St Johnsbury Health and Rehabilitation Center
Location
The St. Johnsbury Health & Rehabilitation Center is a privately owned 110 bed nursing home facility in St. Johnsbury, located in northeastern Vermont. Workshops are held in the dining room in order to accommodate the large number of participants. Current art work is routinely displayed outside the dining room and administration offices. This display area is also used to mount special memorial exhibits to remember and honor workshop artists after their passing. The facility tries to maintain a permanent collection of resident’s work which is framed and installed throughout the building.
Numbers
20 to 25 participants; one, 2-hour workshop per week throughout the year.
History
This GRACE workshop, the first and longest running, began in 1975 with funding from C.E.T.A., a Federal job training program administered by the Vermont Council on the Arts. Today, the Center underwrites about eighty percent of the cost, with the remainder funded through grants and contributions to GRACE.
The GRACE program over the years has become integrated into the workings of the Center. The entire staff from top to bottom has become sensitized to the GRACE "process". They alert us to potential artists among new residents, they encourage residents to participate and they enjoy experiencing the art work. Florence Gauche, a former administrator, once told GRACE the art workshop would never be considered a frill.
“GRACE is a program that consistently enhances lives. It introduces wonder and creativity to lives limited by age, disabilities and loss. Combining the art process, and the experience of our residents is a mix guaranteed to benefit all involved.”
- Mary Ann Gessner, former Administrator, St. Johnsbury Health and Rehabilitation Center
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