Growing old doesn't have to be seen as an eventual failure but rather as an important developmental stage of creativity. Offering an absorbing and fresh perspective on aging and crafts, Jon Kay explores how elders choose to tap into their creative and personal potential through making life-story objects. Carving, painting, and rug hooking not only help seniors to cope with the ailments of aging and loneliness but also to achieve greater satisfaction with their lives. Whether revived from childhood memories or inspired by their capacity to connect to others, meaningful memory projects serve as a lens for focusing on, remaking, and sharing the long-ago. These activities often help elders productively fill the hours after they have raised their children, retired from their jobs, and/or lost a loved one. These individuals forge new identities for themselves that do not erase their earlier lives but build on them and new lives that include sharing scenes and stories from their memories.
By:
Jon Kay
Imprint: Indiana University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 14mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9780253022066
ISBN 10: 0253022061
Series: Material Vernaculars
Pages: 146
Publication Date: 08 August 2016
Audience:
College/higher education
,
A / AS level
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments Introduction: Folk Art and Aging 1. Bob Taylor: Stories in Wood and Words 2. Gustav Potthoff: Memory Paintings 3. Marian Sykes: Recalling Memories and Making Rugs 4. John Schoolman: Objects, Life Review, and Sociability 5. Milan Opacich: Life-Story Displays and Narratives Conclusion: Life-Story Objects and Aging in Indiana Bibliography Index
Jon Kay is Professor of Practice and Director of Traditional Arts Indiana in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington.
Reviews for Folk Art and Aging: Life-Story Objects and Their Makers
All too often, aging is regarded merely as an end-of-life period, and therefore those within that age-defined category are often treated in a somewhat condescending manner, as if lumped into one clinical entity, with similar needs and aspirations. Kay presents case studies which clearly stand as counter to such narrow thinking and generalizations regarding seniors and their abilities to interact in, and contribute to, their communities and society. Drawing on case studies of five well-chosen Indiana artisans-wood sculptor, rag-rug weaver, musical instrument maker, painter, and maker of wood canes-Kay offers a thoughtful, revealing meditation on the relationship between aging and art making. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *