Island Senior: No Age Limit To Creative Expression

Painter Joe Miller – Photo by Peggy Sue McRae

By Peggy Sue McRae –

If you are an athlete your career may end before you reach 40, other careers may offer retirement at 50 or 60, but if you are an artist, you may be hitting your stride at 80.

Michelangelo, Monet, and Matisse created some of their greatest works when they were in their 80s. Picasso and O’Keeffe continued working into their 90s. Octogenarian and ground-breaking African-American artist Faith Ringgold says of her career as an artist, “It is something one has a passion for, does, and then becomes – and can do it literally until they pass away. It’s an old-age thing. You become better with age.”

With age comes a greater wealth of experience to draw from. When I asked my friend, San Juan Island painter Joe Miller how his creative process may have changed over the years, he told me that every painting offers a new beginning. Miller echoed other artists in saying that the years brought with them the freedom of caring more about the work itself and less about what other people think.

There are advantages to pursuing artistic disciplines particularly as we age. Artist Joan Semmel, 84 says, “I don’t know if being an artist is making me live longer… Certainly in terms of keeping me vital and interested and alive in the sense of how I live my life, being an artist is undoubtedly a very important part of that…”

Dr. Barbara Bagan, professor of expressive arts therapy explains, “Neurological research shows that making art can improve cognitive functions by producing both new neural pathways and thicker, stronger dendrites.” Art making or even viewing art enhances the brain’s ability to adapt and restructure thus increasing reserve capacity. The brain naturally ages and yet the ability to create remains.

Painter Trudy Dallas – Tim Dustrude photo

Being engaged in expressive arts keeps us engaged in life in positive and fulfilling ways. According to the research of Dr. Gene Cohen of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University, the arts have a positive effect on our health as we age with benefits that include; reducing depression and anxiety, improving cognition, and even improving self-confidence and a sense of humor.

This all leads me to reflect on San Juan Island artist and personal inspiration to me, Trudy Dallas, who now in her 90s paints every day. I wonder, does she paint every day because she is so engaged, creative and cheerful or is she engaged, creative and cheerful because she paints every day? Either way, she sets an example for the rest of us to bring more creative expression into our daily lives. If you are interested in painting and would benefit from some encouragement and camaraderie there is a painting group at the Mullis Center on Wednesdays from 9:00 am to noon. All ages welcome!

References and Further Reading:
Link to: Artnews, ‘You Become Better with Age’
Link to: Today’s Geriatric Medicine, Aging: What’s Art Got To Do With It?

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