LEBANON — Light streams through the tall windows in a room on the second floor of the AVA Gallery and Arts Center in Lebanon.
Inside, its inhabitants are hard at work on various projects, chatting amiably.
This is a typical Thursday during AVA’s Senior Art Program, where senior citizens from throughout the Upper Valley gather each week. They work in various mediums and styles.
There are abstract paintings, wildlife portraits and Upper Valley landscapes, to name a selection. Some bring their own supplies while others use supplies provided by AVA.
While art instructors are present to answer questions, attendees mostly work independently.
“It’s a wide variety of people who come,” said Deborah Mashibini-Prior, outreach manager at AVA, who is one of the instructors for the program, which was started in 2012. “People who consider themselves dabblers.”
Beginning on Feb. 19, works from the program will be on display at Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Aging Resource Center.
The exhibit kicks off with a 2 p.m. reception where the artists will gather to speak about their artwork.
I recently spent the morning with the group and talked to a few of the participants about their art.
When Eunie Guyer moved to Lebanon, she knew the best way to meet people would be getting involved in groups and organizations that interested her.
“I never really liked art in grammar school. I hated it,” she said. “Everybody had to do the same thing.”
Guyer was drawn to the AVA program right away, particularly the big space where she felt connected to “all the old souls,” that previously occupied the room.
Guyer started painting abstract paintings, encouraged by the instructor at the time.
“She said ‘you know you can color outside the lines, it’s OK,’ ” Guyer said. “All of a sudden I’m in my own little world.”
She has matted and framed her paintings, some of which she hangs in her home.
“It’s fun to just have fun and not dwell on illness and what you can’t do,” Guyer said. “I feel very much part of the community.”
In addition to the Aging Resource Center, Guyer has also had work hung up in the AVA galleries.
“I was proud to have my work displayed down there like a real artist,” she said.
Betsey Peale, of West Hartford, grew up in Lebanon and has loved art all her life.
“I would sit down there with a pencil and paper and sketch trees,” she said of her interest when she was a student. “I’ve always loved trees.”
In addition to trees, Peale paints other parts of nature. A piece of hers titled American Goldfinch is on the postcard informing people about the Aging Resource Center exhibit.
She started attending the art group in 2014.
“I’ve never looked back,” Peale said. “I lost track at 40 paintings.”
Landscapes are still her favorite to paint, but “birds are becoming a real second favorite.”
She primarily uses acrylic paint.
“If I’m up to it and feel like it, I can finish a painting in a day,” Peale said. “It’s my passion. I like to say sometimes it’s my sanity.”
But AVA’s gathering is more than a space to work on her art independently.
“They’re all friends, they’re like family,” Peale said of the group’s participants.
Trudy Savage, of Etna, is really busy.
In addition to her paintings, she has also been orchestrating a campaign to make Valentines for veterans at the White River Junction VA Medical Center.
“I’ve done art my whole life in some form,” she said. “It’s just really enjoyable.”
Savage finds some of her project ideas on the social media app Pinterest, “then I turn it into my own,” she said. She is also drawn to nature scenes.
“I like all kinds of trees,” Savage said. “I like being out in the woods. I’m a farm girl.”
The art group is one of many activities Savage does to keep busy during retirement.
“I call myself a wannabe artist. (It) just gives me something to do to get out of the house,” she said. “The goal for retirement is to get yourself in a routine and keep yourself busy doing different things. I think that’s important.”
Editor’s note: For more information about AVA’s Senior Art Program, visit avagallery.org or call 603-448-3117.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
