 Cornell Students and Kendal at Ithaca Residents and Staff Collaborate on Dining Services Design Project
On November 29th, four teams of Cornell interior design and behavioral science students presented results from an extensive, three-month assessment and planning process conducted with Kendal at Ithaca residents and staff to address dining service program needs at the community. The project included having meals and conversation with residents in the dining rooms at Kendal and conducting focus groups to identify patterns of use, problems with design, and resident and staff needs. Students learned about Kendal, the values by which the community operates, and about the continuing care lifestyle. The project was significant in that it enabled students to identify real-life issues and develop practical solutions that can be budgeted for and implemented at the community. Residents were pleased with the opportunity to provide significant input into the process of identifying solutions. The program model, established by Cornell faculty member Gary Evans about 13 years ago, looks for special populations with which to work. They have worked with Boys Clubs around the country and this is the first year to work with older adults. READ MORE
 Kendal Resident Artist Opens Exhibit at Kendal
Lori Schleisner was born in Cologne, Germany in 1925. She began learning to paint at the young age of 6, when a man who sold paint powder rented a room in her family’s large apartment. The man taught Lori to mix the powder with linseed oil and brush the paint onto pieces of plywood. At the age of 10, Lori began to study portrait sketching with the famous expressionist painter, Ludwig Meidner.
As a young girl Lori would sew dresses for her dolls and aspired to become a dress designer. When Lori was 13, the Nazis seized Germany and Lori and her family escaped to Belgium and Brussels. During this difficult period Lori continued to study art and clothing design. Lori was also able to begin her career and establish herself as a dress designer. In 1949, she moved to New York to work for the Simplicity Pattern Company and study with the Art Students League. The following year she met her husband, Joseph, “we clicked right away” says Lori. They were married in 1950.
When Lori had her two children she made a decision to give up her job as a designer to focus on her painting. When her daughter and friends expressed an interest in learning to paint Lori decided to open her own art school. The school held the first art show in 1964. Her school was very successful “every child in the neighborhood was in the class”. Lori had a very successful 40 year career running this school. Lori’s students have gone on to become art teachers, designers in fashion and advertising and freelance painters. Lori has loved the opportunity to teach children. On occasion her former students have traveled from New York City to visit Lori at Kendal at Ithaca.
A particular focus in her work was her “striped paintings” which portrayed people of color behind stripes on the canvas. “I was trying to show that they are in jail, behind a gate, you could call it.” In her later paintings, she lost interest in painting “politically” preferring to “be free and unrestricted”. Lori’s artwork has won many awards, including first place recognition by the Malverne Art Association.
Submitted by Maria Giampaolo Director of Theraputic Recreation
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