it’s starting to feel like an actual class. I know who the teachers are, which Cole kid is paired up with each adult, which face belongs with what nametag. I know what seems to be consistent elements in this program at this point in the course.

As I greeted the Alzheimer group in the Front Gallery, Monday, though, I noticed one participant looking at me in utter confusion. As he stared at my face, which he has seen at every session here, he seemed bewildered as if looking at a stranger. He asked for my name, which he knew before, and then said he had never seen me at the Pulitzer. It dawned on me: people are putting in their time, patience, and energy into forming and educating this group, however this assemblage of admirable and wonderful people might not remember any of these sessions. Is this worth doing? Is this something to invest time towards? Is this really having an impact? What can be gained if it cannot be retained?

In the Main Gallery, the group focused on landscape paintings. Sitting in silence, I mentally recorded the reactions of those responding as opposed to information being discussed. I noticed the bonding between the pairs. I saw the faces light up when called on to ask what they thought of a painting. I heard giggles pass throughout the occupied chairs, aligned together in front of the artwork. An hour more into the session, the Cole kids made landscapes with their buddies. Even more smiling and chatting  went on. People built with their hands; people formed new connections with one another and within their interpretations of landscape art.

I looked at the gentleman who hadn’t recognized me earlier. No looks of confusion or sadness or frustration were expressed. He never struggled to understand what occurred. He didn’t ponder on remembering factual information about the paintings discussed. He was content and focused in a positive way on creating. He was taking what was discussed in the first hour of the class and applying it to form something new.

Maybe this class isn’t about remembering or retaining old ideas but rather creating new ones. New opportunities and new experiences can be gained instead of straining to hold onto old ones. I have reassessed what determines the success of this program. Fifteen minutes before the session ended, I looked around. Beautifully created landscape collages were placed on wooden tables. People looked in admiration on what had been produced in front of them. Young and old faces glowed with satisfaction. Certainly something was gained.

Before the Let’s Look meeting yesterday, JoAnn Sanditz spoke with me about her experience with the program so far. Having worked with the Alzheimer’s Association and as a docent for the St. Louis Art Museum for over twenty years, she was a perfect candidate to instruct the workshop and has enjoyed pairing her two interests. She told me about the development, challenges, and joys of the program. She hopes there will be more St. Louis programs, which incorporate Art, for people with Alzheimer’s in the future, noting that with the growing number of aging baby boomers, creating social opportunities for those with dementia is an increasing issue for the nation.

This week, the Lets Look participants discussed the art at Family Partners Adult Day Center. Although looking at reproductions is never as thrilling as viewing the art at the Pulitzer, we have found that sometimes it can be very helpful because we can touch the painting reproduction and trace the various elements of composition, as well as point out small details that are easier to spot if we can get close to the painting.The theme of this week was “Mary,” and we discussed three paintings in which she featured prominently. The first painting was The Marriage of the Virgin by Master of the Orcagnesque Misericordia. The Lets Look participants were enthralled by the beautiful colors of the painting and the stories that JoAnn told about the figures in the image. The next painting discussed was the Madonna and Child by Bartolomeo Vivarini. In addition to talking about the content of the painting, the participants had the opportunity to share about their own faith and religious beliefs.

The last painting discussed was Giaquinto’s Saint Helena and the Emperor Constantine Presented to the Holy Trinity by the Virgin Mary. In our classroom at Family Partners, we have a bird aviary with many finches that sits directly behind us while we talk. When we were discussing this work of art, Tom astutely noticed the parallel between the dove at the top of the painting and the birds directly behind. It had the effect of the sky continuing into a heaven of birds! Although the context of Family Partners is very different from the Pulitzer, the environment still interacts with the painting in unique and surprising ways!

Catch, then, O catch the transient hour; Improve each moment as it flies!–St. Jerome

Let’s Look was on hiatus last week, due to the Easter holiday, but the crew reunited this past Monday for the second meeting with Cole Elementary students. The pairs of buddies started the day in the Entrance Gallery and moved to the Lower Main Gallery, jampacking two hours with a string of activities:

1) To warm up the conversation, Carol prompted the group with a cardboard sign, which read, “Tell your buddy about something really good in your life.” She chimed a bell, and the chitchat ensued. She chimed it again, and the group rehashed their conversations as a whole. 

