Cleveland Institute of Art student presents exhibition of work by residents of senior living facilities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2025

CLEVELAND—Emmy Corsaro, a junior majoring in Sculpture + Expanded Media at the Cleveland Institute of Art, is pleased to announce her curated exhibition Senior Empowerment: Art by New and Seasoned Artists, featuring art created by seniors living in Northeast Ohio retirement and nursing home communities.

Senior Empowerment: Art by New and Seasoned Artists will feature a wide range of pieces made in part during more than a dozen workshops Corsaro led with residents of Judson Park in Cleveland; Kemper House in Highland Heights; Breckenridge Village in Willoughby; and Mentor Ridge and The Preserve in Mentor. During these workshops, participants were guided through processes of weaving, watercolor and acrylic painting. They were encouraged to embrace the action of making, allowing them to express creativity in a comfortable environment.

Corsaro is pursuing a career in art therapy and has worked with residents at Mentor Ridge as an activities assistant for nearly four years. It’s through those experiences that she realized her passion for working with this population.

“I want to do two things with this show: present seniors’ art to a wider audience in a formal gallery setting, and through that, inspire the audience to appreciate the value that senior citizens offer and the validity of their artistic pursuits,” Corsaro says. “Throughout the past few months of making this project come to fruition, I’ve grown so excited to continue connecting with seniors through art-making.”

In addition to the collection of work by seniors, Corsaro will present one of her own sculptural pieces made specifically for this exhibition, tying into her emotional experiences working in this field. In Corsaro’s studio practice, she works with fiber and found objects to make creatures that represent the stages and grief and emotions that go alongside them. Her creatures evoke object empathy within the observer and illustrate the love that goes into their making.

An opening reception for Senior Empowerment: Art by New and Seasoned Artists will be held from 4:30 to 6:30pm Friday, May 16 at Judson Park’s George A. Streeter Gallery (2181 Ambleside Drive, Cleveland). An artist talk will be held the same day from 4 to 4:30pm in Judson Park’s Audra L. Rose Art Studio.

Garage parking and entry are available at the Ambleside Drive entrance. There will be a sign-in at the reception desk there, and the receptionist can then direct visitors to Streeter Gallery. If the receptionist has stepped away from the desk, there is a phone there to contact security.

This exhibition will be on view from May 16 through June 6. Streeter Gallery is open daily from 9am to 8pm.To arrange a visit, call Judson receptionist Susan Gillespie at 216-791-1234.

To learn more about Corsaro’s work, follow @emmy.corsaro on Instagram.

Senior Empowerment: Art by New and Seasoned Artists was created through CIA's Creativity Works program, which is made possible by the generous support of the Fenn Educational Fund and the G.R. Lincoln Family Foundation. Creativity Works is a self-initiated internship program with the goal of supporting a student's professional development. Participating students create proposals that align with their long-term professional goals.

Contact

Michael C. Butz, Director of College Communications + External Relations
mcbutz@cia.edu / 216.421.7404

Cleveland Institute of Art

The Cleveland Institute of Art is a private, nonprofit college of art and design that has been the training ground for countless students who have gone on to make important contributions to the fields of creativity and innovation since it opened in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women. Its students have designed internationally recognized products, their artwork has been exhibited in major museums and private collections around the world, and their entertainment media has been enjoyed by audiences and game players for generations. It enrolls about 600 students nationally and internationally and has a faculty of about 100 full-time and adjunct members, all of whom are practicing artists, designers and scholars.