By the time we were halfway through the Contemporary Journeys workshop hosted on the 30^th of June, tour guides and Walker staff had heard a brief history of the Walker’s Contemporary Journeys program. They’d heard a rundown on tour etiquette and heartwarming stories of Ilene’s Art Lab sessions. But the question remained: would we hear the perspective of someone who centers her whole job on helping people with Alzheimer’s through art?

Luckily for us, the answer was a resounding ‘yes’. Sara Tucker, our third speaker, has spent numerous years of her life doing just that. As an art therapist who spearheaded the Art Institute of Chicago’s program for people with memory loss, she tirelessly strives to help people with Alzheimer’s cope with their condition through the viewing and creation of art.

Sara’s practice is nuanced and fascinating. Displaying a deep understanding of the Alzheimer’s disease, it’s an emotionally intuitive mix of memory priming through sensory stimulation as well as group art-making sessions. Oh how it pains me to make the former sound like a quote from one of my dreary psychology textbooks. The idea itself is anything but boring- it’s a simple but beautiful activity that does a great job of reaching out to its audience. So what is it exactly? Here’s an example that will hopefully tell you all you need to know. To help participants recall their memories, Sara shows them a photo of a woman accompanied by the sound of laughter, or a wall of ‘smells’ where one can sniff an array of labeled objects. Pinpoints of recollection spark to life and bloom into stories.

Something I found impressive about her therapeutic process was the strong emphasis on fostering group connections. Sadly, Alzheimer’s, like many other mental conditions, can severely alienate one from others and give rise to a debilitating feeling of irrelevance to society. Sara’s brand of group art-making sessions confronts that problem head on. A considerable number of her projects allowed participants to craft individual pieces, eventually combining them into one large, cohesive piece. As she said, “connecting with people is an incredible health benefit”. But that’s not all. Knowing that an increased sense of self-worth is one of the fundamental sources of happiness, Sara takes care to make participants feel like they’ve succeeded at what they’ve done. I couldn’t help but wish that some of my elementary school teachers had grasped that concept instead of, you know, my right ear.

A little later on, the talk moved on to the subject of choices. The prospect of too many, Sara pointed out, can be quite stressful. Therefore, it’s important to ask fewer open-ended questions and instead pose ones where the array of possible answers is more limited.  Also, acknowledging the opinions of people with Alzheimer’s and following their train of thought instead of bending them towards your own is just as vital. Patience and respect are key.

The workshop didn’t end with Sara’s presentation. We had five special Walker tour guides with us who had extensive experience giving tours to people with Alzheimer’s, and they weren’t going to close the session without putting their formidable arsenal of knowledge to work. Claudia Swager, Tina Daniels Rivkin, Kay Ehrhart, Jane Mercier, and Caroline Lappin headed an illuminating Q&A session with helpful input from previous speakers Courtney Gerber, Ilene Krug Mojsilov and Sara Tucker. I think we’ve all had it up to here with paragraphs, so I’m going to lay a summarized version out for everyone a little differently.

Q: What do you do when somebody gets really angry or upset, or when you sense a negative feeling rising? How do you deal with that?

A:  If you notice someone becoming upset, try to help them step away from the situation that is evoking this feeling. For instance, ask: “Do you want to take a walk and see this piece with me?”. Taking that walk might be just about all you have to do. Hear them out. Also, it’s useful to have an extra guide or two along to help observe reactions and assuage negative emotions.

Q: How should we address our Contemporary Journeys audience?

A: It depends on the person. In the cases of some people with early-stage Alzheimer’s, using the phrase ‘mild cognitive impairment’ may be preferable, but in general it is acceptable to address them as ‘people with Alzheimer’s’. Acknowledging them as people instead of patients is important, so always use person-first language.

Q: How should we choose pieces for the Contemporary Journeys tours?

A: Having a mix of work is a good idea, so if one direction doesn’t work out you have something else to which to resort. It’s also important to have your pieces within close proximity. If you are guiding people with mid-stage Alzheimer’s, consider using props in the tour and including more images that have a high visual contrast (for instance: black and white images) as less detail can be less stress-inducing.

And last but not least,

Q: How do you establish emotionally fulfilling relationships in a few visits?

A: Through asking questions and gaining valuable insight into who your audience is, through using props to bring the abstract down to the realm of the tangible and physically familiar. In short, through always trying to reach out.

When the questions had died down, Ilene sprang up and called everyone’s attention to the front of the room. “That’s right ladies,” said the twinkle in her eye. “It’s time to make some art.” The name of the game? Sell-Out, inspired by consumerism and Andy Warhol’s body of work. How do you play it? Design a can of anything you want. Unfortunately, it fell upon my shoulders to photograph the activity, so my life-long dream of making a can of bacon-flavored soda was dashed to pieces. But from the demise of an interesting albeit totally unmarketable idea, at least you get some nice photos of the great time we all had!

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To get a better idea of what happened earlier on in the workshop, check out Contemporary Journeys Workshop: Part One!

As you already know, efforts to heighten the Walker’s accessibility to the deaf or hard-of-hearing are already operating under full steam. But what about those who face a very different set of obstacles? How about those whose difficulties transcend the realm of the sensory, reaching far into that of the cognitive?