Christina reported that Tom has twenty-seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Everyone spontaneously clapped to that. JoVaughn said that his buddy, Joe, told him the Lord is what’s good in his life. Two men mentioned their wives. Bill discovered that TreVahn practices magic. It also turned out a few April birthdays were present, so the group sang the Happy Birthday song, interjecting the names of Bob, Natasha, Waiel, and Sandy.

2) JoAnn began the day’s art lesson with a weighty painting, Giovanni Battista Caracciolo’s  The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, first asking everyone to say what they observed. Arrows were mentioned. Daniel noticed Sebastian was leaning on something, which is difficult to notice in the shadows of the Caravaggio-influenced painting. “Good art detective eyes,” JoAnn would say, when someone made a good observation about the work. She then asked the buddies to talk to each other and create a story around the saint.

 ”How did Sebastian get in this position?” JoAnn asked.

Daniel, always thinking outside the box, said he thought that maybe Sebastian was being punished for stuff his evil twin did. Kameisha said Sebastian started off roaming the sky and was captured when he wouldn’t join the Devil’s side. TreVahn, versed in the saint’s story, said, “I think they killed him because they didn’t agree with what he believed in.”

“How old do you think Sebastian is?”

One dewy-eyed child explained Sebastian couldn’t be over thirty or else he would have wrinkles, to which a few people over twelve laughed. On the subject of his age, JoAnn talked about Sebastian’s muscles, which would later be compared to those of an older Saint Jerome. To underline the use of anatomy in painting, she passed out a page from the Anatomy Coloring Book.

“What bones can you see on Sebastian?” The children began feeling their ribcages.

In the spirit of the painting, two participants in the Staging Old Masters program, Travis Dean and Reuben Stewart, were invited to perform a skit they wrote, a rap about the life and death of Sebastian after JoAnn’s talk. Lisa Harper-Chang, Community Engagement Coordinator, introduced the two, and the actors performed, earning a standing ovation.

3. After a break, Let’s Look assembled downstairs in front of Jusepe de Ribera’s Saint Jerome. Waiel wore a red sheet and posed as Saint Jerome for the beginning of their talk. Carol held a paper thought-bubble over the model’s head, and asked what everyone thought was going through Jerome’s mind. Brenda said it looked like Jerome was confused and trying to make a decision. Tom, concerned about Waiel’s eyes, interrupted the discussion to ask if Waiel could move out of the sun.

“That child’s looking right in the sun,” he said.

Other thoughts suggested for Jerome were “please help me,” and “Lord, help me to get through this.” Then Kameisha told the story of how Jerome would beat himself with a rock to help him focus on translating the Bible. Her teacher had prepped them on this painting.

In a soft voice, Natasha said, “I can see his veins on his arm and chest.”

“How old do you think Saint Jerome is?” asked JoAnn.

“Ninety-nine, because he has a white beard,” said Daniel.

“His fifties, because his body isn’t as robust,” said Chuck.

Bill noticed bags under Jerome’s eyes and said sixties. Simon thought sixty-five, and JoVaghn thought specifically fifty-four. To bring back the idea of anatomy, JoAnn pointed out how thin the subject’s skin looked, and then she and Carol suggested that the buddies compare their hands to one another’s. They did this for a few moments before moving on.

4. After considering the two saints with completely different lives and ages, JoAnn asked the buddies to talk with each other about what is good about being young and what is good about being old. JoVaghn said he could jump high as a young person but he couldn’t drive a car. Kameisha, already thinking ahead, remarked that she had her career to look forward to. Chuck said that what’s good about being older is the amount of knowledge you have attained, like the knowledge Jerome must have had to translate the Bible into several languages.

This week, one of the favorite paintings discussed was Judith Displaying the Head of Holefernes by Luca Giordano. We used the “thought bubble” to imagine what would be running through the heads of the subjects in the painting.
What are the soldiers thinking?
“They probably didn’t like Holefernes anyway.” -Bob
“Whew!” -Tom
“I want to go home!” -Dorothy
What is Judith thinking?
“I told you so!” -Brenda
“Get out of town and never come back!” -Chuck
“This is a new beginning for us!” -Tom
Judith was a heroine for her town, and we talked about our own personal heroes. Here is what the group came up with:
-God
-Dolly Parton
-Martin Luther King Jr.
-Barack Obama
-Michelle Obama