art
Make a Zine
Zines are cool. If you are unfamiliar with this excellent avenue for making art and communicating ideas, please follow the quick instructional video. Zines have been a popular art form since the 1930s, and offer a simple medium for art making. Your mini booklets can be can be replicated with a copier (just unfold your book after you design it, copy it, and fold it back up).
Be creative, tell your story, and communicate your ideas. Our world so complicated these days, externalizing our inner dialogue can be very therapeutic. Using a small space to express your thoughts and emotions is less overwhelming than a giant blank journal or empty canvas. Unleash your inner creativity, express your thoughts, and share your emotions with your loved ones. Chances are high they might be experiencing the same emotions in these strange times.
If you want to learn more about making zines, check out these books:
Easy, No-Sew Mask
Let’s skip the raging debate on a wearing mask. If you are venturing out into the world in 2020, chances are high that you WILL need to wear a mask somewhere. Please watch this quick video (1 minute, 34 seconds) to learn how to make a simple mask using a t-shirt, ruler and scissors. Let’s get crafty:
Expanding One’s Imagination- Dreaming Bigger
The picture to the left is of my nifty new dry erase wall in my art therapy studio. Although I do not use this blog to promote products, this new Sketch Pad paint by Sherwin Williams is worth noting. It is a clear dry erase paint that you can cover any wall with, allowing for giant writing/drawing areas I painted the dark green border with a washable semi gloss paint to give the dry erase area a nice boundary. Having worked as a therapist for years in places with tiny dry erase boards, I decided to expand the potential of my clients’ self-expression, without subjecting them to the dust and sound of chalk and a chalk wall. My goal is for clients to take a photo of the work we do/things they write in place of the papers they take along at the end of their sessions.
This new giant writing/drawing space is a perfect metaphor for how people often limit their potential by dreaming small. After years of working in the trenches of the mental health field, one consistent theme I have observed is people setting flimsy goals that are reachable, but don’t really involve risk taking (risking well), or even taking risks in just contemplating future ideas. The culprits in many of my clients’ lives sadly are often well-meaning teachers or family members who planted lifelong debilitating ideas in people’s heads limiting their value or worth, based on their own limited views of themselves. On occasion, this self-fulfilling prophecy of mediocrity is transmitted through several generations.
What would it cost to dream bigger than you usually do when thinking about short-term or long-term goals? The first answer I usually hear is that thinking bigger is too time consuming, and the stressful day-to-day issues must take precedence. The secret is that if we expand the boundaries of our dreams/goals/plans/future, then getting halfway to that expanded place means you will probably accomplish the initial stuff you hoped to do.
Can you find some paper and start jotting down some dreams/goals plans? Can you get out of your comfort zone and try to write down ones that might sound outrageous or unreachable? A good benchmark for recognizing that you are out of your comfort zone is the sensation that someone might see what you are writing. Feel free to rip up the evidence following this exercise, but can you push yourself even further and share your new and expanded dreams with someone you trust? That is the recipe for dreaming bigger!
Art and the systems of your life.
Did you know that you are part of a system? In our 21st century lives, it is easy to think of ourselves as individuals, and not connected to our circles of people in any way. Isn’t that what the 20th century Western world has led us to believe? Me, Me, Me, and Me. This line of thinking does not really parallel the overall trends in human history, nor what biology tells us about how homo sapiens are wired. Even in the mental health field, the trend over time has been to pathologize the individual, and remove them from their “system” to make them better. As a veteran employee of the in-patient psych world, I can attest here to the high recidivism rates when adhering to this line of thinking.
Let’s think about your system. Please find some paper and a writing utensil and spend a few minutes creating a family portrait. “Family” is a loose term which might mean your family of origin, the current people with whom you reside or even your workmates. Rather than drawing actual people, faces or stick figures, please draw cogs (like the image in this blog entry) to represent each person in your family. As you assign a cog for each person, please think of how much power or presence they have within the system, and represent this power (or lack of power) with the size of their cog. Think of other emotions or behavior exhibited within the family. Can you stretch your imagination to represent this in the cog you draw for that person? Are the cogs close together and humming along nicely? Are any of the teeth broken, causing the entire system to be shut down? Could you change or fix the system if something is not working? Can you recognize a problem being caused or solved by the entire system working together? If you were to draw separate images to represent your family of origin and your current family as cogs, do you see any patterns that have been repeated?