Don’t worry – the Walker is on it. It’s true that interacting with people with Alzheimer’s can present itself as an intimidating situation to many, even to those who are no strangers to the idea. The awareness that entering the complex reality of these individuals requires a different plane of sensitivity, coupled with the fear of doing something clumsy and hurtful, can nip the noblest of endeavors in the bud. Here at the Walker, we acknowledge this predicament, and understand that what helps to assuage these fears is some in-depth guidance from the experienced and savvy. So to show our tour guides how to work with people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, the Walker held the Contemporary Journeys workshop for tour guides and administrative staff alike on the 30th of June.

Courtney Gerber, the assistant director of Education and Community Programs, began the event by giving us a short history of the Walker’s Contemporary Journeys program, in which volunteers took people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s along with their care partners on tours and art lab sessions. Said volunteers were trained by the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Alzheimer’s Association and local memory care professionals, meeting with their groups regularly over a period of two months. Before someone in the audience exclaims ‘Two months?! Oh come on!’, let me assure you that something good did bloom from our efforts. Despite the time constraints, tour groups managed to form intimate bonds with their tour guides and fellow participants, ones which became fertile ground for enriching interactions and discussions.

Of course, anyone can tell you that careening excitedly down a path without knowing where it’s heading never ends well. With this in mind, the Walker hired Dr. Joseph Gaugler from the University of Minnesota to give the program a solid six-month evaluation on whether it was having positive effects on the wellbeing of the patrons with Alzheimer’s and their care partners while at the Walker and outside of its walls.

Meticulously illustrating the similarities and differences between conducting typical adult group tours and Contemporary Journey tours, Courtney clarified that the world of abstract and conceptual art isn’t necessarily off-limits. One can still render it intellectually accessible just by making one’s related questions less abstract and more concrete. In fact, it is considered disrespectful to omit art-related information based on the assumption that patrons with Alzheimer’s cannot digest it. “Depending on where they are on the spectrum of memory loss, they might want to hear about it from you,” said Courtney.

As for the art itself? Tour guides are encouraged to help patrons find its relevance to their own personal experiences. Definitely a point that struck a chord. After all, finding how and where a piece of art fits into one’s own life story can be one of the most powerful forms of appreciation.

But while it’s good to avoid over-thinking one’s etiquette when giving tours to people with Alzheimer’s, there is one major don’t to keep in mind. Priming, a commonly-employed conversational tool, is not such a good idea. For instance, asking questions like “Remember when I said this?” can cause considerable emotional stress for people with Alzheimer’s, as they might not be able to recall the information but feel pressured to do so anyway. It’s also crucial to remember that they may respond to the art in ways different from what one is used to. Sometimes a silent smile and nod will replace a verbal response. Sometimes opinions will be repeated. However, one shouldn’t brush these forms of input aside and instead integrate them into the course of the tour. “And remember to keep group sizes small,” Courtney reminded, as a greater feeling of intimacy is a wonderful catalyst for group interaction.

Leaping in to talk about the Art Lab was Ilene Mojsilov, the Art Lab Coordinator. One look at our taut, pale faces and she probably figured that we were a little overwhelmed by the myriad logistical concerns combined with subzero air-conditioning. To warm us over a little, she shared some truly inspiring anecdotes of her art lab experiences involving patrons with Alzheimer’s. Taking on the role as a guiding presence rather than a dictating one, Ilene tried to help participants with Alzheimer’s find their own preferences and artistic direction instead of instructing them every step of the way. If someone had difficulty using the materials, the staff was encouraged to take this setback as an opportunity to talk about aesthetic choices.

The results were incredible. In one art lab session, a patron who works with the St Paul Public Library took a fresh and exciting spin on a collage, introducing sculptural elements into her work. In another during which participants made their own ‘dime store box’, a participant transformed her piece into a beautiful exploration of color-layering. “The possibilities are endless,” the stories seemed to say. Ilene herself noted that the Art Lab session did wonders for building self-esteem by discovering or revisiting positive qualities in the patrons while helping them reconnect to other members of society.

Despite the rapid onset of frostbite, I was really moved by the underlying sentiment of Ilene’s observation. It’s true that when it comes to considering a condition of such overwhelming magnitude, it can be so easy to equate the person to the disease. But Ilene’s endeavors reminded us that her patrons are so much more than the illness with which they are grappling. Even though their behaviors change, the complexity and profundity of their personalities do not necessarily disappear. The advent of Alzheimer’s does not make a person any less of an individual.

So as you can see, the workshop presented us with no shortage of stories and ideas from Walker insiders. But we didn’t want to end the event without hearing from someone who has dedicated her entire career to helping people with Alzheimer’s through art.

That is where Sara Tucker from Chicago comes into the picture.

Stay tuned for Sara’s experiences as an art therapist working with people with Alzheimer’s, an enlightening Q&A session with three tour guides who conducted Contemporary Journeys tours, followed by an Art Lab session which spawned, among other things, a can of spam! Part Two will be up next Thursday (7/29/10).