Artiversary

In September of 2009 with the prompting from a friend, I started a monthly art group. We get together once a month to eat, talk and make art. To celebrate our two year Artiversary, we made group paintings on canvas, by switching canvases every few minutes. So that I could participate without having to watch the time, I turned the iPod on and we switched canvases after every third song. It was so much fun and at the end, we each had a canvas to keep (we chose them white elephant style!) (for information about starting your own art group, read my guest post over at Always Chrysti).


  Happy ladies after choosing their canvases!   A couple of finished pieces   And of course we had some help 

Eve

I call her Eve: she peers at the moon, longing to be closer to nature.

Give Love: A Community Art Project

Tonight I did my images for Give Love- A community Art Project

1. Art journal about a community member(s) that has positively influenced your life. This could be a teacher, student, coach, neighbor, a stranger, anyone that is not related to you. Your interaction(s) could have occurred at any point in your life.

This one reads "in my child's eye all teachers hold a special place... but especially my middle school art teacher Ms. Bethel." I really did love learning and all teachers, but the relationship that Ms. Bethel and I have continues still today. She was the first to introduce me to the field of art therapy, and I believe influenced me in so many of my life decisions.

2. Do one good deed that you would not usually do. Art journal about that experience. Again - feel free to do more than one kind act and journal about each one, but at least do one accompanied by a journal page.

This one reads "first on the scene. road rash. burns. tears. lots of tears. prayer for strangers." This is actually something that happened a while ago for me, but when faced with this prompt, anything that I could think of seemed trivial to this experience. I was commuting on my way to a final, and I was the first on a car crash. A terrible car crash. It was early, the driver fell asleep... and he and several of his coworkers/friends who were in the car were thrown as the car flipped. They were in the construction field and tools littered the highway. I pulled over and held the hand of one of the men. More people arrived and I stayed... until the ambulance arrived. I am forever impacted by this and will always remember their faces. I called the hospital, but due to HIPPA laws they were not able to give me any information... To this day I do not know what became of the men...

finding my center

When my heart and mind are questioning things, I turn to art. And so today I turned to art. I still have no more answers than when I started out, but in the process of art making I found my center. I let go of the questions, of the worries and just created.

I was not ready to create art about the issue at hand today, and so I worked on a call for art that I knew I wanted to participate in. The show is called Freedom From, Freedom To and is being organized by the St. Louis Rescue and Restore Coalition. The call for art states "What does Freedom mean to you? We are challenging you to help us raise awareness about the unfortunate reality that slavery still exists today. Whether it is called trafficking in persons, human trafficking, forced labor, forced prostitution, the commercial sexual exploitation of children, or modern-day slavery—we must take action to put a stop to the exploitation of others."

When I began contemplating this, the image of the butterfly came to mind; specifically of hands letting butterflies go to fly freely in the air. I did a search for a quote, and found this one (which was perfect for what I wanted to express): I only ask to be free. The butterfly is free. ~Charles Dickens

And as I searched I also found that the symbolism for the butterfly is freedom, the soul, change, joy, color and creativity. The image I had intuitively represented seemed to embody perfectly the mission of the call for art: freedom from oppression and the chains of human trafficking, the soul and livelihood of those involved in human trafficking, changing perceptions about human trafficking, joy resulting from freedom and the color and creativity in the artwork created. And as I further thought about the image, I began to see that the butterflies are souls that have found freedom through the hands of those to end human trafficking. It is a wish realized through art that someday all people will be free.

Community Arts in Recovery

We just completed another Community Arts in Recovery group, and I wanted to share my art from it. The group is similar to Pat Allen's method of intention writing, artmaking and witness writing, so I will also share a snippet of my writing.

There is always dark and always light. Even if you don't want me, I am still here. And without me there would be no light. Don't forget me or be afraid. I will not hurt you but instead will bring clarity to both the light and the dark.

All torn apart, hanging on by threads. Sometimes I feel it is me. Sometime I am hanging on by threads. But at least I have something holding me together to hang on to.

Remembering

Last year my classmates and the art therapy community lost a great mentor, Carol Lark. This week, my class learned that we had lost a classmate, Adrienne. It is at times like this that my words fail me and I turn to art.

For some moments in life there are no words. ~ Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

So I got out a canvas that I had, and began painting. I knew that the labyrinth would be an important part of the image—for the metaphor of the journey, as well as for Carol. I also knew that I wanted to represent all of my classmates. I also had thought that I wanted to include birds. When Chris remarked that it looked like a tree, the image came together. My classmates represented as birds in the tree, with Carol and Adrienne represented by the birds flying. When I was reminded in a facebook post of Carol's mantra "remember to breathe" the image was complete. Adrienne and Carol, you will always hold a place in my heart. This is for you.

Community Arts in Recovery: This Friday

Masterpeace Studios and Queen of Peace Center
present
Community Arts in Recovery
September 24 from 6-8pm

for more information click below:

This is the culminating show in a 4 week art group, similar to Pat Allen's method of intention writing, artmaking and witness writing. The group was specifically designed as a Recovery Month activity, and was open to all people in the recovery community. It was nice to facilitate a group where I too got to make art, and really helped me in the realm of authenticity.

Here is a peak at my artwork and witness writing (although it is only a peak!!).

When I was making the art I was thinking about the elements: earth, wind, fire. There are two circles that represent earth, the green. 7 that represent fire. 5 water. There is more fire, but there is balance. Like in life. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the negative. But there is still positive. It is like the saying "Our souls would not have rainbows had our eyes no tears."

I initially made it thinner. What society tells me to be. Thin. A model. But I am none of these. I am thick. Voluptuousness. I embraced this. She has a natural curve.

Two symbols combined. The bird and the nest. Two birds, one nest, three [4] eggs. All are different—a rock, a shell, a pinecone. The mother bird sits on the nest while the father bird watches over. Protecting? Maybe. Helping? What does this mean?

Again the process was very moving for me, with the most moving moments coming from asking questions of my images. Asking the images for answers. I will continue this process of artmaking, and find that the deeper understanding of self is so powerful.

Art Journaling Showcase: Call for Art

I am so excited about this opportunity! Not only am I going to be able to show some of my journals, but I am also curating this show! I have lots of exciting things planned for the show (more details to follow). But for now, here is the call for entries if you would like to participate!