Longtime Saline Township resident Nancy Aseltine has been spending her Fridays creating art alongside her husband and University of Michigan students at the Brecon Village Memory Care Unit.
Aseltine recently moved from her Saline township home of 30 years into a condo in Saline city near Brecon. She visits often, ensuring her husband, Richard, stays active and engaged.
“[The classes have] been fun,” Nancy Aseltine said. “Each time he’s done something different or I’ve gotten to do something different to help him.”
Engagement Classes
The classes are part of Memory, Aging and Expressive Arts, a University of Michigan course taught by Stamps School of Art and Design lecturer Katherine Downie. After three weeks studying memory and aging, including a visit with Jim Mangi, head of Dementia Friendly Services, students met Friday mornings to develop lesson plans and took an afternoon bus to Brecon Village, where they led 10 weeks of creative activities with residents.
Students designed hands-on projects—from watercolor painting to printmaking and even duct-tape maracas—aimed at engaging residents with memory loss. They moved around, smiling at residents, encouraging their creative expression and listening to stories.
“It’s been a really eye-opening experience,” said Visual Arts student Ian Paglia.
University of Michigan Students and Brecon Village staff and residents spent 10 weeks making art together.
Interaction
Keith Graves, a part-time staff member at Brecon Village Memory Care Unit, spoke highly of the programming.
“The arts make a big impact on the residents here,” said Keith Graves. “They bring out the artistic energies in them.”
“It goes both ways, Graves added.
“I’m sitting next to a veteran right now, a retired electrical engineer,” Graves said. “… I can’t get enough [of their stories] and we’re fortunate enough to listen to Elvis.”
Intergenerational programming is especially valuable, added Brecon Village Life Enrichment Director Lauren Stevens, noting it often sparks more conversation and engagement amongst residents. Art faculty member Ann Mondro started the University of Michigan class years ago, but this is the first time it’s been back since the pandemic.
“I like the interactive part,” said Art and Psychology student Snowy Sabel. “It’s making an impact in people’s lives.”
The program also challenges students to think about art beyond the classroom. Paglia said the experience helped shape his senior project. He’s created art exploring how memory interacts with space and community. He’s interested in how art connects people from all walks of life and this summer plans to work with an art program in a prison and create murals in a disadvantaged community.
For Ella Moxon, the class highlights how art can reach people often overlooked.
“[The class shows] how art can impact people in the community…. people who are left behind in society or people where there’s a stigma,” Moxon said.
Grand Rapids native Ella Moxon (center, at table) said she really enjoyed planning lessons and creating art with Brecon Village Memory Care Unit patients for 10 weeks as part of the University of Michigan course Memory, Aging and Expressive Arts.
Impacts
The course concluded with a celebration, where students served food and local Elvis impersonator Bill Burnette of Saline entertained residents.
For Aseltine, whose husband lives at the facility, the classes are more than an activity. They’re a meaningful way to stay connected and keep the residents stimulated.
“I tell them, ‘Don’t ask them, tell them [to go down to activities],’” she said.
Sometimes they have morning coffee, exercise together, and then community members often come in to sing in the afternoons.
“It’s all different,” Aseltine said. “I think that’s good for them.”
Stamps School of Art and Design lecturer Katherine Downie, of Saline, (left) danced alongside University of Michigan students, Elvis impersonator Bill Burnette of Saline (right), and a resident of Brecon Village, while other residents smiled and watched.
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