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Living Life After 50
Elko Edition REaching ElkhaRt, kosciusko, noblE and lagRangE countiEs
August 2026
Vol. 39, No. 6
www.seniorlifenewspapers.com
MASTERING THE ART — Dave Broerman shows two paintings created by one of his students, Justin Venturi. Broerman teaches painting at the Wawasee Fine Art Gallery, which he opened last year as a space for workshops.
Seniors take part
in the arts
Text and Photos By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer
“You hear the same story from a lot of people. A lot of them did art in high school, or they loved art in junior high,” said Dave Broerman, owner of the Wawasee Fine Art Galley in Syracuse. “As they got older, like myself, their parents said, ‘There’s no money in art.’ People tend to move away from that art because you want to make a living. ... It got put aside. Now they have time, and they can do things they might have enjoyed.” Kosciusko County offers many opportunities for seniors to get involved in the arts. Broerman, 53, opened his gallery in 2025 as a way to display his own artwork and to have a space to hold workshops. A teacher by day,
he founded the Northern Indiana Plein Air Artists and hosts weekly sessions for those wanting to learn painting. “It’s against isolation. I’m creating something for me, so that I’ll be able to have something when I get older,” he noted. He cites the social aspect of learning a new skill alongside other people as a benefit of taking art classes as an older adult. “It gets people to come out and interact and visit with others. They like to talk and socialize as well as learn. ... A lot of people, they don’t get to see anybody anymore. As my father says, ‘Everyone I associated with is dead.’” Broerman also taught his 87-year-old father, and the two paint together regularly. “It gives him something to do other than just sitting there watching TV, it gives
him purpose,” Broerman said. “Older individuals, that’s the big thing - actively keeping your mind going.” It’s not about being the most polished - Broerman mentioned there are “more emerging artists than professional artists” represented on his walls, and there are a variety of reasons people become interested in art, whether it be painting, pottery, stained glass or anything else. Warsaw artist Stephanie McDairmant, who creates under the name Canary Artwork, was a caregiver for several of her elderly family members and got into painting in 2017 as a means of processing grief after their deaths. “My grandmother was a painter. I loved watching her paint, and I always felt Continued on page 2
BRANCHING OUT — Artist Ann Szeplaki is pictured holding one of her earlier works at the Wawasee Fine Art Gallery. To her right is one of her more recent works, in which she branched out into a more abstract style with acrylic pouring. Having started painting in 2013, Szeplaki has grown more confident over time.
WHAT TO CHOOSE? — Warsaw artist Stephanie McDairmant considers paint colors in her home studio.
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