The Senior Community Center of Owensboro-Daviess County is offering a free watercolor workshop as part of its Senior Class adult education series. The session will be led by renowned local artist Frederica Diane Huff from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday at the center, located at 1650 West Second Street.
The workshop is open to seniors, and basic supplies will be provided. Class size is limited, so those interested are encouraged to call 270-687-4640 to reserve a spot.
Huff brings decades of experience to the workshop, having served as the former education director for the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. She has also taught art in the Daviess and McLean County school systems, as well as at Western Kentucky University and Kentucky Wesleyan College.
According to the release, visual art activities are increasingly valued not only for creative expression but also for their cognitive and emotional benefits, particularly among older adults.
“Just as visual art activities have long been recognized for the development of cognitive and motor skills in the young, those activities are of increasing interest in maintaining and continuing to grow those skills in seniors,” the release said. “We learn from, process, and produce visual information throughout our lifetimes. Visual art activities can help develop visuospatial and attentional cognitive capacity, as well as abstract thinking, which contributes to the development of ‘cognitive reserve, brain plasticity and resilience.’”
The center offers regular craft groups on Tuesday and Friday mornings, with work sold through the Pincushion Gift Shop. Artwork by both Huff and fellow artist Rex Robinson — both nationally recognized and active in the Owensboro Art Guild — can be found throughout the center and at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art.
Huff also curates the Exhibition Space at the Owensboro Convention Center, where her current show, “Kentucky’s Love Affair with Horses,” will remain on display through the end of May.
