Living Well
Vintage years (continued from page 45)
Katie Brigham
A recent book by Francine Toder, shown here in her Palo Alto yard, includes interviews with 21 people who took up musical instruments or other fine arts after the age of 55.
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come famous.’ It’s too intimidating an idea, not consistent with this life stage,� Toder said. Rather, in the vintage years, people “have the space, time and ability to focus with laser sharpness, which allows them to get into the art more fully.� One of her subjects, 86-year-old Harold, a retired food executive who first took a stained-glass course at a local high school at 65, eventually was asked to make windows for a local synagogue. “I never thought about myself as doing something like this. I’m a very simple person,� Harold told her. Dan, a 64-year-old retired ophthalmologist and now a full-time art student, said: “You don’t have to have talent; you just have to put in the time.� Another subject, 66-year-old retired research physicist Betsy, tried photography, succulents and knitting before finally settling on ceramics. “Don’t prejudge any of the possibilities until you try them,� Betsy advised. “It may disappoint you or it may vastly exceed your expectations.� Toder does not judge the creative products of her subjects, preferring to focus on the social, mental health and healing benefits of artistic pursuits for any older person. Barbara, a former therapist who took up African drumming in her 60s, described some of them. “Music has introduced me to people who are younger and who are from different ethnic backgrounds, different socio-economic statuses, different professions and different perspectives,� she said. “Whereas therapists tend to be introspective, I’ve met people who just want to have fun.� As health problem creep into her subjects’ lives, many are able to adapt different ways to practice their art as well as to embrace art as a distraction from pain and worry, Toder said. Judy, a 66-year-old watercolorist, found her devotion to painting “reoriented the content of her thinking away from fearful what-ifs and toward the wonders of art.� She fell and injured her knee on her way to an evening art class but decided to continue to class. The watercolors kept her so absorbed that she felt nothing until packing up to leave when she noticed her knee had swollen to cantaloupe size and she “felt the worst pain that I’ve felt in my entire life.� Her husband took her to the emergency room. Toder herself was diagnosed with lung cancer as she was finishing the book. The terrifying possibilities, she said, “gave me the opportunity to put into practice some of the lessons I absorbed from the many artists I had the privilege to interview. “I heard their words of support and encouragement in my head when I wondered how I would handle some serious and negative health news out of left field.� (continued on page 48)