Folk Art and Aging

Folk Art and Aging

Author: Jon Kay

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2016-08-08

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 0253022207

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Growing old doesn't have to be seen as an eventual failure but rather as an important developmental stage of creativity. Offering an absorbing and fresh perspective on aging and crafts, Jon Kay explores how elders choose to tap into their creative and personal potential through making life-story objects. Carving, painting, and rug hooking not only help seniors to cope with the ailments of aging and loneliness but also to achieve greater satisfaction with their lives. Whether revived from childhood memories or inspired by their capacity to connect to others, meaningful memory projects serve as a lens for focusing on, remaking, and sharing the long-ago. These activities often help elders productively fill the hours after they have raised their children, retired from their jobs, and/or lost a loved one. These individuals forge new identities for themselves that do not erase their earlier lives but build on them and new lives that include sharing scenes and stories from their memories.


The Expressive Lives of Elders

The Expressive Lives of Elders

Author: Jon Kay

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2018-09-20

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 0253037093

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Can traditional arts improve an older adult's quality of life? Are arts interventions more effective when they align with an elder's cultural identity? In The Expressive Lives of Elders, Jon Kay and contributors from a diverse range of public institutions argue that such mediations work best when they are culturally, socially, and personally relevant to the participants. From quilting and canning to weaving and woodworking, this book explores the role of traditional arts and folklore in the lives of older adults in the United States, highlighting the critical importance of ethnographic studies of creative aging for both understanding the expressive lives of elders and for designing effective arts therapies and programs. Each case study in this volume demonstrates how folklore and traditional practices help elders maintain their health and wellness, providing a road map for initiatives to improve the lives and well-being of America's aging population.


The Art of Growing Old

The Art of Growing Old

Author: Marie De Hennezel

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-04-12

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1101567023

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A groundbreaking approach to aging from one of France's best- known clinical psychologists. How should we accept growing old? It's an inevitable progression and yet in Western society the very subject of aging is often taboo and shrouded in anxiety and shame. Not anymore, says Marie de Hennezel, an internationally renowned clinical psychologist and bestselling author. Now that our lives are longer and richer than ever before, it's imperative to demystify our greatest fear and cultivate a positive awareness of aging. In this timely and essential book, de Hennezel offers a fresh perspective on the art of growing old. She confronts head-on the inevitable grief we sustain at the loss of our youth and explains how refusing to age and move forward in life is actually what makes us become old. Combining personal anecdotes with psychological theory, philosophy, and eye-opening scientific research from around the world, she shows why we should look forward to embracing everything aging has to offer in terms of human and spiritual enrichment. The Art of Growing Old is a thought-provoking, brave, and uplifting meditation on the later years as they should be lived.


Both Worlds at Once

Both Worlds at Once

Author: Amir Cohen-Shalev

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9780761821878

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Both Worlds at Once is a study of works of art conceived and produced late in their creators' careers. It pronounces an alternative to the mainstream life span creativity research which has, in general, adopted a decline perspective to the fruits of old age. Amir Cohen-Shalev argues that this age-decrement approach misses what the artists themselves tried to do in old age, which is often to develop a new form that allows them to thrive on ambivalence. Against the bleak predictions of developmental psychology and folk wisdom, this book focuses on old age as a unique stage of creative activity.


Aging and Popular Music in Europe

Aging and Popular Music in Europe

Author: Abigail Gardner

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-07-30

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1317308433

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Opening up the dialogue between popular music studies and aging studies, this book offers a major exploration of age and popular music across Europe. Using a variety of methods to illustrate how age within popular music is contingent and compelling, the volume explores how it provokes curation and devotion across a variety of sites and artists who record in several European languages, and genres including waltz music, electronica, pop, folk, rap, and the French ‘chanson.’ Visiting the many ways in which age is problematized, revered, and performed within Europe in relation to popular music, case studies analyze: French touring shows of popular music stars from the 1960s; André Rieu’s annual Vrijthof concerts in the Netherlands; Kraftwerk and Björk’s appearances at renowned art museums as curated objects; queer approaches to popular music space and time; British folk music inheritances; pan-European strategies of stardom and career longevity; and inheritance and post-colonial hauntings of race and identity. The book works with the notion of travelling, across borders, genres, sexualities, and media, highlighting the visibility of the aging body across a variety of European sites in order to establish popular music through the lens of age as a positive methodology with which to approach popular music cultures, and to offer a counter-narrative to age as decline. This book will appeal to scholars of popular music, popular culture, media studies, cultural studies, aging studies, and cultural gerontology.


