Grace College Art Students Present Paintings to Local Retirement Community

Five Grace College art students collaborated with the Grace Village Retirement Community to create artwork to be displayed in its soon-to-be remodeled Memory Care wing. The project is the start of an ongoing partnership between Grace College’s Art Integrations class and Grace Village’s ARTcare program, which provides Grace Village residents the opportunity to create art.

“We’re excited to build a relationship with Grace College students,” says Justin Kimbrell, CEO of Grace Village. “How great it is for them to bond with our residents and to connect with them over a shared interest in art!”

Students Julia Frone, Bianca Jimenez, Claire Mumaw and Cheyenne Williams worked on the project over the past eight weeks. The group collaborated to create a cohesive series of paintings around a Noah’s Ark theme.

“It was amazing to have everyone working on it together,” says Mumaw, a third-year student at Grace. “We all tried hard to do the best work we could, and that eased my nerves about how the final product would turn out. I had full confidence in it and in us.”

This installation is only the first for the Memory Care wing. Student Sofia Lerro will continue the project through an internship this summer. She will create an additional set of paintings themed around the four seasons.

Professor Kim M. Reiff, chair of the Department of Visual, Performing and Media Arts at Grace College and instructor of the Art Integrations class, has high expectations for the continuation of this partnership. She hopes to eventually fill the Memory Care wing with paintings and to develop ongoing internships for students to work with artist residents in the ARTcare program at Grace Village.

“Our students are using their art to serve the community, and this will bring much joy to the residents of Grace Village and their visiting families,” says Reiff. “This is the way of Grace.”

To learn more about Grace’s Visual, Performing and Media Arts Department, visit www.grace.edu/academics/undergraduate/academic-schools-departments/sc/department-of-visual-performing-and-media-arts/.