Seniors at the Mathews Active Lifestyle Center are working together to create a dollhouse as a group art project under the guidance of the Bay School Community Arts Center.
Bay School staff members visit the senior center twice a month to engage seniors in a variety of art projects. Teaching artist Virginia Coyle, who alternates visits with teaching artist Davida Hall, is a lifelong fan of dollhouses, and when she saw a wooden dollhouse kit at a flea market this spring she thought, “Let’s do that.”
Work on the dollhouse started in April, and progress is “a slow go,” said Coyle, but it is happening. With just an hour a month to work on the project, the group has painted the exterior walls, wallpapered each of the interior walls, cut out and installed sheets of wood veneer to make hardwood flooring, and assembled and glued several rooms of furniture from kits. Coyle herself assembled and glued the structure as the walls were completed.
Over the winter and into next spring, participants will paint the furniture and make coverings such as bedspreads and cushions for each piece. The exterior still needs a lot of work, such as shingles and a chimney for the roof, railings for the front porch, and trim for the windows and doors.
Already making its home inside the house is a small toy dog the group has named Canto after the Canine Companions dog that visits the center regularly with his trainers Vivian and Tom Steuterman. As a bonus, Coyle has taken a photo of each person who has worked on the house and will put them in tiny frames to hang on the walls.
“It’ll be pretty when it’s done,” said Coyle. “We’re hoping to finish by spring.”
When the dollhouse is finished, it will remain on display at the Mathews Active Lifestyle Center. Coyle said it can be an ongoing project, with the décor changing for holidays.
“I like these projects that last for months,” said Coyle. “It shows you how to work together and be a group.”
Laura Matthews, manager of the Mathews Active Lifestyle Center, was effusive in her praise for Coyle, her co-worker Davida Hall, and the Bay School in general.
“The incredible work they do for us—their dedication, kindness, humbleness,” said Matthews. “I love Virginia and Davida and the Bay School.”
Seniors look forward to the twice-monthly visits with excitement, she said.
“We know when they’re coming, but we never know what we’re doing,” she said. “It’s a challenge to us, and there’s hope and excitement and smiles and joy in creating something that’s so much fun.”