Aging in America- Our Heritage of Wisdom
a series of thirty-six pencil drawings by artist jim branscum

Project History:

Subjects Covered on this Page:

The Original Commission:

The Aging in America (AIA) project began in August of 1991 as a simple drawing commission from a nursing home administrator/owner in Detroit, Michigan, to an artist from Scottsdale, Arizona.  The commission was for three pencil drawings of older Americans.  Though unrelated and separated by over 2000 miles, the health care administrator and the artist share the same name, Jim Branscum.

I am that artist,  James L. Branscum;   my namesake,  James R. Branscum,  and I had never met.  We were not even aware of the other's existence until a friend of my Detroit counterpart,  Leo Eisenberg,  saw my studio/gallery in Scottsdale,  Arizona, while vacationing in the area.  I remember a man I had never seen coming through the front door and taking a business card with little or nothing to say except,  "thank you."   He then snapped a picture of the front of the building as he left.  He seemed more interested in my awning than my life-size bronze,  "Eagle Keeper,"   which stood just to his right.  I learned later that Leo sent the photo to his friend in Detroit with the notation, "Now I know what you do on the week-end, ha ha.   Leo!"  That little joke between friends was the true beginning of this project.  

Jim and I have traced our ancestry back to the 14th Century in England, and discovered we have a common bond of being the offspring of the father of two brothers from Branscombe,  England.  He is a descendant of one brother who settled in Virginia;  my ancestry in America begins with the brother who settled in Arkansas.  Once strangers with the same name,  Jim and I have become very close over these past six-plus years.

Creative freedom has long been my standard in accepting a commission, whether it be a pencil drawing, painting, bronze (sculpture or "modeling") or other medium.   When Jim asked me to create three drawings for him, he gave me that freedom concerning model selection, content and composition for his original commission. He gave me the freedom before I told him I required it.  Remembering it now,  I was impressed by the parameters of the commission and the manner in which it was given.  The only criteria requested was that the drawings depict the humanity and dignity of older Americans.

I did not fully consider the enormity of the task until I began the journey home from Detroit to Scottsdale.  How does one depict humanity and dignity?  That question filled my thoughts as I drove oblivious to the scenes unfolding and disappearing in  hypnotic monotony.  It seemed so simple when I accepted the commission.  The miles and states moved under the tires of my van and the CD played an eclectic collection of music ranging from Waylon Jennings to Pink Floyd while I wrestled with the task of depicting the obvious.

My "Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary" lists humanity and dignity as follows:

Humanity -n-

1. The human race; mankind.
2. The state of being human; human nature.
3. The state of being humane; benevolence.

Dignity -n-

1. Stateliness and nobility of manner; gravity.
2. The state or quality of being excellent, worthy or honorable.
3. Relative importance or position.
4. A high rank or office esp. in the church.
5. A dignitary.
6. Persons of high rank or position collectively.

To depict the humanity of older Americans,  I had only to draw an image of an older human being.  That is the obvious;  however,  I wanted to do more than get the viewer of the work to agree that I had drawn a human being, or even a good likeness of a particular human being.  Without having a dictionary in the van for reference,  the definition of humanity most important to me was,  "The state of being humane;  benevolence."  The definitions listed above for dignity should all apply to elder Americans.  If I were to select only one definition as the criteria for my drawings of older Americans, it would be,  "the state or quality of being excellent, worthy or honorable."

The lives of America’s elder citizens has collectively been one of sacrifice and honor.  The selection of the models would be my most important task in completing this commission.  The images of the models would themselves be a testament to their humanity; their lives a testament to their individual dignity.  Collectively,  the lives of my models are representational of their generations.  The models for the series would eventually span many generations, from my youngest model, Charles W. Lindberg (74),  to the oldest model to date,  Mr. Fred Jackson (115).  As you read my comments on the lives of the project's models,  I am certain you will agree,   that America’s aging citizens are very worthy of the honor my drawings seek to portray and this site seeks to bestow.

