NewCourtland and CFEVA Debut 8th Annual “Art is Ageless” Exhibit

• Posted on May 26, 2016

On May 26th, NewCourtland Senior Services and the Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA) debuted their 8th annual Art is Ageless exhibit, which will be open to the public at NewCourtland’s Philadelphia Senior Center on the Avenue of the Arts until August 19th. The exhibit showcases pieces of art created by NewCourtland senior participants and Philadelphia-area students, as a result of the unique art classes that they’re offered through the NewCourtland Artist Fellowship.

The Fellowship unites young and old in art classes taught by professional artists. Each year, the program produces five to ten projects that allow both NewCourtland participants and local students to learn how to express themselves through art. Additionally, the fellowship is fully funded by NewCourtland and comes at no cost to its varied students.

“The Fellowship demonstrates the vast impact seniors can continue to have upon the community as young and old work together to create remarkable works of art,” says Pam Mammarella, Vice President of Marketing and Government Affairs for NewCourtland. “And NewCourtland’s Philadelphia Senior Center on the Avenue of the Arts provides a perfect venue to showcase these incredible pieces.”

Displays at this year’s “Art is Ageless” exhibit are the result of classes that include:

• Collecting Stories: students created a collection of photographs that form together to create a narrative.
• Credit Card Mandala: students created mosaics out of old ID, medical, bank and gift cards.
• People and Places: students created works of basic digital photography, studying composition and color with respect to portraiture and landscape.
• NewCourtland Lights: students created paper lanterns, stenciled with symbols of interest or meaning.“The works of art that are created are really pretty amazing,” says Genevieve Coutroubis, Director of the Regional Community Arts Program for CFEVA.

“We’re uniquely positioned to recruit artists of the highest caliber, and the artists create the class concepts themselves.”

The program also benefits local professional artists, who conceptualize, pitch and teach the classes themselves.

“Working alongside the seniors at the NewCourtland LIFE Center was an extremely rewarding experience,” says Johanna Inman, MFA, teacher of the ‘Collecting Stories’ class. “I may have benefited as much—probably more—from working with them as they did from me. Articulating my process to this group helped me think more deeply about my work. Their thoughtful questions and considerations during the creation of this series are evident in the final work. Not only was it fun to get to know this great group of individuals, it was an honor to provide an opportunity for them to share a bit about themselves through photographs.”