Doris Stiver who is one of the seven original residents who helped start the ARTcare program standing by some of her paintings. Her latest painting is one of her late husband, Harold, who is fishing off a pier at chapman lake at sunset.

WINONA LAKE — Grace Village’s ARTcare with GRACE Program is holding its first Art Exhibit Open House from 1 to p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. The public is invited to experience this historical Grace Village event.

ARTcare with GRACE is an art therapy program that reaches out to all residents at Grace Village with a special focus on residents who are affected with alzheimer’s and dementia. This unique program provides a safe environment for residents to create art, socialize with their peers and share their talents with each other. The ARTcare studio has a gallery atmosphere complete with soft music & aromatherapy.

The program started in 2012 when Michael Conley, a retired teacher and current CNA at Grace Village, discovered several residents who were either retired artists or interested in creating art.   Seven residents gathered on Saturday evenings for Art Time which started out with adult coloring. Some residents advanced to acrylic painting and additional residents became interested.  What started out as art and social time with Assisted Living residents has now grown to include our Health Care residents and will soon include our Independent Living residents as well.  ARTcare with GRACE has grown from its original 7 artists to over 36 resident artists with 26 who are members of the program’s Artist-In-Residence Program. 

This A.I.R. Program is designed to give residents a feeling of purpose for their talent and art work, exhibiting their work, selling prints and note cards that feature their creations and gifting their original artwork to family and friends. As residents sell prints and notecards to fund the program, we continue to develop and grow with visions of adding leather tooling, mixed media, watercolor, sculpture and more to the curriculum. The feelings of joy and accomplishment that radiates from the resident artists is priceless.

To attend the ARTcare Exhibit, come to Grace Village at 337 Grace Village Drive, Winona Lake. Enter the facility through the Assisted Living Entrance on Elder Lane, take the elevator downstairs, walk through the hallway that showcases the Artist-In-Residence Program and visit the ARTcare studio. You will be able to meet the artists, view the exhibit and feel the atmosphere of creative energy.