In a nod to caregiving, the annual Emerge! Art Festival recognized several artists and kicked off an arts exhibition in a daylong festival last weekend at the Hannan Center.
The theme of this year’s Emerge! exhibition, sponsored by the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative and the Mary Thompson Foundation, celebrated “The Art of Caregiving.” The open contest had a new category of artists 54 and older as a tribute to caregivers. There were more than 130 works of art selected for display at Kayrod Art Gallery. (The exhibition is on both the ground and first floors.)
Kayrod is part of the Hannan community center in midtown Detroit, which promotes healthy aging through programming for adults older than 55. The Emerge! exhibit has been extended through Sept. 11, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Here’s what to know about the exhibition:
1. The exhibit features artists from Detroit and around the world.
Entries in this year’s contest include artists from metro Detroit and around the world, the furthest away being from Nigeria. Other featured artists are from New York, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina and New Hampshire. Most of the art is for sale.
2. The judges for this year’s Emerge! ‘The Art of Caregiving’ contest also are caregivers.
Angelena Taylor, Ms. USA World Universal Ambassador, judged the 54 and younger category while internationally renowned artist Judy Bowman was juror for the 55 and older segment.
Bowman became the caregiver for her mother in the last four years of her life. As a mixed-media artist, she captured her mother in her artwork before Mae died in November 2022.
“When I was looking at those pieces … it was just like kind of living it over again – the love and the care, and the commitment to taking care of a loved one, was just all evident,” Bowman said.
Taylor has been caregiving for her father, a military veteran and stroke survivor, for almost nine years. She has run her pageant campaigns on supporting caregivers and using her platform to elevate caregiving resources.
“This exhibit was very beautifully done, and all of the artists and their work are very impressive,” Taylor said.
3. The Hannan Center shows support for older adults who are artists and clients of its programming.
The Hannan Center, which turns 100 next year, celebrates adults 55 and older with social services and creative aging opportunities in Detroit. Programming includes workshops and classes, the Daybreak adult day program for older adults living with dementia and the Ellen Kayrod Art Gallery and gift shop.
The first wall that you see walking into the Kayrod gallery includes the painting “Medicine Man” by Carolyn Bell, an artist diagnosed with dementia and beneficiary of the adult daycare services at Hannan Center. Two of Bell’s paintings are featured in the exhibit.
“Her family showed me her artwork and when I saw it, I thought it was the perfect piece to be in an exhibit about caregiving,” said Richard Reeves Jr., Hannan’s director of arts and culture. The Hannan Center presented Bell with the Randal Charlton award to honor her and her artwork.
“She has been a light whenever she comes through. She has a smile for everybody,” said Melissa Draughn, Hannan’s director of social work. “You can tell that her family cares for her and it shows. It warms my heart to see her.”
4. Emerge! serves as a reminder that creativity is not limited by age or ability.
Artists were encouraged to express their creativity and life experiences in the contest. The Emerge! Art Festival began as a competition art show for older adults five years ago. This year, the show opened to younger entrants as a tribute to the art of caregiving, Reeves said. The youngest artist featured in the exhibit is 16 years old and the oldest is 84. The average age of artists featured this year is 63. The featured artwork varies in mediums, including acrylic and oil paintings, pencil, fiber art, wood, digital and other forms of mixed media.
Margo Dupre, 65, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, is a mixed-media artist and former art teacher whose work is featured in the exhibit. She said her acrylic and yarn piece, “New Every Morning,” represents how every day is different for a caregiver.
“I thought about caregiving and how every morning, the caregiver gets up and starts anew. And every morning, it’s not the same old routine in a sense of how they love on this person. It’s new, it’s fresh, to give and provide for them every morning,” Dupre said.
5. The winners represent caregiving in many facets.
Each of the entries in this year’s contest represented a form of caregiving.
“I wanted this exhibit to expand everyone’s perception of what caregiving really is,” said Reeves. “In ways, we’re all caregivers. And when we care, we make the world a lot a better place. This exhibit shows the many faces of caregiving, large and small, caregiving to others and self-care.”
The artwork varies from depicting older loved ones, to family spending time together, to the hardships and emotions of caregiving and more as a celebration of those caregiving in the community and in their own home.
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