Research shows that learning something new is an effective way to keep the brain active and healthy. The UVic Retirees Association Elder Academy shares the experiences of four different artists in its Becoming an Artist series.

Each of the four women discovered or rediscovered their artistic expression in several different forms of art. This will be a fun and sharing experience and an opportunity to see some of their creations and learn what motivated them to create some of their pieces.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 giving people interesting things to listen to and useful things to learn. ItB次元官网网址檚 kept separate from continuing studies because they keep it really cheap,B次元官网网址� says Jenny Waelti Walters, the first artist up, who also worked at UVic at 30 years. B次元官网网址淎 lot of (the lectures) have been about health and bodies. Dave (Docherty, chair, UVRA Elder Academy Program Committee) thought it would be nice to have a change.B次元官网网址�

Speakers over the four-week course areWaelti Walters, Fran Baskerville, Agnes Ananichuk and April Caverhill. Each will recount and illustrate the paths they followed in the discovery of the various forms of creativity that attracted them.

B次元官网网址淭here are people out there who say B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檒l do some art when I retireB次元官网网址� then they retire and they havenB次元官网网址檛,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淓ach of the four of us who have quite different backgroundsB次元官网网址� all came to it after we retired. WeB次元官网网址檒l just talk about how we actually mad e the transition, how we got into art, what that led into and what weB次元官网网址檝e been doing since weB次元官网网址檝e been full time artists.B次元官网网址�

One is a life-long artist, whereas the other three went to art school in the late 1990s at retirement from careers in government and teaching at UVic. Over the years they have developed their crafts and honed their skills as they built the courage to name themselves openly for what they are now in the world: they are artists. Join them in January and maybe test the possibilities for yourselves after you have heard what fun and adventures they have had over the course of their journey.

Becoming an Artist runs Saturdays, Jan 6, 13, 20 and 27 from 10 a.m. to noon in UVicB次元官网网址檚 MacLaurin Building D114. Cost is $20 for all four sessions or $6 per session.

To register, email registrant name and method of payment to uvra@uvic.ca, or phone 250-472- 4749.