Hands On: Arts Exploration for Adults
Participants will learn a new skill and have a sense of accomplishment; experience creative activity, and meet with others and share this experience. Deliver quality arts learning experience in the libraries
We held three classes of four sessions at three libraries (Watercolor painting, Drawing, and Memoir Writing) that were geared for older adults. We did have a few younger adults attend which worked fine. All the classes were held during the daytime. We also offered three two-hour handmade memory book classes and one two-hour collage art class. We limited the classes to 15 participants and each class was full, with a few people on waiting lists.
Our goals were to have participants learn a new skill, gain a sense of accomplishment, meet with others and share this experience. These goals were met quite well. The watercolor class and drawing class held an art display and reception during the fifth meeting. The writing class chose not to have a reception for the public, but shared their work during the classes for group comments, guided by the instructor, which worked well. Library staff felt that the classes were very successful and general comments were very positive with people saying that they’d simply like more classes like this and would like the classes to be even longer.
Most participant (about 95%) rated the quality of classes as 5 (Excellent) on a scale of 1-5, with about 5% rating them as 4. Most participants strongly agreed that their skill had increased in that area due to the class (rating their development as 5 or 4 on a scale of 1-5). Comments included:
• Very engaging [writing] instructor who was very open to questions; great presentation, information very interesting; liked hearing the participants read from their writing
• The [watercolor] teacher taught many techniques and we did one painting every class; I loved having the opportunity to try this; great teacher; small size and fun participants
• Instructor was very enthusiastic, great motivator
• What would you change—more classes, longer length of class
Friends of the Library