Never Too Late to Create | Artist in Residence Program – Inspires Residents at The Templeton of Cary

Just as they would a blank canvas, resident artists at The Templeton of Cary are using their talents to bring color and vibrancy to a newly opened gathering space in the luxury rental senior living community in Cary, North Carolina.

Like other shared spaces at The Templeton of Cary, the room is named in honor of a distinguished person with local ties. Used frequently by residents for parties, club meetings and other events, the spacious room is called the Nancy Jones Room in honor of a pioneer who operated a stagecoach stop in Cary in the 1800s. The Nancy Jones Room opened in 2023 but needed something extra to make it even more special.

“We’d bought furniture for the room, and it is very comfortable, but there was nothing on the walls,” says Joyce Aschenbrenner, Life Enrichment Director at The Templeton of Cary.

The empty walls inspired Aschenbrenner, who didn’t want generic artwork on the walls, to start the Artist in Residence program, inviting residents who create visual artwork to decorate the room with their own creations.

“We have so many residents here who are so talented,” Aschenbrenner says. “It’s so much better than going out and buying something.”

Providing the room with unique, hand-made artwork that spotlights the talents of resident artists was not the only reason for the program. The Templeton of Cary offers residents a range of ways to express themselves creatively, including a drop-in painting program and a photo club. Studies show that older adults who participate in creative arts experience numerous benefits, including improved cognitive function.

Artwork by residents is displayed on a quarterly, rotating basis. Biographies of the artists are posted in the room, and the community hosts an opening reception to honor them.

Anne Haynes Jenkins

One of the participating resident artists is Anne Haynes Jenkins, who first started creating art using tempura paint while teaching at an elementary school. She also taught watercolor classes for seven years with the City of Raleigh’s Arts and Parks program.

Over the years, Jenkins, who paints in oil, acrylic, and watercolor, increased her skills by taking workshops with other artists. She even traveled with a group of fellow artists to Giverny in France, where she painted in the same gardens made famous by Claude Monet.

Like Monet, Jenkins works in an impressionistic style and mainly paints florals and landscapes. Her talents were recognized several years ago when a jury of other artists selected her to display and sell her artwork in Artspace, a non-profit visual arts center in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jenkins, who had taken a break from painting, says having 18 of her previously completed artworks displayed in the Nancy Jones Room has inspired her to pick up a paintbrush and start painting again.

Jon Green

Echoing Jenkins, Jon Green says his photographic artwork displayed as part of the Artist in Residence program has inspired him. His photographs and those of other members of the community’s photo club were recently exhibited in the room.

Green’s interest in photography came about because his father worked for Polaroid for many years. Green and each of his three sisters picked up the hobby as children.

“We all had cameras, and we all got into it,” he says.

A stroke he suffered a few years ago caused Green to put his interest in photography on hold, but now it has been revived thanks to the display of his previously completed pictures.

“It’s encouraged me to want to get back into it,” says Green, 63, who plans to use an iPhone or single-lens reflex camera to take photos again. Whatever device he uses, he says there are plenty of good images to be taken at The Templeton of Cary, as was shown when the members of the photo club recently took pictures around the community.

“We have beautiful grounds here with rhododendrons and cherry trees,” he says. “I was quite impressed with the quality of the photo club members’ photos.”

Camilla Huffman

For 83-year-old Camilla Huffman, creating art has become a way of life. She’d never picked up a paintbrush until she retired at 56 years old and hasn’t stopped since.

“It was on my bucket list,” she says. “I always wanted to paint. I’d see other artwork and think, ‘I could do that.’ That’s what got me started, and I haven’t quit.”

Huffman, who previously worked as a nurse, now specializes in landscapes and still lifes done in acrylic. “It’s very forgiving. If you don’t like it, you can just paint over it,” she says of her choice of medium. Huffman regularly takes part in a drop-in painting program at The Templeton of Cary, which enables residents to join together in the community’s art room to paint their own individual works.

“Sometimes, on a Sunday afternoon, a group of us will get together to paint and socialize,” she says. “It’s fun.”

Huffman says taking up art at an older age helps keep her brain sharp. “I think it teaches you how to look at things, how to see things, and you have to use your brain to decide how to put that on paper,” she says.

Huffman’s artwork was so well received during the Artist in Residence exhibit that she even sold some paintings right off the walls. Being selected as an Artist in Residence “was a great honor,” says Huffman, who still marvels at the power of art.

“I am just amazed that I can see something and put that picture on canvas. It blows me away,” she says.

The Templeton of Cary

The Templeton of Cary is a luxury rental retirement community located on a picturesque campus in Cary, North Carolina, named by Money Magazine as one of the “Top 50 Best Places to Live,” and lauded for proximity to world-renowned medical centers and universities. The Templeton of Cary offers independent living that supports a vibrant lifestyle for active seniors. Swift Creek Health Center, located onsite, offers assisted living, memory support, rehabilitation, and skilled nursing care for both residents of the community and surrounding area, thus providing a continuum of care for seniors.

The Templeton of Cary is owned and operated by Liberty Senior Living, LLC, a division of Liberty Healthcare Management that specializes in senior living and retirement communities. To learn more about The Templeton of Cary, visit www.TheTempletonOfCary.com. To learn more about Liberty Senior Living and the communities they offer, please visit www.LibertySeniorLiving.com