Horizon West artist to share newfound passion

Horizon West’s Amelia Crassus de Senior always felt a sense of peace as she sat at a piano and played.

Whether she was playing or singing as her godfather, Ramon Crassus, played a song they composed together, Crassus de Senior said the music would heal her soul. 

She almost cries listening to the classical creations from Ludwig van Beethoven and Frederic Chopin. 

But when arthritis started making playing difficult at 70 years old and eventually made it too painful to play, she was devastated. 

In September, she fell into a depression after falling down and breaking her hip, resulting in months in a hospital and rehab. 

A visit from her son Alberto Senior and the discovery of a new passion brought her back to life and returned the peace she once felt while stroking the piano keys.

At 82 years old, Crassus de Senior started painting, taking classes at her new home, Sonata Windermere. 

Every time she has a paint brush in her hands, it puts her mind at ease and she forgets any of her troubles.

Photo by Liz Ramos

Lifetime connected to the arts

Growing up in Venezuela and while raising her family in her home country and the United States, Crassus de Senior spent countless hours tickling the ivories. 

She wrote lyrics to accompany some of the songs Ramon Crassus composed, including various Venezuelan waltzes. Ramon Crassus composed songs for everyone in the family, including his goddaughter. 

Crassus de Senior gently sang the song in her honor as she looked over the sheet music of “Amelia” while sitting on her couch in her living room of Sonata Windermere. 

Alberto Senior recalled always hearing his mother playing piano in the house growing up. 

“She’s always been obsessed with music,” he said. “She would get on that piano, and it was like she was lost. … I think one of the realities about her is most times you could see her enjoying the piano, that it would just brighten her life up, was when she had an audience.”

Playing piano was how Crassus de Senior met her husband, Miguel Senior. At 11 years old, she was playing piano in a concert in Venezuela. It was love at first sight for Miguel Senior. He knew he had to meet her.

Miguel Senior said he could tell his future wife wanted to please people with her music and bring joy to others.  

The couple was engaged four years later and married four years after that in 1961 when Crassus de Senior was 18 and Miguel Senior was 22. 

Now as they live in their one-bedroom apartment at Sonata Windermere, Miguel Senior continues to do whatever he can to support his wife and her passions. 

No matter where they lived throughout their marriage, Miguel Senior always made sure there was a piano at home so Crassus de Senior could play whenever she wanted. 

When her arthritis made playing more difficult, Miguel Senior bought her an electronic keyboard with hopes she could continue her passion. 

Now that piano no longer is an option, Miguel Senior buys all the paint supplies she needs.

In a corner of the living room next to the kitchen there are dozens of canvases, paints, frames and other supplies so Crassus de Senior can paint whenever she pleases. One of the latest purchases was an electric brush cleaner so she could easily clean her paint brushes.

He frames each of her pieces of artwork with pride and has even purchased a printer that he donated to Sonata Windermere so her artwork, along with the artwork of other residents, can be printed onto T-shirts and other materials. 

Their home has her paintings framed and hung on the walls as well as portrait paintings her family members had created of her grandmother, father and others. 

Newfound passion

Courtesy photo

Crassus de Senior goes to the art room in Sonata Windermere at least three times per week to paint. The staff has recognized her new passion for the arts and has given her permission to work in the studio whenever she pleases. 

Although painting classes only last an hour, Crassus de Senior will spend three hours in the studio painting her works of art. She has learned various techniques using numerous materials including crayons, markers, watercolors and more.

Unlike others in the studio who trace images onto a canvas, she does everything freehand, simply looking at a photo for inspiration and replicating it in her own manner. 

Her love of flowers, demonstrated by the intricately sewn, vibrant flower pattern on her black jacket, has inspired her to paint various types of flowers, practicing different techniques to make each petal come to life. 

But it’s her grandchildren and great-grandchildren who inspired her most. 

When her great-grandchildren learned of Crassus de Senior’s new passion, they made requests. One asked her to paint a rainbow, while the others asked her to paint the bunnies they saw on display in a common room in Sonata Windermere. 

Since then, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren have joined her in the studio, painting alongside their “Abuela the Artist,” which they fondly call her now. Each of them has their painting of a bunny or rainbow hanging in their rooms, except for one great-grandchild who lives in Venezuela. The painting has not yet been sent to her.  

Alberto Senior said his interest in playing piano as a child stemmed from his mother’s passion, but her passion for art originated with him. He recalled using a piece of wood he found on the street as at 7 years old as a canvas for his first painting. He painted a little girl walking a dog. His parents loved it so much they used a photo of it as the Christmas card that year. 

“They always encouraged me to paint, and I had painting lessons and ended up having a masters in fine art,” he said. “The funny thing is you usually say, ‘Oh, he got that from his mom’ or ‘he got that from his dad,’ but here is the opposite way. My mom got it from me.’”

Crassus de Senior said her mother always did her art assignments in school growing up, so she wasn’t aware of her secret talent until she started painting classes at Sonata Windermere.

She went on to paint bouquets of flowers, a car with the license plate showing the name of a Sonata Windermere staff member, the Virgin of Guadalupe, Jesus, landscapes, butterflies, birds and more.

Alberto Senior said his mother’s paintings have brought the family closer together. She creates a painting almost every day, and he takes a photo of each one and shares it in a group message to the family like a digital gallery. He includes the name of the painting in the message.

“The most important thing for us is to see her happy,” he said. “We enjoy seeing her alive and excited about something. We feel that it’s brought life back to her. She’s getting up and she’s getting dressed just to go to the studio because she wants to paint and she wants to share them.”