The TimeSlips Tele-Stories project connected local artists and seniors to provide meaningful conversation that offered an opportunity for the elders’ creative expression and for artists to deepen their skills working with older adults. This culminated in a piece of art reflective of the meaningful conversations.
The Wisconsin Tele-Stories project recruited and trained artists, EJ Miller-Larson, Stacey Burkhart, and Danica Oudeans, who each worked with ten participants over eight weeks to co-create meaningful creative gifts. 20 of these participants were recruited by ADRC of Brown County.
Even though the elders and artists worked together by phone, the artists engaged the elders in every step of the process to make sure they had the chance to deepen their creative confidence and skills. This program is for any older adult who could use more connections in their life and there are no prerequisites. In fact, many of the talented elders we worked with did not have previous creative or artistic experience.
“Imagine how one person can take a conversation and turn it into experiences that say who I am. It was an amazing experience and every week I looked forward to her call.”
~ Judi Mommaerts, Participant
The beautiful questions used by the artists were open-ended and allowed the elder to lead the creative conversations. The elders were an essential part of the art-making process because without their own individual creative input, there would be no beautiful output. Below, we share an example of one of the creative gifts that represent the relationships forged throughout this project and the wonderfully creative people who participated in it.
To see the artwork created, stop down at ADRC of Brown County during the month of October.
“When we really listen to one another, we realize we have shared experiences.”
~ EJ Miller-Larson, Artist
