1 week Ago By Heath Harrison
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 12, 2025 By Heath Harrison Resident Nancy Palmer presents her life bouquet at the Wyngate at RiversEdge on Tuesday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison) Wyngate at RiversEdge resident Patty Hayes presents her life bouquet, along with teaching artist Barb Lavalley Benton on Tuesday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison) Marshall University fine arts professor Sandra Reed speaks at an event at the Wyngate at RiversEdge on Tuesday.
Wyngate at RiversEdge resident Joe Wortham presents his life bouquet on Tuesday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison) Residents at the Wyngate at RiversEdge made life bouquets and presented their results on Tuesday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison) Residents at the Wyngate at RiversEdge made life bouquets and presented their results on Tuesday.
(The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison) Residents at the Wyngate at RiversEdge made life bouquets and presented their results on Tuesday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison) Residents at the Wyngate at RiversEdge made life bouquets and presented their results on Tuesday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison) MU fine arts department works with Wyngate seniors on bouquet projects ROME TOWNSHIP — On Tuesday, seniors gathered at the Wyngate at RiversEdge, to show the results of a project they have been working on for the last month and a half.
They had taken part in a six-week workshop, provided by Marshall University’s fine arts department. Under teaching artist Barb Lavalley Benton, they completed a collaborative project, and worked on individual “life bouquet” pieces. “It gives them the opportunity to create a bouquet to keep memories, tell stories and experiment creatively,” Benton, a Marshall graduate, said of the pieces, which she said were themed around “something that is dear to them.
” For the seventh week, they presented and talked about their work before the class, as well as other residents. Themes could be seen in the work of the green bouquet of Barbara Hensley, who said she was a longtime fan of Marshall University athletics and had incorporated that into her design. Joe Wortham said his was a beach theme.
He said he chose a rural beach, rather than a tourist one, and included birds and animals. “I enjoyed doing it,” he said, complimenting Benton for her job teaching them. He said he had never taken an art class before, other than an art appreciation class when he attended Marshall.
“I had a lot of fun doing it,” he said of the workshop. Suzanne Spears is a former librarian and said promot ing reading has always been important to her. She filled her bouquet with small replicas of her favorite books.
“And my favorite, the Bible,” she said. Nancy Palmer showed her piece, which she was abstract and started from cutting up magazine pages. “I had never had an art class before,” she said.
“And I had a ball.” Yolanda Ferrell pointed out that she was the most senior of the class, having turned 100 in January. She said her piece was inspired by flowers in her mother’s garden.
“She had the ability to grow anything,” she said. A retired social worker, Ferrell said it was also her first art class an d the experience had inspired her and kept her mind engaged. “I can still use it,” she joked.
Sandra Reed, a fine arts professor with Marshall, said the workshop came as a result of a $25,000 geriatric research grant, which she said paid for all art supplies and compen sated the instructor. She said the workshop was offered in multiple locations, including the Village at Riverview and the Wyngate’s other senior living community, both in Barboursville, West Virginia. She said the grant also funded research on a question.
“Do creative projects bring benefits to seniors?” she said. She said that they worked with physician Cindi Pinson and Masa Toyama, of Marshall University’s psychology department on the project. A team from the psychology department interviewed the seniors both before and after the workshop, in one on one sessions.
“It’s an assessment,” Reed said, noting the workshop is considered a creative intervention. She said data gathered, if it showed their hypothesis was correct, would be helpful in showing the benefits of such projects and could be cited by those seeking more funding for creative activists for seniors. One of those in the workshop, Robert Shuff, spoke on the benefits when presenting his bouquet, title “On the Job.
” Shuff, who served on the fire department, said he was always fascinated by large vehicles and included them in his design. “I guess the little boy in me never grew up,” he said. He said enjoyed the workshop and that, for it, “You had to think a little bit.
” “Instead of sitting in a room watching TV, instead, you come out and you do a project,” he said.”.
