Artists aged 62 or older: Apply by April 15 for a rare opportunity

by David Cohen

Are you a visual artist age 62 or older? Then here’s a chance to organize and document your work – and maybe even to find a new audience.

Artists brim with creativity, passion, and vision. When it comes to organizing, cataloguing, and summarizing the work of a lifetime…. Well, those skills may come a little less naturally. ART CART is a project that offers artists a chance to work with people who have and will share those skills: Graduate students in arts management, health care, social work, and education.

The deadline for applications to participate in “ART CART: Saving the Legacy” is April 15th. The next DC information session will take place on Tuesday, April 7th, from 1:30 to 3 pm at Iona Senior Services, 4125 Albemarle Street, NW, first floor.

At an information session last week hosted by Iona Senior Services, Joan Jeffri, director of the Research Center for Arts and Culture, an affiliate of the National Center for Creative Aging, explained the benefits of ART CART for mature professional artists.

Each selected artist receives free custom software, training in its use, collaboration with two graduate students, and “an honorarium for appearing in a public forum connected to a public exhibition.” The year-long sequence will begin in September 2015, continue through the fall and spring semesters, and culminate in the forum and exhibit in fall 2016.

The requirements for artists who wish to apply are that they:

1) are 62 or older,
2) live in the Washington, DC metro area (a parallel project is running in New York City),
3) have worked at their art through their lives, and
4) have a commitment from someone close to them to work with them on the project as a “working partner.”

Pamela Harris Lawton, director of art education at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, will coordinate the academic side of the Washington, DC metro ART CART project. Three jurors – an arts educator, a museum specialist, and a gallery representative – will select ten artists and three alternates from among the applicants.

Watercolorist and oil painter Carmen Torruella Quander, an ART CART artist, praised the program. In addition to organizing and documenting her work, her participation led to showings of her work, two television interviews, and a grant.

For more information, see creativeaging.org/artcart. To request an application, email info.artcart@gmail.com.

David Cohen, a resident of Forest Hills since 1962, is a member of the Advisory Board for the Research Center for Arts and Culture (artsandcultureresearch.org/rcac/governance). Among his activities is portrait photography; see DavidCohenPhotoDC.com.