Sophie Kuijper Dickson, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The hall at the St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Shawville was transformed into an art studio for an hour on Thursday morning.
Fifteen or so people over the age of 55, mostly from the Shawville area, gathered for an art workshop hosted by Connexions Resource Centre.
A spread of coloured pencils, design markers and paints filled a table at the front for the artists of the hour to choose from.
Once they were all seated in front of their blank pages, Diane Wheatley, the resource centre’s regional seniors coordinator, and facilitator of the event, invited them to illustrate a powerful memory from their childhood.
“I was thinking, hmmm, bare feet on a summer day… wonderful,” said Mary McDowell Wood, one of the attendees. “But that’s hard to do,” she concluded.
She sat in front of her blank page for several minutes before deciding to paint the creek that runs through what is now Mill Dam Park on the eastern edge of Shawville.
McDowell Wood said she remembered walking down there as a child, passing the dump on the way, to put her feet in the cold water.
“With aging there are lots of compromises, but the good news is I’m still mobile,” she said.
Her neighbours at the table chatted amongst themselves, deciding on which of their own childhood memories they would be bringing back to life.
“[Making art] offers a reason for social gathering,” said Wheatley. “They are sharing ideas, but they’re also working their memory, and they are also working their hand and eye coordination.”
“Their use of colour also tells you a lot,” she said. “As you can see, everything is pretty bright, so that’s very positive.”
The morning’s event was the third of a series she has been running over the past few weeks. The first two were in Chelsea and Buckingham.
“These kinds of activities allow this, getting the community together talking and sharing” Wheatley said. “It’s precious.”
The next art session will be hosted in Shawville on Nov. 30. Participants will be invited to draw their family tree.