Westminster to Host Exhibition and Reception for Sharing Our Wisdom

By Angelique Kingsbury, Coordinator, Magnet Center 

This fall, in collaboration with Minneapolis Adult Community Education, Westminster’s Magnet Center offered Sharing Our Wisdom, a 6-week art program for adults 55+ to promote positive wellbeing and socialization. Made possible through a $23,000 Community Wellbeing grant from the Minneapolis Health Department (MHD), the Sharing Our Wisdom program was held at Westminster along with two other sites: Sabathani Community Center in South Minneapolis and North Market in North Minneapolis.  

Each site had a cohort of 12-15 older adults who would meet regularly with a teaching artist and additional facilitator to share in storytelling, exchanging knowledge, sharing wisdom, and creating an individual art piece representing life lessons they wished to share. The teaching artists used different mediums at each site with North Market painting on canvas, Westminster working with sculpture, and Sabathani doing wood burning.  

On January 21, Westminster will host a free exhibition and reception for the public from 2-4 pm with art from all three sites. The exhibition will include art pieces along with words of wisdom from the participants. The teaching artists will also attend and discuss their work. After the exhibition opens at Westminster, it will travel to other locations in Minneapolis. 

For the second half of the Sharing Our Wisdom program, participants and others who would like to join will meet monthly through May with each gathering focused on work from a well-known artist and a small art project.