PROVINCETOWN — Maybe it was the Veterans Memorial Community Center’s past life as an elementary school, where kids once put on plays and climbed a rope to the ceiling during gym class. Whatever the reason, the Provincetown Council on Aging’s 15th annual art show on May 15 had all the energy of a science fair.
Only this time, the experiments involved beads, gouache, and a surprising number of ukuleles. As friends gathered around circular tables, nibbling thick-cut slabs of marbled sheet cake, a small group strummed their way through “You Are My Sunshine” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
This was one art opening clearly meant to be less about perfection, more about process. It was whimsical and just the right amount of weird to help you see familiar people and places through a new lens — which brought to life this year’s theme for Older Americans Month: “Flipping the script on aging.”
The printing, painting, drawing, weaving, poetry, and knitting on view emerged from seven weekly art classes hosted by the COA in the winter and spring. Those are just a sliver of the 165 programs the COA offered this past year for residents 60 and older. Instructors and students often bring their own supplies, and scholarships are available.
“There is so much talent out there,” said COA Director Chris Hottle, who floated around the room greeting students and admiring their work. She said many participants are rediscovering creative instincts — or finding them for the first time.
“It’s often the happiest time in people’s lives,” said Hottle of the participants. “They have time to try new things.” The most vital supply in the room, she added, isn’t charcoal or acrylic. It’s companionship.
“They say the lack of social connection has a worse effect on people’s health than smoking cigarettes,” she added. “It’s really the connections that make a difference.”
Drawing instructor Pat Bruno, 77, agreed. This spring, she led an eight-week class on Monday afternoons with lessons in perspective, composition, and proportion. Her signature advice to students: “Pay attention to the space between the lines as well as the lines.”
Bruno sees the lessons as a foundation for moving on to the next thing. She would know: her own creative path spans painting, modeling, set design, and costume work. Her students weren’t the only ones exhibiting work this spring — some of her pieces appeared in a group show at Seashore Point called “Inner Dance.”
Steve Kennedy, who teaches a Tuesday painting class, has been at it for more than 20 years. He prefers to call his teaching guidance, not instruction. “I like to help people speak for themselves,” said Kennedy, whose own work is represented by Kiley Court Gallery.
The class meets through the winter and has a loyal following. “It almost feels like a little family,” he said. “People are involved in each other’s lives.”
Two of the newest members, Larry Mahan, 76, and Bill Fitts, 88, found their way to the group through the COA’s monthly newsletter. Mahan, a former psychotherapist who has lived in Provincetown for 25 years and now works as a personal trainer, said the class gave him more than just brush technique.
“I love painting, but I also love classes with other people encouraging me,” said Mahan, who has exhibited at Gallery 444. “It’s nice to be with people you can bounce things off.”
Fitts, a former carpenter and one of the first visual arts fellows at the Fine Arts Work Center, moved to Provincetown in 1964. After decades of painting, he admits he still struggles with self-discipline. But having class on Tuesday mornings, he said, helps reframe the rest of the week. Plus, the COA arranges free transportation for him and others who need it.
“Accessibility became the main issue,” said Eliza Fitts, his daughter. “This class has been instrumental in helping him get back to creating.”
These days, Fitts keeps a collection of reference photos on his iPhone — mostly Outer Cape scenes that catch his eye.
“Steve helps me along and gives me critiques,” said Fitts. “The rest of the class does the same. Other than that, I’m left to create. I feel like I’m learning like crazy right now.”
Some of Fitts’s new work will be featured in a group show with Tom Boland, Rob DuToit, and Brenda Horowitz at Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown from May 23 to June 15.
Then there’s Ruthie Rogers, 77, who has led the COA’s crafting class for the past 10 years. She is part collage therapist, part social engineer as she guides the group through weekly projects: beaded necklaces, mobiles, and surrealist dioramas made from magazine clippings and old cigar boxes.
“I’m Miss Bossy — I like to teach,” said Rogers. “Some people follow what I say.” But what she’s really more bent on is “putting people together, having a good time, and making the best of life.”
And for one afternoon, at least, the old school was alive again — the students just a little older and a little wiser.
