Student taps Bay Area
artists for gerontology class project

The community service assignment that Sacramento State student Maria Cristina Falasci received in her gerontology class wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. Falasci’s own work in assisting the curator for the Arts Commission of Brentwood simply sparked an idea to put on an art show that older adults could enjoy.

But the ball started rolling on a project that would bring pieces by big-time Bay Area artists to Sacramento in a Second Saturday Art Walk venue, giving adults age 50 and over the chance to view art meet some of the artists who made it, and display same of their own. The “Day of Art and Socializing” will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Ethel MacLeod Hart Senior Center at 915 27th St. An artist reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Art lovers of all ages are invited to attend.

“The center has never had an event like this before, and I’m trying to bring together older adults who have artistic abilities to share with others,” says Falasci, who is planning this event for credit for a gerontology course. Older adults can sign up to display their work alongside featured artists.

For the event, Falasci tapped acquaintance Stanley Mouse, album cover artist for bands such as the Grateful Dead and Journey, and friends such as wearable art and jewelry designers Lee Brooks and Gregory Franke of Alex & Lee Jewelry, whose collectors include Cher and Salvador Dali, to voluntarily display their art for her cause.

Other works on display will be those by sculptor and painter Joe Cleary, whose art has been in the Ladies Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, and muralist Bill Weber, creator of the larger-than-life murals on buildings throughout San Francisco’s North Beach.

Weber and other artists will be on hand to discuss their art with the Senior Center regulars and the public.

Falasci says she hopes this event will help older adults stimulate their minds while encouraging socialization, a key component of health during the aging process. “This event is about making friends, and getting older adults out of isolation,” Falasci says. It gives them opportunities to enjoy one another and the artists in a venue that they might feel comfortable with.”

People who wish to display their art at this event can register with Linda Hoschler of the Ethel MacLeod Hart Senior Center at 264-5462.