AIA Project Creation:

I selected 92 year old Frank Laubenthal, a Scottsdale, Arizona resident, as the model for the first drawing. I met Frank at a Thanksgiving dinner in the home of a friend. His pipe, physical attributes and the humor in his voice as he told stories of his colorful past all made him a delightful person to visit,  and to draw.  Frank told a Horatio Alger story of a struggling young insurance salesman who eventually bought the company and prospered.   He exuded confidence and dignity as he spoke of tough times,  tough Chicago streets, and selling insurance to taxi cab companies and their drivers during the depression.  In spite of the hardships,  Frank’s humor and love of life made the story more an adventure than a time of struggle.  Before dinner was complete,  I asked Frank to model for the first drawing of the original three-drawing commission.  I went to his home to complete my research into Frank’s life & image, then returned to my studio to create Frank’s drawing,  the first of three renderings.

The adage, 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration applies to my drawing style.  While the inspiration for a drawing can happen in the time it takes an emotion or thought to fully reveal itself,  the drawing can take from 100 to 350+ hours to compose and create.  Most of that time is taken by the laborious layering of graphite to achieve the deep "clean" values in the deepest shadows of my pencil work. I always say anyone can do it, but "why?" I’ll answer that and discuss the artistic aspects of the project in "About the Artist."  (Click Drawing Style).

The time at the drawing board provides an opportunity to get to know the subject of my work.  I get to know more than the mere contours of the models face and body,  Their voices are almost audible over the sound of the continuously sharpened pencil moving lightly in small circular stokes;  my eyes search for areas in the rendering that need refinement as memories of the model fill my thoughts.  My memory hears more than just the words, it replays the emotion of Frank’s words as he talked of general concerns of an elder participant of a youth oriented society.  Emotions heard while drawing, which were lost to decisions on composition, lighting and other creative thoughts as the words were originally spoken.

As Frank’s image slowly developed on the paper,  I considered the unifying theme for the original three-drawing commission, "the humanity and dignity of older Americans."  Because my namesake in Detroit had devoted his life to caring for his community’s aged who, in one way or another, required assistance, I began to consider the lives of nursing home residents.  At the same time,  I contrasted Frank’s independent life with residents of nursing homes.  They had all lived active and productive lives,  some with equal success;  yet some had lost their mobility,  physically or mentally,  and were now dependent on others for their daily care.  Midway through Frank’s drawing,  I made the decision to focus the two remaining drawings on residents of nursing homes.

Upon completion and framing of Frank’s drawing,   it was sent to my namesake in Detroit and I began the search for a model for the second drawing.  A search that would introduce me to a segment of Americans that I knew little about and take me into an environment about which I knew even less.  The search would do more than provide an education,  it would change my life and career in ways I never imagined.

First Nursing Home Resident Model:

The search for a nursing home resident to model for the second drawing began at the Arizona Pioneer’s Retirement & Nursing Home in the historical Capitol of the Arizona Territory, Prescott. For an artist who had devoted over fifteen years to creating historical images of Arizona pioneers and Native Americans indigenous to the state, Roy and Gene Maders,   two brothers residing at the facility, were familiar subjects;  rugged, independent cowboys.

Roy and Gene were real cowboys who had spent their youths on their father's sprawling ranch in the Mingus Mountain range.  Had we met at the end of the day in that era,  they would have invited me to share their campfire, companionship and whatever "grub" their saddle-bags contained.  The setting in which we met was much different than a meeting on the range,  but the invitation to share their lives was the same.  At 92,  Roy (Left) was amused at my wanting to draw him.  He told his younger brother,  Gene (87),  "He’s an artist, and he’s going to make us famous."

Gene looked me over as if there might be a possibility of his brother being serious, then he smiled as he put out his hand and said, "That right?" He went along with his brother, "I always wanted to be famous." "Yeah," Roy agreed, "Me too." Although I had never promised fame to Roy, he was having fun with a silent understanding known only to brothers. I share that closeness with my Brother () Don Branscum, a high school principal in Okay, Oklahoma.  Don is quick to understand my humor and "go along" as I tell a tale only the naive or blindly trusting would believe, then share in the enjoyment of revealing the tale as a joke. Artists, like aging cowboys, have a sense of humor. I liked Roy and Gene and decided, before completing the other scheduled interviews, that they would be the models for the second drawing.

