By Jessica Ruhle, Associate Curator of Education
Earlier this month, a tour group of a dozen senior citizens gathered at Adalbert Waagen’s majestic landscape painting from 1865, Hunting in the Alps. The conversation focused on the artist’s use of color. Some group members commented on the masterful contrasts of light and dark in the scene, others remarked on the reflection of sunlight off of the icy mountain tops and the running water in the foreground. A quieter member of the group, Adam, joins the conversation but struggles for the vocabulary to describe the scene. The group listens patiently and shares a sense of accomplishment when Adam finds the words he wants.
Adam and his wife, Sandra, are visiting the museum as part of Reflections: the Nasher Museum’s Alzheimer’s Project. Titled “Look & Lunch,” the tour that they are on is offered in partnership with the Duke Family Support Program. Look & Lunch tours open the museum to visitors in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and their care partners, while offering a normalizing experience separate from their daily routine.
Phil, a regular participant who brings his wife, Hazel, highlights the program’s strengths saying, “The show and music were wonderful, but even better was the chance to be out with others who are in the same or a similar situation as we are.”
Another care partner, Gina, stresses the importance of the program to caregivers, “I enjoyed the program and also the break from responsibility.”
First created a year ago by Jessica Ruhle, Associate Curator of Education at the Nasher Museum, these tours recognize the similarities that this group shares with all other museum visitors. They are interested in seeing artwork, hearing details about the artist’s background or technique, and exchanging their observations with others. Sometimes most importantly, they want a pleasant experience to share with friends and family, away from the difficulties of the everyday. Too often, these similarities are overlooked after a diagnosis is given. Look & Lunch tours meet these goals by engaging visitors in conversation at a variety of artworks and providing interactive experiences, such as printmaking, related to the exhibitions.
Some tours also include live music. Bobbi G. Matchar, a social worker from the Duke Aging Center, emphasizes that “Music can be almost magical with people who have memory impairments.” Research supports Bobbi’s observation, proving that the visual arts and music can successfully connect people to distant memories. During the music portion of these tours, participants sing along to old favorites, dance in their seats and share music-related stories.
“It was wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing him play,” commented Lynn, a repeat visitor with her dad, Edward, after a recent Spanish guitar performance connected to the current Miró exhibition.
Future plans for the project are ambitious. Tour offerings for visitors with early-stage Alzheimer’s will expand dramatically this summer. Also later this year, the museum will work with research and clinical partners at the Duke University Medical Center to expand the Reflections program to include tours for visitors with mid- and late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
Tours are only one aspect of the museum’s initiative to provide programing and resources to families experiencing memory loss. Beyond tours, the museum will host film screenings and workshops intended for the general public, as well as professional caregivers.
The Nasher Museum will also be a leader in the field when, in fall of 2016, the museum hosts the “Shine Symposium” for museum professionals from around the country. This will be an opportunity for museum educators currently providing memory loss programs to share best practices, report on research and plan future programming. This symposium is generously supported by the Carlyle Adams Foundation.
Other funding for Reflections has been provided by individual donors in honor of family members affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other memory loss disorders.
For additional information about the Reflections project, please contact Jessica Ruhle, Associate Curator of Education, at jessica.ruhle@duke.edu.
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