Flutterby is medicine for the soul.
Flutterby is an experiential visual art and story-telling program that moves you to experience things otherwise difficult to grasp. Its imaginative and personal approach to a universal experience is an emotional and poetic 40-minute narrative reading by Andrea Kay accompanied by music and visual art. It tells a story through conversations between a daughter and her father who is slipping away from complications of Alzheimer's disease. Audience members react strongly to the performance. It changes lives and helps them view things differently--as only art can.
As the director of the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center said: "Flutterby is a perfect example of how art can engage an audience and allow the viewer to find a connection to their own life."
For caretakers and those facing the loss of a loved one
Flutterby's authentic and fresh voice speaks to caretakers everywhere who can feel isolated and overwhelmed. It responds to the emotional needs of caregivers. It gets deep inside you, beyond words of a workshop or brochure.
Flutterby gives voice to emotions you may have difficulty articulating and opens up your heart to ways you can share and heal. It helps you see how others feel and not feel so alone. It offers insight into how to be with the person you're losing in a meaningful way. Flutterby helps you transcend the uncertainty of inescapable loss and connect with a loved one in a new way.
For anyone who has ever had the universal experience of love and loss
Flutterby helps you talk about and reflect on a difficult subject and opens up avenues of communication. It helps you realize the importance of the moment. As one woman described Flutterby: "It reminded me that every moment is so special."
For medical professionals and students
Flutterby gives voice to emotions medical professionals may have difficulty articulating about loss and grief--an area seldom discussed. It opens up the pathway to unacknowledged grief--something research shows many medical professionals wrestle with due to the professional taboo about the emotion of grief, which can be considered shameful and unprofessional. Flutterby helps open up the conversation about this unease, which research also shows affects their ability to communicate about end-of-life issues with patients and families, even treatment decisions.
Flutterby also offers a deeper understanding of what families go through and opens up thinking on ways to support families.
Flutterby has two parts:
- Story Telling Performance Art (experiential keynote):
A 40-minute, experiential storytelling performance by Andrea Kay with musical accompaniment and visual art. Her intimate, emotional narrative is drawn from journals that recorded her visits with her father before he succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. The story she tells is personal yet universal. It is filled with the hopes, fears, elation, sorrow, humor and grief familiar to those who have faced a loved one's death. See Video
- Visual Art:
An exhibit of 17 framed art pieces and narrative, based on drawings Andrea made of her father during their visits. Her artwork reflects the power of art to communicate when words fail. See Gallery
The two parts can be presented together or individually, depending on venue, program and your particular needs.
See How to Use It
Why people love Flutterby
Background
In the last year of Andrea’s father’s life, she traveled to where he lived about once a week to visit him. She asked him if she could sketch him; he nodded and said, “Yeah.” It became their ritual.
“It was a way for me to give him complete attention. And it pulled me into him in a deep and intense way,” she says. The work is called Flutterby—the word her father remembered during one of her visits that she used as a child to say “butterfly.”
The artwork had its first exhibit at the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center October 22-December 1, 2010. A staged performance of the work premiered at the Carnegie theatre October 22.
About Andrea Kay
An award-winning artist and writer with more than 30 years experience creating artwork and writing related to self expression. Artwork spans ink and water color, charcoal and paper mache to pastels, acrylic, clay, handmade paper and collage. Writing includes six published non-fiction books and more than 1,400 syndicated newspaper columns related to work, careers and working while being a caretaker or dealing with dementia. Andrea's current artwork is paper mache sculpture and collage of birds (
AccidentalArtbyAndreaKay.com); proceeds help support Flutterby.
Professional Experience
- Commissioned work of ink and water color and paper mache, 1990-Present
- Artwork hangs in hotels, private homes and commercial office space and sold in galleries and retail establishments
- Syndicated columnist and author, 1988-2014
- Author of 7 books, 1998-Present
Art Shows & Performances
- Carnegie Visual Arts and Performing Arts Center—Flutterby artwork and dramatic presentation
- American Society on Aging Conference, San Diego, California--story-telling performance
- Atlanta, Georgia International Conference of Thanatology Association--dramatic presentation
- Orlando, Florida National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization Conference--dramatic presentation
- Miami University--Flutterby performance and art show for Family Science and Social Work, Theater, Sociology and Gerontology, Kinesiology and Health and Psychology departments and Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Inquiry.
- Keynote performance at "The Power of Stories" Expo, Cincinnati, Ohio
- New Riff Event Center, Kentucky--Flutterby dramatic presentation
- Alzheimer's Association of Greater Cincinnati Annual Benefit--Flutterby art exhibit
- Collaborating artist for Visionaries & Voices Art Auction Gala
- Ariodante Gallery, New Orleans—featured artist for paper mache and collage
- C-Link Gallery, Cincinnati—juried exhibition, Natural Forms for paper mache
- Wyoming Art Show--ink and water colors
- Montgomery Art Show--ink and water colors
- Hyde Park Art Show--ink and water colors
- Beth Adam Congregation Art Show--paper mache
Honors
- First Place, Drawing, University of Cincinnati Art Show, 1985
- Second Place, Drawing, University of Cincinnati Art Show, 1985
- Recognized by Ohioana Library Association for Literary and Artistic Achievement
- Women In Communications Gem Award
- Leading Woman Award for Consulting, Training and Education, 2009
- Best Career Counselor, Cincinnati Magazine, 2002
- Outstanding Speaker, Society for Advancement of Management
- Best Program of the Year, National Association of Women in Construction
Education
- Bachelor of Arts, Kent State University
- Art Academy of Cincinnati
- University of Cincinnati
- Private lessons in sculpture & clay, drawing, paper making, watercolor
- Continuing education includes coursework through American Society on Aging, American Counseling Association, Association for Humanistic Psychology, Gestalt Institute, Career Masters Institute, Berlitz Language School, Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, Ball State University
Media Experience
Syndicated column in USA Today and other media outlets. Heard weekly on radio show on WGRR-FM. Other experience includes weekly contributions to NPR and ABC and CBS affiliates, hosting live radio call-in shows, interviews in hundreds of outlets, including Reuters News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, Smart Money, Kiplinger Financial Magazine, Redbook, Mademoiselle, National Business Employment Weekly, First For Women Magazine, Essence, Woman and Financial Woman Today.