Roy and Gene were perfect models. I remember feeling "lucky," My first attempt to find an exciting subject in a nursing home and I hit the "jackpot."  The thought revealed a negative attitude toward nursing homes and their residents.  The thought also revealed my ignorance,  which was innocent of malice,  just unaware of the realities of nursing homes. 

The beauty of ignorance is that you are unaware of it. I was content thinking I was "lucky." Roy and Gene were content in letting me "learn on my own" that nursing homes contained a full cross section of American society. "The boys" accepted my lack of understanding, comfortable in their own minds of their value as citizens regardless of their residence.

What I did not know was that Roy and Gene were residents by choice seven or eight months of the year. The balance of the year they traveled the horse racing circuit and visited their extended family. Roy explained that he and Gene were thoroughbred horse owners, not gamblers. I arrived thinking that being in a nursing home was like a life sentence in prison, once a resident, there would be no escape or release. "The Boys" were my introduction to residents of nursing homes. In one interview, every illusion I had about nursing homes and their residents was revealed to be wrong.

I had just turned forty-six, and felt every minute of it, when my namesake in Detroit commissioned the first three drawings. Roy was exactly twice my age. I left the Arizona Miners and Pioneer’s Nursing Home feeling like a kid, much wiser, a little more optimistic than when I had arrived and determined to learn more about the institutions that care for many of America’s aging citizens.

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A final comment about Gene. I wrote that Gene maintained a close family relationship in the model commentary accompanying his drawing; The cynical side of me can’t help but wonder if the family closeness was greatly enhanced when, at the age of 88, Gene won $1, 290,000 in the Arizona Lottery. Family requests for prints of Roy and Gene’s drawing increased the Monday after the announcement of his winning numbers. I hope all is well with him. Personally, I am convinced that my luck must have rubbed off on him when we visited a year earlier.

Model Selection:

As I worked on the second drawing, I received four additional three-drawing commissions, making a total of fifteen drawings with the same criteria- "to depict the humanity and dignity of older Americans." All five three-drawing commissions were made by individuals in the health care profession, most were owners and administrators of nursing homes, one of the first five "sponsors" was an institutional pharmacy service (Sponsors). Each expressed a desire to have original art work that was pertinent to their life’s work with older Americans. I am honored by their initial belief in my artistic "vision" of a series of drawings entitled, Aging in America- Our Heritage of Wisdom; I am grateful for their willingness to have their drawings remain in my possession for exhibitions until I have completed the series and a two year national tour of the completed project. I was given no mandate as to model selection or theme for any of the drawing commissions.

With commissions for fifteen drawings on a single subject, the concept for the Aging in America drawing series began its transformation from a series of private commissions to a national art project. The number of drawings for the project was increased to thirty-six. A benevolent agenda that would give the series a purpose beyond the creation of art or income was also developed. The AIA project was the second commission in my life that had a benevolent purpose; the first was to design the Arizona Korean War Memorial for the Arizona State Capitol Complex in Phoenix. The men and women honored by the Arizona Korean War Memorial are among the Americans this project seeks to honor.

The "benevolent agenda" was formed in general discussions with those who commissioned the drawings and the subjects I interviewed in search of models for the commissions. The talks centered around the public’s awareness and perceptions of older Americans as well as the special concerns of nursing home residents. The conversations brought about the understanding that residents in nursing homes were the most ignored of America’s aging citizens. This realization cemented the focus of the Aging in America series on aging nursing home residents. I felt that if I could get the viewer of the work to recognize the humanity, dignity and contributions of my models, residents of nursing homes, they would also recognize these qualities in older citizens who were still active members in their families and communities.

The transformation from private commissions to a national art project took a full year. The AIA project "officially" began with an exhibition of the first six completed drawings at the Michigan Health Care Association’s 1992 Convention in Grand Rapids. At that time, I naively projected a three year production schedule for the remaining thirty drawings. At the completion of the original drawings. The AIA project would then accomplish its lofty goals with a two year national tour of the original art. Exposure would be achieved through the public exhibitions of the original art work and the media exposure surrounding these exhibitions. Six years and twenty four drawings into the project, the decision was made to expand its exposure with the creation of this WWW site.

