“Mindful Museum has brought so much meaning and joy to my life.”
SUE JOSLYN, Mindful Museum Participant
It was a typical Wednesday morning at Carnegie Museum of Art, but for Sue JoSlyn and Cheryl Fashandi, it was anything but ordinary. Both had recently retired, both had seen Facebook ads for a new program called Mindful Museum, and both had been meaning to visit the Carnegie Museums “for years” but never quite made it happen. On that very first day, as they painted and scribbled to music side by side, something clicked.
Four years later, they’re inseparable best friends and regular Mindful Museum participants who call each other during their drives to the museum each Wednesday. They find a seat at their regular table, laugh, chat, and make art with friends old and new. They love the classes with guest artists and curators, the guided gallery tours, and the ever-changing art techniques they get to experiment with. Based on the program’s attendance numbers, so do the hundreds of seniors 55 and older that gather every week.
“I think I have finally found my people,” Sue reflects. “Mindful Museum has brought so much meaning and so much joy to my life.”
Connection. Joy. Purpose. That’s the whole point of programs like Mindful Museum: creating socially and intellectually stimulating opportunities for people to connect, laugh, learn, and thrive in a welcoming space.
“If I stop learning, you might as well just bury me now,” Sue says. “This program is an incentive to continue to learn and grow through art and human connection.”
For Cheryl, who studied art education decades earlier, the program offered a path back to creativity. “This has changed my life in so many wonderful directions,” she says. “Every time you can share your love a little for art, it’s just the greatest feeling in the world.”
For Sue, whose pharmacy career left little room for artistic pursuits, it’s been transformative. She has even become a docent, sharing her passion for art with visitors. Cheryl has had the opportunity to share beyond the program as well—she contributed to the museum’s crochet coral exhibit, and when her son got married in the Hall of Sculpture, the wedding photographer captured her name displayed alongside her art.
Since its launch in 2021, Mindful Museum has made Wednesday mornings at Carnegie Museum of Art the place to be for people like Sue and Cheryl — proving that it’s never too late to rediscover your passions and find your people.
