Kits bring museum to you

Sarah Beck has found a way to connect with people with memory loss using art.

Beck, a Mid-Missouri Alzheimer’s Association program specialist, uses kits filled with thematic art and artifacts to create a museum-like atmosphere at the Eldercare Center, except unlike a museum, participants can get up close and touch the art.

“The sense of touch and being a part of something is pretty rewarding and purposeful for someone who has dementia,” Beck said. “Even as we age, the classroom setting and the ability to learn something new is pretty rewarding.”

The “touch kits” can be checked out from Daniel Boone Regional Library locations. The kits open up the worlds of African, colonial, folk, American Indian, western movement and Mediterranean art and artifacts. For instance, folk art can be experienced by seeing and touching a painting on velvet, tin painting, woodcarving and period pottery. Or participants can travel to the Mediterranean by picking up a ceramic lamp or coins. Beck said Eldercare participants have responded well to the kits, especially the folk art.

“They could relate to someone in their family having a piece of art like that,” Beck said. “They could think back to grandparents who had that art in their home, or in some cases, when they had art in their home.”

The kits are a partnership between the library system and the St. Louis Art Museum. The museum provides the seven differently themed kits as well as maintenance and replacement of items free of charge for the library.

“It’s part of our ongoing efforts for outreach,” said Emily Horton, resource center coordinator at the St. Louis Art Museum. “Our agreement is for us to provide the kits and the library staff to manage the programming. The whole idea is to relate art in the kit to what they can see here in the museum.”

Horton said there are eight satellite locations providing the kits. Of the five locations outside of St. Louis, Daniel Boone Regional Library has the highest “touch kit” circulation.

“Locations were chosen for their ability to circulate,” Horton said. “Columbia had potential because it is in the center of the state.”

Mary Green, director of Morningside Community School, has incorporated three of the kits into school curriculum. “They provide more art materials and artifacts than we normally have available,” Green said. “It fills the gap of the kids not visiting a museum, and it’s even better because it’s not behind glass and they can touch it.” When introducing a unit of curriculum, Green said, the touch kits help material click with students.

“It gets the kids excited about it,” Green said. “When we introduce other topics, they’ve had the multisensory experience that makes them more engaged to learn.”