I am frequently asked, "Is the AIA project only about residents of nursing homes?" No, not all of my models are residents of nursing homes. Some are still very active and are national known figures in American history. The project is about all older Americans. I seek to recognize their humanity and dignity and increase public and Legislative awareness of their enormous contributions to America. The subjects of the Aging in America drawings are selected to represent a cross section of older citizens as to ethnic, socio-economic, geographic and religious backgrounds. The models for this series are heroes; they are pioneers; some are average Americans and others historically significant individuals. All have given a lifetime of toil and sacrifice to shoulder the responsibility of citizenship. My models represent the triumphs, hopes and concerns of all older Americans, depicting a few, but representing all. I simply realized early in the project’s creation that I could not address the humanity and dignity of my models while ignoring the places they now called "home" and their care.

Nursing Home Residents:

My biggest problem in finding suitable subjects in nursing homes is that there are so many worthy models,  so many worthy stories to tell.   Selecting only one resident’s image and life to portray is very difficult,   sometimes impossible.  The #21 drawing demonstrates the difficulty in selecting a single model from five subjects researched in Mississippi.  Like Roy and Gene Maders,  each potential Mississippi subject was a survivor of war,  the "Great Depression", and had seen changes in society and technology that were unimaginable in their youth.  They had seen boom and bust, faced all the emotions of life and death, and lived long, mostly productive, lives.

I am aware of the general public perception of nursing homes.  Many visitors to this site will have the same view of nursing homes as I had at the beginning of this project.  What little I knew came from the media.  The coverage was most often negative, sensationalized reports on the actions of a single home or even a single worker which painted the entire home, or profession, with a single negative stroke.  As in every field or in life,  there are both honest and dedicated health care providers and unscrupulous individuals in the long term care field.  It is up to each of us to make informed decisions on health and long term care.  You can not change the need,  but you must know that your decisions will determine the quality of care received.  Be informed.

Personally,  I found that the stories of "health care mercenaries" cruelly ignoring the suffering of their residents in search of another dollar in profit did not fit the mold of those who created the series with their initial commissions, or the administrators and staff of the nursing homes from which I sought models for the series.  I talked at length to many residents and asked direct questions about their care and living conditions.  I have to admit,  I was not expecting the positive responses I received.  Many of these responses are included in the brief commentaries written about each of my models.

Without exception,  all residents would rather be home surrounded by family and friends.  Similar responses could be found with a survey of any hospital or even a local doctor’s office,  nobody wants to be ill or dependent on others.  However,  the model for the #12 drawing,  Marjorie Stebbins,  summed up the reality of nursing homes by telling me,  "Living in a nursing home is not always perfect,   but it’s best system I can see.  I’ve heard people say it’s just a place to put someone while they wait to die-- what’s wrong with that?  We are all waiting to die,  even if you don’t want to acknowledge it." She later asked the question,  "If you do away with nursing homes, what are you going to use in their place?"  It is a question I could not answer.

In mid 1997,  my family had to face the realities of needing nursing home care for our father.  Placing a loved one in a nursing home was no longer an abstract scenario.  The doctor’s prognosis left no hope of recovery as he detailed the progression of Parkinson’s Disease.  My sister managed a doctor’s office for a number of years and she researched the illness and was unable to give us what we so desperately wanted,  a chance,  however slim,  of recovery.

As a family,  we did what many children do when a parent no longer can care for themselves.  First,  we denied the realities of the illness and resisted the inevitable.  My sister quit her job to care for dad.   My brothers,  sisters,  a few in-laws and a grandson or two added a room for dad onto my sister’s house.  Equipped with his own bathroom with handicap aids,  hospital bed (with rails to prevent the increasing falls from bed) and a chair that lifted him to his feet, the addition had all that was required for his care.  He also had a daughter that loved him very much and was willing to devote her life to his care.   My mother drove ten miles to my sister’s home each day to be with him. Other’s in the family visited.  We discussed our resolve to take care of him.   The times he was able to respond grew fewer as the illness ravaged his mind and body.  My father lived in this "home" for a little over ninety days.

