Artistic bridges

Michael Buonaiuto's paintings always contain images of boats and water.

He pulls these tidbits from his memories of childhood, which he split among several coastal cities in Massachusetts. The rest of his memories are harder to come by. Buonaiuto was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008 -- and may have gone some time before that without an official diagnosis.

At first, even with the disease progressively stealing away his memory, Buonaiuto continued to create pottery alongside his wife, Shelley Buonaiuto. The two worked as artists together for 40 years. But as more and more of his memories and physical capabilities left him, he stopped, save for one notable exception. The Buonaiutos each month come to the Creative Connections program at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. There, they complete artworks and exercises designed to help Buonaiuto remember.

A STUDIED APPROACH

The Creative Connections program debuted in January 2013 and exists through a partnership with the Arkansas chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. The engagement projects offered through the program create an avenue for learning and remembering.

"We're creating a safe, open environment to engage and share," said Amanda Driver, senior museum educator for Crystal Bridges and one of the administrators of the program.

The group meets monthly. Driver and her associates take participants and their caregivers to a specific work that allows for focused discussion. For the March program, that painting was the 1820 work by Francis Guy called Winter Scene in Brooklyn. Driver asked participants questions about the work to spur their memories. Michael, with some prompting from Shelley, remembered his family's asparagus farm. But soon his focus turned to the adjacent Arthur Fitzwilliam Tate work The Life of a Hunter: A Tight Fix, which features an image of a hunter in a duel with a bear. His father killed a bear once, Michael told the group, and his family made it into a rug.

Driver shifted his attention back toward the winter painting. They talked about Guy's family, which he painted into the scene. Driver worked to make sure all participants had a chance to talk about their families and their communities.

"Engaging with the artwork is important -- both for the care partner and the person (with Alzheimer's)," Driver said.

The prompts offered by Driver are specific and coordinated in advance. The discussion is created under the theory of the dialogical method, something Crystal Bridges school and community programs manager Zev Slurzberg described as a process of learner-centered exploration that is designed to deepen critical thinking and discussion skills. He said prompts that often elicit memories relate to vacations, music or outdoor experiences such as standing in the snow, like the many citizens in the Guy piece.

The prompts don't always work.

"But every once in while, we're going to get that 'whoa' moment of a beautiful shared experience," Slurzberg said.

AESTHETICS IN MOTION

Shelley Buonaiuto noticed her husband's changes some time before his actual diagnosis.

"I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know how to interpret it," she said. He maintained early stage Alzheimer's for many years, although she believes the condition has progressed more rapidly of late. But she recently got him working again. She continues her work as a full-time artist, and she found he still maintains the ability to create small clay figurines Shelley described as "beautiful, funny little things." She glazes them and puts them in the kiln -- both of those tasks are beyond his capacity. They sold them for $5 each at a recent art fair, giving the proceeds back to the Alzheimer's Association.

Staying active is important for those with Alzheimer's, and it's the second element of the Creative Connections program. After the study period in front of the selected artwork, participants return to a studio space on the museum campus and get to work. For the March session, Driver and Crystal Bridges intern Sarah Graham led the four who participated that day in a workshop. The idea was to create a winter scene, something that paralleled the Guy work they had just discussed. Each of the four participants, two with Alzheimer's and two caregivers, pressed pastels onto a black background.

Michael, wearing a pre-soiled Crystal Bridges apron, ate cookies as he worked.

He created a rather abstract work. As always, the work resembled water and boats.

"It's fun. It's joy. And they help him," Shelley Buonaiuto said. "His aesthetic sense has been maintained."

Shelley created a work at the same time. In her home studio, her works owe much to realism. In this space, she often makes abstractions. There's a freeing element here, Shelley said. They happen to have studied art -- they initially met as art students at the University of Massachusetts -- but knowledge or technical ability is not required for Creative Connections.

"There have been people who have not been artists, and they do really great work," Shelley Buonaiuto said.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

The local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association recommends participants to Crystal Bridges. That organization does the vetting for the museum.

"They help us identify who might be a good fit. We rely on that partnership. They know their audience," Slurzberg said. The person with dementia is always joined by a caregiver. Between two and four pairs typically join the monthly program, which takes place the third Monday of each month and usually runs two hours. There is no charge.

Creative Connections is the only such program in the state of Arkansas, said Tina Hunter, program director for the Arkansas affiliate of the national Alzheimer's Association. But similar programs exist at other institutions. The Alzheimer's Association recommends art projects as a way to provide the person with dementia and his caregiver an opportunity for self-expression.

"It's a great outlet," Hunter said. "It teaches them to use their brain in new ways."

The program works best for those in the early to middle stages of the disease. As physical capabilities and motor skills leave the patient in late-stage Alzheimer's, it becomes impossible to complete the artistic tasks. But Driver said the program remains important, particularly to the caregivers. She recalls one caretaker who came in to say farewell after his partner died.

"It's for the caregiver, too. That's important," Driver said.

Hunter agreed.

"It can be very isolating for the caregiver. It's hard for them to get out and experience things," Hunter said.

"It's a moment for the release of creativity," Driver said. "It's a moment of time for creative expression and not having to worry about anything else."

NAN Our Town on 04/16/2015