Art for Parkinson’s Workshop Heads to El Dorado on May 17
| LITTLE ROCK — A free art therapy workshop for people with Parkinson’s disease will be offered from 9:30 a.m. to noon May 17 at the South Arkansas Arts Center at 110 E. Fifth St. in El Dorado.
It will be the first Art for Parkinson’s workshop held outside Little Rock and the third in a series of monthly workshops offered by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Movement Disorders Clinic, in partnership with Arts Integration Services of Little Rock.
No previous art experience is necessary, and materials will be provided. People who have Parkinson’s disease and their caretakers are invited to attend. Participants are urged to wear comfortable clothes that they don’t mind getting dirty.
Registration is required and can be done by visiting bit.ly/PDArt1 or by contacting Suzanne Dhall, Dr.PH., MSPH, CHES, a health educator in the UAMS Department of Neurology, at sjdhall@uams.edu or by calling or texting her at 602-635-0739.
The classes are designed to introduce Parkinson’s patients to art, which research shows may help them improve motor skills, and which patients say is relaxing and helps them control their tremors.
Elly Bates, a painter at Arts Integration, leads the workshops, each of which has a different “art muse.” The first class focused on music; the second on light; the El Dorado workshop will focus on shape, and participants will use collage and paint. Participants can take their finished artwork home or leave it for inclusion in an art show from all five sessions this semester.
The next two sessions will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon at Sr. Michael’s Episcopal Church at 12415 Cantrell Road in Little Rock on June 21 and July 19. Additional sessions are planned but not yet scheduled.
The classes are made possible through a donation to the UAMS Parkinson’s Disease Fund from Barbara and David Hogg of El Dorado. Barbara Hogg obtained a bachelor’s degree from the UAMS College of Nursing in 1995 but couldn’t complete her master’s degree because of a Parkinson’s diagnosis, for which she has been treated at UAMS. The Hoggs’ support of the Parkinson’s program includes funding for art education.
Patients are encouraged to attend as many sessions as they would like, and the caregivers accompanying them are welcome to participate. A virtual component is available for those who cannot participate in person.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.
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