Memory Cafe
The Scripps Gerontology Center, Opening Minds through Art (OMA), Oxford Lane Library, and Oxford Community Arts Center have partnered to sponsor two new Memory Cafes. These cafes are spaces in which people living with dementia, their caregivers, and Miami University students come together to socialize.
At the first Memory Cafe, led by Like Lokon and Brad Simcock, attendees collaboratively painted large canvases using various sizes of circles in response to the call for art with “Circling Around” from Miami University’s Art Museum. Samuel Van Vleet provided live music accompaniment. The canvases were turned into three cylinders and have been accepted for exhibition at Miami’s art museum from January 28-June 13, 2020. Stop by and see it for yourself.
Zentangle was the next cafe topic, facilitated by Katy Abbott. Here, participants engaged in a meditative drawing process, creating dots, lines and other simple patterns, and ending with an appreciation of everyone’s artwork.
One of the more recent memory cafes involved repurposing white mats with an OMA style of artwork. Led by Meghan Young,cafe attendees created their own frames that may be used for any photograph.
The last Memory Cafe of 2019 was a drumming circle with Pete Carels. Cafe attendees sat in a circle, pounding rhythms, following the leader. All took turns leading, and jointly they created original music.
Oxford Memory Cafes have been discontinued since the pandemic and we do not plan to resume its operation.
