Blakehurst: A Renovation Sparks Reinvention of Arts Program
Blakehurst, a senior living community in Towson, Maryland is situated in an inspirational setting just north of Baltimore with beautiful landscaping, walking pathways that wind around the 40 pastoral acres and resident-tended gardens. Seeking to inspire creativity, Blakehurst is introducing new opportunities for residents to explore art in a variety of ways designed to encouraged individual creativity.
Creativity Returns to the Carriage House
Suzanne, a resident of Blakehurst for the last four years, works alongside a team of other residents to enrich the community. The team has developed a brand-new arts program for Blakehurst: Creative Arts at the Carriage House.
Creative Arts at the Carriage House classes will run from October through May and will be held in the beautifully renovated Carriage House on the Blakehurst campus. Many years ago, art programs were hosted in the Carriage House, and residents and staff are glad to see the space come to be used for a similar purpose once again.
“Our new program makes wonderful use of the historic Carriage House. It’s convenient to everyone, it’s very scenic, bordering the community garden, very comfortable, sunny and cheerful; a fitting space for this kind of project,” says Suzanne.
The series kicked-off on September 27th with a wine and cheese party to introduce Mary Stewart, the instructor of the series, and give residents a preview of the innovative sessions. Attendees were invited to flex their creative muscles by painting their own masterpieces on beautiful stemware.
“Mary introduced herself and the programs she will be leading and showed examples of some of the projects that we could do. It all started to get people’s creative juices flowing,” says Suzanne.
Suzanne selected Blakehurst based on its first-class reputation. She has been involved in the Executive Board and the Residents’ Association, in which she acted as a liaison between the residents and the owners of Blakehurst. Suzanne’s dedication to enhancing the lives of fellow residents led her to the opportunity to support the new programming aimed at promoting creativity through the arts. “I’m particularly interested in community enrichment,” says Suzanne.
Six Months of Creative Options
Creative Arts at the Carriage House will host six, three-part art series from now until spring. Included will be decoupage classes, instruction on hand painting silk scarves, classes for painting placemats and floor coverings, ceramics decorating, and classes on creating with paper, starting with the actual making of paper.
“The sixth session is called You Asked for It, and based on demand, we may repeat some of the classes, or if creativity leads us elsewhere, we may do something entirely different,” says Suzanne. “Since the program is brand new, we want to see what appeals to residents and let their suggestions drive the programming.”
Arts programming is an important component in the scheme of Blakehurst’s activities. Giving residents opportunities to innovate and create art through self-expression is a priority.
“It gives us an opportunity to get together, work on a fun project that we have in common, meet people we might not have known otherwise, and cooperate on something creative,” says Suzanne.
To learn more about Creative Arts at the Carriage House or any of the services or amenities at Blakehurst, call 410-870-7817.