Creative Arts

The creative arts program is designed with the expertise of Recreation Department members, volunteers, and a local artist for the Artists in Residence program.  Residents work in various mediums including wood, water colors, and sculpture. It is exciting to watch the residents who are reticent in the beginning of a class react with delight with their completed art work.  Learning of their “not before realized” creativity is a pleasant surprise.

The Artists in Residence program has provided the opportunity for the residents to enjoy art classes in Acrylic Painting, Journal and Bookmaking, Oil and Chalk Pastels, Botanical Illustration, Pen and Ink, Clay, Poetry Writing, Collage, Printmaking, Guided Drawing Techniques,Sculpture, Creative Writing, Faux Stained Glass, Drawing, Mixed Media, Mask Making, Watercolor, Memoir Writing, Weaving, Mosaic, and Quilt Making. Read more about the Benefit of Art for Elders written by an artist in the Artists in Residence program.

Other members of the Recreation Department offer residents additional art projects to explore their creativity.  Some of these art projects have included:

• the assembly and painting of individual birdhouses,
• still life watercolor painting using flowers from the Barclay Friends gardens as models,
• animal sculpture with clay,
• jewelry design,
• collage work utilizing various materials,
• and organic animal sculpture utilizing natural materials found in the Barclay Friends gardens and tree groves.

An Art Appreciation Program including trips and classes provides residents further opportunities to explore the creative arts.

• Recreation Department members have demonstrated, among other art forms, wood carving and the tools used to create wood sculptures.
• Trips have been planned to art museums and other types of museums in the Philadelphia area.
• Barclay Friends residents have also attended an art show of a Woolman resident’s work which was displayed at the Chester County Art Association in West Chester.
• Through an outreach program with local artists, guest artist programs have been planned at Barclay Friends.
• Some Barclay Friends residents are also professional artists and are encouraged to share their knowledge and expertise in the Art Appreciation classes.

Barclay Friends has also expanded its collaborative arrangement with students and faculty from West Chester University’s art department. Plans are being made for faculty members to be featured speakers and for art students to participate in the art classes at Barclay Friends with the residents. The Traveling Across Generations (TAG) Program established in 2006 with West Chester University (WCU) Honors College pairs WCU students with Barclay Friends residents for weekly one on one visits for activities and social events of interest to both the students and residents.  The residents and students participating in the TAG program also enjoy participating in art classes together.