Why We Age

Why We Age

Author: Steven N. Austad

Publisher: Wiley

Published: 1999-03-25

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780471296461

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Why has the life span of the average American increased from 48 to 75 years in this century alone? . . . If the body is a machine that simply wears out, why do some cells seem immortal? . . . Is there an aging gene? And can we control it? . . . Can antioxidants and hormone therapy actually slow the aging process and extend life? Steven Austad s compelling book investigates the history, the theories, and the personalities behind the quest to understand the nature of aging. Here is hard evidence from the front lines of research that science is finally closing in on the fundamental processes of human biology and life. "Austad s book can be read with pleasure and profit by any intelligent person with a smattering of biological knowledge." Science "In this clear, engrossing overview, Austad takes the sting out of a subject that will ultimately capture us all." Publishers Weekly "Why We Age is remarkably rigorous in its analysis and thorough scope. . . . A comprehensive examination of its topic." Science Editors, Amazon.com "The problem with long life is that one keeps getting older; here s an able and clearly written summary of the latest theories on why we age and what might be done to ameliorate the process." Kirkus Reviews


Number Our Days

Number Our Days

Author: Barbara Myerhoff

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1980-05-09

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 0671254308

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Anthropologist Myerhoff's penetrating exploration of the aging process is brilliant sociology--as well as living history--that tells readers about the importance of ritual, the agonies of aging, and the indomitable human spirit. "(The book) shines with the luminous wit of old age".--Robert Bly.


Spring Chicken

Spring Chicken

Author: Bill Gifford

Publisher: Hachette+ORM

Published: 2016-08-02

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 1455527459

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From acclaimed journalist Bill Gifford comes a roaring journey into the world of anti-aging science in search of answers to a universal obsession: what can be done about getting old? Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying) Spring Chicken is a full-throttle, high-energy ride through the latest research, popular mythology, and ancient wisdom on mankind's oldest obsession: How can we live longer? And better? In his funny, self-deprecating voice, veteran reporter Bill Gifford takes readers on a fascinating journey through the science of aging, from the obvious signs like wrinkles and baldness right down into the innermost workings of cells. We visit cutting-edge labs where scientists are working to "hack" the aging process, like purging "senescent" cells from mice to reverse the effects of aging. He'll reveal why some people live past 100 without even trying, what has happened with resveratrol, the "red wine pill" that made headlines a few years ago, how your fat tissue is trying to kill you, and how it's possible to unlock longevity-promoting pathways that are programmed into our very genes. Gifford separates the wheat from the chaff as he exposes hoaxes and scams foisted upon an aging society, and arms readers with the best possible advice on what to do, what not to do, and what life-changing treatments may be right around the corner. An intoxicating mixture of deep reporting, fascinating science, and prescriptive takeaway, Spring Chicken will reveal the extraordinary breakthroughs that may yet bring us eternal youth, while exposing dangerous deceptions that prey on the innocent and ignorant.


The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting

The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting

Author: Marie De Hennezel

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-09-24

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0143123505

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A breakout bestseller in France and the U.K. and a transformative guide to growing older with confidence, courage, and even optimism How should we accept aging? It’s inevitable, and yet in Western society the very subject of growing older is shrouded in anxiety and shame. Aging brings us face to face with our sacred and our mundane, our imperfections and our failures. Here internationally renowned clinical psychologist and bestselling French author Marie de Hennezel shows us how to see the later stages of life through a prism that celebrates our accomplishments and gives us fulfillment in our present. Combining personal anecdotes with psychological theory, philosophy, and eye-opening scientific research from around the world, this thought-provoking and refreshing book provides a brave and uplifting meditation on our later years as they should be lived.


20th Century American Folk, Self-taught, and Outsider Art

20th Century American Folk, Self-taught, and Outsider Art

Author: Betty-Carol Sellen

Publisher: Neal-Schuman Publishers

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13:

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The biographical section of this resource records 1000 US artists. Other sections contain lists of museums with folk, self-taught and outsider art in their permanent collections; galleries; organisations; publications; exhibitions; educational opportunities; and an annotated bibliography.