Art Making and Joy Ushers in the Holiday Season at Adult Services
“I am grateful for my days spent with a group of creative, happy individuals whose contagious joy fills me with energy and purpose” Adult Services Director Nanette Martinez exclaims following a recent “Paint Day” at Las Cumbres Adult Services (AS) Day Habilitation building. “We want to provide joy that is experienced by all”, Martinez continues. Community artists and art teachers are invited to join staff and clients during Day Services to introduce a project with which attendees can interact. The result is fun-filled days and colorful artwork. Photos featured here unveil “Red Ristras Paint Day” just in time for the upcoming holiday season.
Creative activities in the Española AS building and Los Alamos residential home, include a variety of art projects and client artwork adorns the walls. Projects include fiber arts weaving for individuals and as a group, and AS clients, in tandem with the agency’s Conjunto Pre-K preschoolers, hope to participate in the upcoming annual Española Light Parade. The department welcomes community members to volunteer to teach AS clients individual crafts. Follow details below if you are looking for ways to share your passion with other community members.
Las Cumbres’ AS programming is one of a kind in Northern New Mexico, including a full array of community-based, integrated services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Programs include long-care arrangements that involve different models of residential support, employment, day habilitation, respite, and community inclusion opportunities. Adult Service clients with IDD are encouraged to contribute their unique talents to others. Customized Community Supports programs seek to provide a safe, supportive environment where individuals can learn new skills, socialize with peers, and engage in new activities while protecting and promoting the dignity, privacy, legal rights, autonomy, and individuality of each person served.
Dedicated staff additionally accompany adults on outings that include physical activities such as swimming and competing in the Special Olympics. Clients love to visit the Española Animal Shelter, Española Valley Fiber Arts Center and arts and crafts classes in their hometowns. Additional outings take clients to Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos with visits to the YMCA, galleries, and museums.
If you would like to learn how to enroll your loved one in an Adult Service program, facilitate an engaging art activity to fruition, or to simply help out with a program donation, click here.