Pontiac residents over the age of 55 were invited to participate in an art social activity put on by Connexions Resource Center at the St. Paul’s Anglican church hall.

The day was run and organized by Michèle Gangnon, a local artist who is . . .

employed by Connexions to create community activities. Gangnon explained that participants are encouraged to come either with their medium of choice or to use any of the art supplies provided by Connexions, “everybody kind of comes and does their own thing. Like some people brought their own materials and stuff to work on, they have a reference photo and are ready to go. Then other people are just experimenting with the different media that we have on hand.”

Gagnon explained that they have done both formal and social art workshops, they continued by saying that the art social events are quite popular in the community, many people asking her to put them on weekly. As of publication, no set schedule for this event has been made but after taking a break for the summer Gagnon promises to have more events like this one in the fall.

They believe that this event is so well-loved because of the social aspects of it, “I’m an artist as well. So, I know that just there’s something about creating with other people just being that creative energy in the room, you know, and it’s more motivating than just sitting there alone.”

This event is part of a seniors wellness initiative. Every month Connexions plans at least two activities for seniors within the community.

Earlier in the year, Connexions held a cooking workshop, during which the participants noted that by the end of the growing season their gardens produce more food than they know what to do with. Gagnon and the team at Connexions thought of having a canning workshop to help with this issue.

“We’ll be doing our next workshop in September, and we’re gonna actually be canning the harvest. So, everybody is going to bring in their extra veggies that they can’t handle,” said Gagnon.

All information about future events can be found on the Connexions Resource Centre’s Facebook page.

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