Art for the Ages: Academy waitress delights seniors with soulful birthday cards

Art for the Ages

Academy waitress delights seniors with soulful birthday cards

By Julie Marshall, Camera Staff Writer

After a round of "Happy Birthday" Zetta Feder reaches for the large, white envelope she's been eager to rip open all morning.

She pulls out a hand-made card adorned with three women in flowing gowns, who stretch their long slender arms toward a cake with her name on it. Replace the cake with mythical golden fruit and the scene is reminiscent of "Primavera" by 15th century Italian painter Sandro Botticelli.

"I'm really honored," says Feder, her long, silver hair shimmering in the sunlight from a window at The Academy retirement home. Feder turned 75 Friday surrounded by friends at the 52-member residence in Boulder.

One of them was Kim Borrego.

Anytime one of the Academy's residents celebrates a birthday, he or she receives a special birthday card from Borrego. The artist uses watercolors, pencils, construction paper collages and markers to design birthday cards that depict an individual's hobbies, personality or life's passion. The cards have become an important part of the community, residents say, not only because they are creative and well-done, but because they have heart and come from own of their own.

Borrego, 45, is not a resident, but a self-taught artist who was raised in Boulder, graduated from Boulder High School, and who happens to be a waitress serving meals at The Academy's in-house restaurant. Her employer pays a modest fee for each card, which can take several hours to create. But Borrego is not motivated by money or dreams of becoming a professional artist, she says. As an admittedly shy person, she enjoys quietly observing what makes people tick -- and then creating a gift.

Feder's beauty inspired the artist this month.

"She's just a wonderful person. Beautiful things make me think of her," Borrego says. "I think that way about all of the residents here. (Making cards is a fun thing to do."

Feder's birthday, coincidentally, was the same day Academy staff asked residents to bring their birthday cards from past years into the Academy chapel for display. By 10am, more than 60 cards were spread among eight tables.

"We want to honor Kim," Executive Director Diane Wyler says about the morning display. "Her art and her expression of individuals is a thread that weaves us together to help form our community."

Borrego, who has worked at The Academy three years, designed her first birthday card for a resident two years ago. Administrators noticed her talent (Borrego says she got her natural talent from her father) and began paying her $10 for each birthday card she makes for a resident or, when inspired, for any of The Academy's 50 staff members. Its's always a fun surprise to see what Borrego will use as a topic, residents say, because she possesses keen insight to capture who they are on paper.

Resident and former state Senator Dorodthy Rupert walks into the chapel holding a card with sketches of the Tin Man, the Lion and Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.

Borrego points to the Tin Man. "This is about her," she says, referring to Rupert's outstanding record as an advocate for human rights legislation.

On this day, Feder is is pleasantly surprised. She was expecting to see some stereotypical reflections of her love for tennis and other sports depicted in a birthday card, she says. "I thought I would be some energetic, mindless jock."

But Borrego saw strong beauty in her subject, she says, and the Renaissance masterpiece came to mind. "I don't usually have a plan," she says. "It just comes to me."

On another table, a Dec. 20 birthday card for Mary Woods features tiny bits of colored paper in shades of blues and greens that form a stained-glass window. A bluebird is pasted below the arch demonstrating a view from outside.

Woods, 75, who belonged to an ecumenical church in Texas, smiles. "She knows I'm a believer," she says.

Another card on display was made for Patt and Gene Kinder, a couple in their 70s that share a March 5 birthday. Borrego drew a body in motion - a figure made of curvy lines that represents a playful, free spirit - surrounded by geometric figures and a bright pink border.

The Kinders love to dance the Jitterbug, a popular dance in the 1940s.

"We dance well together," says Gene.

Borrego says she observed the Kinders at a resident dance and knew then what their birthday card would look like. For Woods, she saw her carrying a Bible.

Observation of intimate details is easy for someone who is painfully shy, Borrego says.

"I think when you are shy, (watching others) is something that you do," she says while holding up her white shirt sleeve, part of her lunch uniform, in front of her mouth as she talks.

Borrego smiles as Gene whispers in her ear: "These are great works of art You are in the wrong business." Another resident tells her she deserves more pay for her creations.

But the waitress doesn't have any plans to leave her job anytime soon. Not when there is such great demand for her work. Last month, she created 12 birthday cards.

Minutes before Borrego had to head downstairs and prepare for lunch, Academy driver, Geof Sparks ran in the chapel to let her know his birthday falls in April. "How about stars and planets and a big telescope?" he asks, nearly out of breath from searching for the artist. "Do you take requests?"

Borrego smiles, "I'll put you on my list."

Caption 1: One of the handmade cards that Kim Borreg gives the residens of The Academy. Borreg tries to find something personal about each resident to incorporate into the design of the cards.

Caption 2: Kim Borrego, center, laughs with Bonnie Schneider, community life director at The Academy retirement home, while they and other residents look at some of the collection of cards Borrego has made over the years. Borrego, a waitress at The Academy, creates elaborate hand-crafted cards for each resident when they have a birthday.

Caption 3: Another of the homemade birthday cards that Kim Borrego gives the residents of The Academy.

Caption 4: Kim Borrego gives one of her homemade birthday cards to Zetta Feder on her 75th birthday at The Academy. Borrego was honored with a party to thank her for the intricate homemade cards she makes for the residents there.