His care then required more than my sister was physically and medically able to provide.  His illness required qualified 24 hour nursing care.   We made arrangements for his admission into a nursing home close to my mother. Paraphrasing Teddy Roosevelt,  I told my father, as we sat in the home’s large living room with a few residents watching afternoon television, that he had to "do what he could, with what he had, where he was."  I saw the light go out in his eyes when he realized he would not ever go home again.  I wanted to make it all different;  I wanted to tell him I was sorry;  I wanted to take his place.   He had solved so many of my problems, now I was failing him. The thoughts were eased little by the knowledge that we were doing what love required most,  to provide the level of care needed to live with dignity,  and,  when the time came,  die with dignity.

I never visited my father without thinking of Majorie’s comments and asking myself,  "What is the alternative?"  The robust man who could "curl" 150 pound dumbbells in each hand could not lift a glass;   the mathematician who could add the groceries as fast as the cashier could tap the prices into a National Cash Register did not know the date;  the minister known for his oratory could not communicate his needs.  Each visit brought frustration in my inability to communicate and guilt that there was no other way to provide the care he required.  If it were this frustrating to me,  how much more magnified were my father’s frustrations?  I never heard him complain,  yet I know that it was not easy for a man so self-reliant to be dependent on others for almost every function of life.

I sought reasons for his illness knowing there were none.   I was seeking rationality in the irrationality of "life’s lottery."   The reality of Parkinson’s was all that need be known.  How it came to land in his lap was not important.  My experiences with my father’s care taught me that the worst fate America’s elderly and their families can face is to need health or long term care and not have the care available.

My father,  Troy Emmanuel Branscum,  passed away a few weeks shy of his 77th birthday,  November 16, 1997.  He is missed by his family and those who knew him.  I am grateful to the nursing home and staff who were there to give him the care he so desperately required.

An Artist's Opinion:

Since the majority of my models are residents of long term care,  as I create and exhibit the Aging in America project,  I feel it is imperative to address some aspects of nursing homes and the care of nursing home residents;  however,  I am an artist and not qualified to speak with authority about the many services provided by the long term care profession.  For this reason, my comments are my own observations and are meant to taken as that of an outsider with little knowledge of the health care field.  I only know what I have personally witnessed over the last six years,  from the hundreds of interviews with nursing home,  assisted living,  and independent retirement community residents,   some research,  and my family’s experiences in finding care for our father.

The best time to select a facility is while the one requiring care can participate. The level of care will be dictated by a doctor based on the health of the individual, not by the family.  The family can select where the required level of care is given.

All nursing homes are governed by the same laws and regulations.  As for "for-profit or non-profit facilities,"  I have never found a way to distinguish the difference by simply visiting a facility or its residents.  For-profit/non-profit facilities are the same as follows:

                each pay their employees the same wage (determined more by geography than any other factor)
                each are regulated by the same state and federal agencies
                                (the nursing home industry is the most regulated industry in America)
                each give the same levels of care
                each make a profit;

(the primary difference between the two is that for profit facilities are privately funded and operated by an individual or company;  non-profit facilities are funded and operated by a government or other tax exempt organization.  To determine if a facility is for profit or non-profit, ask the administrator.  My concern is the level and quality of care provided by a facility)
               
                each could provide quality or sub-standard care; the primary concern should be on the final topics, the level and quality of care provided by a facility.

There are many organizations which will inform and assist you. For full and accurate information to those facing the the selection of care for themselves or a loved one, I have included links which provide professional answers to elder concerns including health and nursing home issues.  There are no easy answers,  no short-cuts when the care of a loved one is involved.  There are numerous levels of care and many agencies and organizations which will provide you with the latest information to help make informed choices for care. The most thorough sites I have found on the Internet concerning long term care is the American Health Care Association’s web site at http://www.ahca.org.  Above all,  be an informed consumer.

I will also participate in link exchanges from advocacy groups,  pro-resident agencies and other pro-elderly organization devoted to the service or care of America’s aging population. 
Send requests to jim@jimbartstudio.com

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