Artistic strokes
Hobby can lead to lasting love for art

Newsboy photo/ Sharon Kerr TEACHER BILL WISE offers water color classes at the East Texas Regional Art Center. Learning to paint is something anyone, even with limited strength and mobility, can enjoy and share.

Art is an affordable hobby that sometimes yields surprising benefits for seniors.

In Jasper, the East Texas Regional Art Center on Austin Street offers classes in many different mediums.

Bill Wise is currently teaching a watercolor class on Thursday nights. Wise is known for his paintings of historic Jasper homes and buildings.

Last Thursday students were learning how to create the illusion of depth using dark and light. Most were working from landscape photos they brought to class.

"It's good to try something new," Wise advised his students. "You may find you like it."

Other local artists use the facilities at the Art Center to work on large paintings. They are happy to have visitors drop in the workroom to observe.

Pat Tatum says, "Art has been a part of my life all my life. I was always drawing as a child. It's always been my passion."

CREATE THE ILLUSION of depth with dark and light. Above: students Bonnie Walker (seated) and Mary Jane Cole prepare to do four studies in perspective. Below: local artist Pat Tatum uses the workroom to paint her oversize florals.

Tatum majored in art in college but worked in business for 20 years before returning to her passion. She is known for large junglebright florals.

Art requires a minimal investment in materials, doesn't have to take much room, and can be accomplished with limited physical strength.

All those things make it an ideal hobby for seniors. But there is one more element that makes art important to seniors: it doesn't have to be a masterpiece to become a treasured family heirloom. The secret is in what it communicates.

Nursing homes who implement art programs often report remarkable results. In California, a home that specializes in Alzheimer's care said they found that it helped families reconnect through art.

One woman who had not spoken an intelligible word in months painted a large red circle. When the instructor came by, she turned to him and said plainly, "I used to raise prize roses."

Newsboy photos/ Sharon Kerr

Another family was delighted when their elderly father painted a cursive letter R encased in a circle. The staff didn't know what it meant, but the children immediately recognized this was how their mother Ruth always wrote her initial. This was proof to them that the man they thought had mentally departed was still with them and thinking of his wife.

Doctors theorize that verbal skills deteriorate faster than constructional skills. Painting gives patients a new tool to communicate with loved ones.

The Art Center, two blocks north of the courthouse in Jasper, is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It showcases and sells works by local artists as well as traveling exhibits. To inquire about classes, call 384-2404.