ANN ARBOR, MI - What does a memory look like? Does it look like a music box? A three-dimensional model of buildings? A map of places someone has visited throughout her life?

Students in a class taught by University of Michigan School of Art and Design assistant professor Satoru Takahashi worked with the Coffeehouse program, which meets at the University of Michigan Health System's Turner Senior Resource Center, to develop memory aids for seniors beginning to experience memory loss.

An exhibit of their creations will be at the Work Gallery, 306 South State Street in Ann Arbor, from May 13-29.

For their class work, the art students met with participants in the Coffeehouse program, a support group that serves seniors in the early stages of memory loss.

Students created life stories/memory devices, such as a music box with drawers that open to reveal descriptions of the places one woman has visited throughout her life after interviewing the seniors for several weeks. Some memory aids are albums, some are wearable, others are maps, and some are creations that are best understood by the person for whom they were made.

The projects “enabled students to take a journey that linked art and memory,” Takahashi said, “and the students developed art that takes a complex and all-inclusive look at individual experience as collective memory.”

The exhibition, “Art of Wonder, Devices of Memory,” runs from May 13-29 on the main floor of the School of Art and Design's Work Gallery, 306 South State Street in Ann Arbor. An exhibition opening reception, including Coffee House members, families and students, will be held from 5 to 7p.m. May 13 at the gallery.

Note to editors: Photos are available upon request. To reach one of the Coffeehouse participants, please contact Katie Gazella at 734-764-2220. To reach Professor Takahashi or students in the class, please contact Kate West at 734-763-1265.

Written by Katie Gazella

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