Embrace Your Creativity

YUSUF ETUDAIYE WaterWorks Pottery Instructor

The City of Tulsa offers WaterWorks Art Center for creative opportunities at 1710 Charles Page Boulevard.

“Join us at WaterWorks Art Center in Newblock Park for an artistic journey,” said Lee Anne Zeigler, executive director. “We offer fun, one-day workshops and multiple-session class series – all designed to encourage creative learning through instruction in a nurturing environment. The benefits of artistic creativity include the freedom to express yourself, engaging in critical thinking and problem-solving, reducing daily stress and anxiety, and allowing you to enter your happy zone and have fun. We welcome you to WaterWorks Art Center and hope to see you soon!”

WaterWorks has open studios where you can cultivate your inner artist once you have trained on using tools safely. Jewelry making and other metalwork, fiber arts, clay, drawing, painting, and printmaking are just some of the worlds available to explore.

The Tulsa City-County Library’s Renee Neuwald Trust Maker Space has a great deal to offer seniors, according to Hector Arrazola, Maker Space coordinator. Maker Space is located within the downtown Central Library and provides a working space with readyto-use tools.

“The Makers Space offers a wide variety of creative outlets and we show you how to use them,” said Arrazola. “There is sewing, knitting, laser projects, 3D printing, and a CNC mill that can carve materials like wood, plastic, soft metal, and rubber. We also have an audio lab full of equipment like keyboards, microphones, and guitars. You can record your own music or do an audiobook or podcast. “You can do stained glass, screen print stencils for banners, totes, and T-shirts. With the laser, you can make cutting boards and gifts. Two of the most popular materials are wood and acrylic to make party favors or even your own board game,” he said. “We only charge the minimum for certain materials, and during orientation sessions the materials are free.”

Arrazola says that often one project leads to another as in the case of a gentleman who builds rockets. He started with 3D printing and then moved on to CAD software and a laser engraver. His one project expanded into other fields of interest. Another patron records their own music as a rough draft and then brings other artists in to contribute vocals and other instruments.

Become one of those who learn and grow from the many programs provided and led by LIFE’s Senior Centers. Melodie Powders is the Active Aging and Senior Centers Coordinator over both centers located at Southminster Presbyterian Church, and East Side. “Our art teacher, Miss Rainbow, visits both communities once a week for art programs,” said Powders. “With her rainbow hair and all the fun, everyone just adores her.” There are multiple break-out groups for activities including the Knittin’ Kittens and the Crafting Cuties. Recent crafting projects and opportunities include beading, textiles, doing portraits in the Freida Kahlo style, pumpkin painting, and “the very popular round-robin art journals,” Powders said. “These journals are notebooks where you draw on the cover what you want the theme to be. For example, if you were into birds, you could draw or collage an image of a bird. These journals are passed around and everyone in the class draws their perspective of what is on the cover.” The Senior Centers offer opportunities to write, face paint, learn stained glass and mosaics with soldering, attend bingo, and luncheons and – for those musically inclined – a singing group with opportunities to learn instruments including harmonica, guitar, and ukulele. For those with a love of the written word, there is a writing group with quarterly presentations by published writer Nikki Hannah.

Join us for a fun and inspiring look at the Maker Space housed at Tulsa’s downtown library. We’ll learn all about the equipment and materials available to use and the many types of projects they can facilitate. If you have even one creative bone in you, this seminar is for you! To register, call (918) 664-9000, ext. 1181 or go to LIFEseniorservices.org/education.