By Gale Hemmann
Watercolor. Gouache. Sumi-e. Zentangle. Did you know that, tucked away on the lush Panorama campus in Lacey, there’s a lively and vital arts community, brimming with talent and life experience? The Panorama Art Studio, nestled in the basement of the campus’ main building, is the hub of it all. The bright, well-appointed studio offers an array of classes for residents, who range from novices to accomplished professional artists. And, as this ThurstonTalk writer was lucky to discover, it also offers so much more. It is a place for community, camaraderie, and a sense of joie de vivre as bright as the students’ oil-color paintings lining the walls.
At the helm of the art studio project is Marcene Oakley, a Panorama resident and an enthusiastic proponent of the arts. Oakley is a warm, energetic person, with a generous smile and a gleam in her eye. Her story is a true testament to the quality of life at Panorama: she worked on the sales staff for 18 years, and then decided to move in after retiring because she liked it so much.
The campus has always had an art studio, but until recently it was quite modest. Oakley says that, as long as she worked at Panorama, she had a vision of seeing the studio reach its full potential: a vibrant space for seniors to create, encourage each other, and share life stories. A place to truly celebrate the arts, set up to accommodate the range of ages and physical needs of the residents.
Oakley describes herself as a self-taught artist, who began creating charcoal drawings in college to sell because charcoal “was cheap” for a young student. As she pulled out several examples of her drawings to show me, the evidence of her life in art was clear: a skillful, tender drawing of an infant, for example, was both delicate and vivid.
She has always had a “do-it-yourself” ethos, and said she’s always enjoyed figuring out how to make something work (mastering a new drawing technique, for example). She wanted to share this spirit with the other residents, some of whom had never had time to pick up a paintbrush until retiring and moving to Panorama. While Oakley is a committed artist, she is even more dedicated to fostering artistic opportunities for others.
So, how did Oakley turn her dream into a reality? Over a cup of coffee and an array of art supplies fanned across the table, she shared with me the history and making of the current art program. About five years ago, Oakley and several other like-minded artists got together to form an arts group. They began arranging classes, and quickly realized they wanted to formalize their efforts, earning Panorama management’s official blessing of their efforts. With Oakley at the helm, they began renovating the art studio top-to-bottom in the summer of 2013.
Oakley is quick to note that it has taken a team effort to create the arts studio and classes. She cites Panorama artist-residents Kay Tolles, Paul Stebbins (also an Executive Committee member), and April Works as key movers and shakers. While Oakley focused on renovating the room, handling everything from budgeting to material selection, Tolles has helped develop the arts class curriculum over the past five years, finding local instructors and teaching a number of classes herself. (Classes are taught both by residents and established local artists, such as Ellen Miffitt.) The room now features new flooring, gallery-white paint, trip-free extension cord holders, a projection screen with laptop hookup capabilities, professional track lighting, adjustable chairs and tables, and much more. Each detail, Oakley explains, was carefully thought out for the residents’ needs. Glass doors were selected to entice passers-by into visiting the studio (and they do, says Oakley).
Art classes are offered Monday through Thursday, and each Friday is “open studio time.” Residents can be found trying out the plethora of art supplies, checking a book or DVD out of the “arts library,” or finishing up a project. For those with limited mobility, the art space provides generously-sized lockers, so residents don’t have to carry their materials back and forth.
Oakley also cites as motivation the fact that art can help anyone, especially senior citizens, live longer and healthier lives. Seniors who are involved in the arts stay connected, tuned in to their interests, and mentally stimulated.
Panorama is the Pacific Northwest’s largest continuing-care retirement community, boasting over 1,200 residents. It offers a full and lively arts program, including a weaver’s studio, a woodworking studio, a writer’s group, a theater troupe, and much more. The community is also home to some very well-known artists, such as underwater photographer Ernie Brooks. April Works is a talented textile artist, and she recently brought together the rich variety of residents’ fabric and quilting art to create a show in the Resident Council room.
In talking with Oakley and the art class members, one gets the sense that their roiling enthusiasm will only lead to bigger and greater plans; their vision includes creating a designated art display space to showcase residents’ work, as well as offering more types of classes (such as photography) and art-therapy services for residents in convalescent care. Several hundred residents have already taken classes in the studio.
While the classes are currently open only to residents, there are several ways you can support their arts program. You can stop by for some truly lovely, reasonably priced gift items made by the resident artists in their Gift Shop, open to the public (proceeds benefit Panorama’s Benevolent Fund, a non-profit organization, allowing them to do more enrichment programs for the residents). A number of the artists also show their work in the community, and are active in such groups as the Olympia Art League. Oakley notes that quite a few residents had work displayed in South Puget Sound Community College’s Minneart Center for the Arts “Fine Art Postcard Exhibition” this past winter.
And perhaps the most important take-away from the Panorama Fine Arts program is this: Art is for everyone. “There’s nothing like a group of artists coming together,” Oakley says.
