Since 2018,  I have taught twice-weekly classes in the spring at a senior center in the Bronx, with two museum field trips. Participants initially said "I can't do that!" and at the first year final exhibition we had a much-applauded display of their wonderful drawings, collages, mono prints, and sculpture, and great pride in their work,  Several times a year I teach workshops for adults in the New York Public Library system: drawing, paper sculpture, and plaster sculpture, students’ ages ranging from 50-80. From 2012-2015, I taught drawing in my studio, and the students happen all to be seniors, some attending since the beginning. In 2013, I was artist in residence in a six month drawing class at an East Harlem Senior Center in the SPARC program (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide) of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Seniors with all levels of ability including dementia, and varying prior exposure to art concepts drew with charcoal and pastel from imagination, personal stories, and from still life. There was a field trip to the Guggenheim Museum. I taught several six-week drawing workshops at the Morningside Retirement and Health Services (a NORC), in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, for students of varying levels of experience. All workshops included drawing from still life, using charcoal with gradual introduction of other materials, mastering of techniques, and emphasis on students’ developing a personal style and approach to art-making. I have taught undergraduate sculpture at City College, NY, and Westchester Community College.

Except for undergraduates, students in my workshops and classes have either been seniors or people who came from or are now in difficult living situations, and many are both. Some are active professional people, and some are down on their luck, and many in between. They bring to the workshops the whole gamut of life experiences and respect for each other’s stories. One of my most satisfying experiences was the SPARC program (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide) of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council: my drawing class at a senior center in East Harlem had a remarkable mix of participants: some who had been teachers themselves, some who had a true artistic bent and some experience, one with dementia, and several who had not lifted a drawing implement since childhood. From these students I developed an approach that worked throughout the semester, once a week, until our final exuberant exhibition.  I used the same approach with my recent teaching at a Bronx senior center.   Older people are entirely supportive of one another. They share their stories. The atmosphere is one of caring. Some come mainly for the social interaction, but everyone participates, making an effort. In the drawing class in my studio, going on continuously since 2012, where everyone is 70 plus or minus a few years we formed a tight bond of camaraderie in acknowledgment of the huge reservoir of experience we collectively bring to the drawing studio.