Beyond the Brushstroke: The Power of Partnerships in Using Art to Educate and Connect
A grandmother’s love is a powerful force—gentle yet strong, nurturing yet empowering. But when trauma leaves its mark on a child’s heart, that love sometimes needs additional support. While raising her grandson Dillon through a season of trauma and stress, Vicki found herself searching for new tools to help him heal. She reached out to Duet for support and resources to help rebuild a sense of safety and trust for her grandfamily.
Art connects us with a transformative power beyond words. When barriers to connection exist, be it a grandmother seeking to bond with her grandchild, or a family caregiver seeking to understand dementia in his native language, art connects.
Duet collaborates with community organizations like Free Arts and Urbanists Collective to foster meaningful connections for underserved groups, including grandfamilies and family caregivers.
Connecting Generations Through Creativity
Duet’s kinship services are a good starting point for many grandparents who find themselves parenting for a second time. Our educational workshops provide grandparents a wealth of resources, knowledge, perspectives, and hope, while connecting with fellow grandparents who understand their unique experience.
Free Arts reached out to Duet to invite a few select grandfamilies to participate in a special professional artist series. This initiative connected children and families with local artists, providing an opportunity to interact with and learn from a professional artist while creating meaningful art together.
Although Free Arts has created large-scale projects like murals at organizations such as UMOM, Duet chose a different approach for this collaboration due to space limitations. For this series, the artist collaborated with three grandfamilies who attended all three sessions, resulting in a stunning three-panel painting created by both grandparents and their grandchildren. This beautiful artwork now hangs in Duet’s office, symbolizing the power of art to connect and inspire.
It was a privilege to be chosen. It brought us closer, lifted my spirits, and taught us how art comforts us and the meaning behind colors.
– Grandmother Vicki
Grandparents raising their grandchildren need support, both emotionally and physically, to prevent burnout and maintain their own well-being. Duet offers valuable resources for kinship caregivers to find one-on-one emotional support and guidance to navigate the challenging journey of parenting a second time. To learn more about Duet’s kinship services, please visit duetaz.org/grandparents-raising-grandchildren or contact Duet kinship services at (602) 274-5022.
Art is the only thing that can take you beyond the barriers of language and culture.
– Jeanette Winterson
Understanding Dementia Through Art Across Cultures
Memoria En Mosaicos (Memory Mosaics) is an art workshop designed to raise awareness about dementia through education, conversation, and painting on canvas. In partnership with Urbanists Collective, Duet offers Memoria En Mosaicos art workshops to bridge the gap cross-culturally between caregivers, families, and communities, fostering understanding and support for those impacted by dementia.
Research specific to family caregivers in Latino communities, show that there is a lack of knowledge about dementia which also creates a challenge for accessing services designed for family caregivers of people with dementia. Six out of ten Latinos believe that memory loss is a normal part of aging, and 13% of Latinos 65 years or older have Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. This creates a challenge for accessing services designed for family caregivers of people with dementia and for Latinos that are undiagnosed.
A mí me ayuda hacer cosas con las manos cuando estoy escuchando/aprendiendo. (It helps me to do things with my hands when I am listening/learning.)
– Memoria En Mosaicos participant
Duet’s Multicultural Services Manager Linda Guijosa hosted for the first time, “Memoria En Mosaicos” (Memory Mosaics), an art workshop. Through a collaboration with Erik Gonzalez, Executive Director from Urbanists Collective, participants engaged in art and conversation to learn about the basic functions of the brain and how they are impacted by the different types of dementia. Participants in the workshop—including family caregivers, friends of individuals with dementia, community health workers, and social service providers—connected with one another while painting their own brain figures on canvas, fostering understanding and empathy for those affected by dementia.
This collaboration with Urbanists Collective supports Duet’s mission of promoting health and well-being by increasing dementia knowledge in Spanish speaking communities. To learn more about upcoming Memoria En Mosaicos (Memory Mosaics) workshops, please contact Duet’s Multicultural Services Manager, Linda Guijosa at (602) 274-5022, extension 116, or guijosa@duetaz.org.
Thank you again to Free Arts and Urbanists Collective for an amazing partnership!