Artists and Art Thrive at Lenbrook
Art has the power to stimulate the human brain, and people can feel powerful emotions while viewing and creating it.
“I love witnessing the enthusiasm, energy, and supportive community the residents have created for each other,” said Muskaan Bhukhanwala. As Lenbrook’s resident art instructor, she has taught art classes to dozens of residents twice a week in the Lenbrook Art Studio for two years. “They may work with acrylics, oil, charcoal, and watercolor – whatever they choose.”
Both professional and newly minted artists thrive in the welcoming Lenbrook community known for its engaged senior living. For artists who are beginning or refining their abilities, Lenbrook offers a class with a more structured approach, guiding residents through creating a painting step-by-step.
For established resident artists, Lenbrook also offers class time to focus on their medium and receive guidance if they wish.
Every other year, members of both classes and other resident artists showcase their art in an exhibition at Lenbrook for friends and family.
“It’s wonderful to see the pride on their faces at the exhibition. I love seeing the joy and fulfillment that comes with the creative process,” Bhukhanwala said.
One class participant is Ethan Staats. He designed classroom murals in grammar school during most holidays. He took art classes as a child in the old coach house behind the High home on Peachtree before it became the present High Museum of Art. During his career as a surgeon, he would doodle and sketch in any meeting he attended.
Painting oil portraits became a hobby in the 1960s, and he took courses at the High Museum School of Art. All the children in the Staats’ neighborhood got a free portrait, and many still hang in their parents’ homes. In retirement, watercolor became his endeavor with trout being the main subject, along with landscapes. Drawing, photography, and watercolor now fill his artistic time.
Dr. Staats and his wife Marilyn moved to Lenbrook in 2021, choosing it in part for the variety of activities offered, including art classes and poetry groups. At Lenbrook, he has completed portraits of approximately 50 associates, and many of them were featured in the Lenbrook art exhibition last fall.
“Muskaan is a very good teacher. She knows how to work with people and helps everyone in the class. I encourage anyone who moves here to try new things to get to know others,” he said.
Maxine and Cedric Suzman moved to Lenbrook in March 2024. She is a professional artist who served as an art director at several New York art agencies, earned a master’s degree in art therapy, and did an internship in psychoanalysis. That led her to private psychoanalytic practice and art therapy for 45 years, including teaching at the Atlanta College of Art and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Community Education.
As a conceptual artist, she engages with existential themes, manifesting them into whatever medium is most appropriate. She often creates collages using images from magazines altered in size, shape, and quantity. She has also crafted two- and three-dimensional sculptures. Her pieces have included images about the ongoingness of life including its joys and horrors – always in its beauty.
“Once you look more closely at a piece, you begin to see the complexity of images,” she said. “It highlights the ability to look at the world, to see more of reality, and hopefully encourage acceptance of it.”
Art helps create opportunities for residents to focus on their abilities and build on their strengths. The Lenbrook classes especially help new artists engage in fresh activities with an open mind to try something different that allows them to express their emotions and experiences in a meaningful way. Studies have shown that art can enhance one’s mood, reduce stress, and relieve anxiety – at any age.
For experienced professional artists, moving to Lenbrook doesn’t mean they have to leave their art behind. They can continue to create, by telling stories and expressing feelings through their art that connect with other residents and the world around them.