The bottom line is that we create each other. This simple art exercise might bring up some powerful feelings or insight into your current dynamics. Investigating family dynamics as a system can be an enlightening opportunity to address a family or individual’s problem. The risk sometimes involves investigating how you yourself might be contributing to the problem. If you find that you have a visceral experience to this art exercise, please do yourself a favor and track down a local art therapist or marriage and family therapist to further explore your raw feelings.
ART and art of not judging fellow humans
The Olympics serve as an incredible opportunity for collaboration, cross cultural understanding and personal growth, even from the convenience of the couch upon which one sits to watch the spectacle. As the Winter Olympics of Sochi progresses, millions of people are tuning in to witness these 17 days unfold.
Detractors might be focused on the security threats and unfinished amenities connected to this particular event, but at its essence is an unusual opportunity for exploring our connection to our own culture. For those lucky enough to be hanging around the Olympic Village for the next few weeks, their opportunity for cultural exploration is heightened by living in such close proximity to “others” with their sleek outfits displaying their nation of origin literally on their sleeves. Reports from the front describe a beautiful and magical atmosphere, with people from so many different cultures living in close proximiy to one another.
Today’s art exercise will take this opportunity to reflect on our own culture and investigate our attitudes towards others outside of our culture. Please find some paper and jot down some messages you are getting from your culture these days…maybe from: popular songs, commercials, twitter feeds, newspapers, blogs, friends etc. Are there any messages of an “us” vs. “them” peppering your thoughts? Can you bring your thoughts down to a personal level and think about anyone you encountered in your day as an “other” whom you might have unfairly judged? Could you be brave and share your list of messages with them as an opportunity for a cross cultural experience? If you can, there is a strong likelihood that you will have your very own Olympic Village moment. Good Luck Earthling.
Perception- the art of seeing
Perception is defined as: the way you think about or understand someone or something.
How Do You See?
The mosaic pictured is a QR code for this art therapy blog. A few years ago, this mosaic might have just looked like a replica of an ancient one found in an excavated Roman ruin. You might be standing in front of this mosaic at an art gallery, and have found your way to this post via your QR code scanner on your smart phone.
This QR technology allows this mosaic to no longer be just a mosaic, but an interactive, fluid art piece that will constantly change, yet remain the same. Your knowledge of the technology needed to interact with this piece of art makes all the difference, thus altering your perception of its layers of meaning.
QR codes, or “Quick Response” codes have quickly crept into our lives as yet another means to access information. Really, they can be observed as a metaphor for rapid access into another world. In their simplicity, they can reveal something far beyond what can be understood at the surface level.
Using this metaphor of QR codes and smart phone technology, is there anyone in your life whom you are misreading or not comprehending? Can you go back through your day and think of any encounters with others that you would like to revisit? Perhaps you judged someone only superficially?
Can you imagine how different your interaction might be if you had QR technology to access parts of their psychic apparatus? Would you see them differently and at a deeper level? Would you have been more; patient, kind, loving, forgiving etc? When we really open our eyes and hearts to those around us, it becomes clear that we all have natural “QR technology” to genuinely perceive the world around us. This is the beauty of perception.
Art therapists spend years training to hone their skills of perception, to truly understand their clients and their clients’ artwork. In a clinical setting, traditional talk therapy can move slowly based on the defenses we have built up though language. When art making is introduced, tremendous insight can be gained quickly. Art making, as neuroscience is confirming, can serve as a fantastic partner when exploring issues that have been buried for years in one’s subconscious. The goal is to blend art making, memories, and feelings to assist individuals in growth and healing from their wounded identities.
Boston Marathon bombing and art therapy interventions
This week’s bombing at the Boston Marathon is yet another tragic event testing Americans’ sense of resilience. The flavor of comments floating around the media in the aftermath are, “You messed with the wrong city” meaning that Boston is far too strong of a town to let acts of barbaric terror bring it down. This thought process actually is the result of dozens of generations steeped in the collective memory of the American Revolution. The attitude that freedom will be preserved even in the wake of cowardly acts of violence is one we sadly have had tested too often this year. At this writing, the source of the blast is unknown, leaving citizens confused and on alert.
One notable and amazing element to this event which took place in the immediate aftermath was the reaction of people standing close by after the bombs exploded. The video footage showed people running toward the explosion rather than away in an attempt to rescue victims. In a post 9/11 world, all Americans have become the first responders. Many lives were saved due to this visceral and immediate response. In today’s art exercise, we will use the strength of Bostonians and everyday citizens who were present and mimic their resilience through an art exercise.
Please find some pen and paper and take a few minutes to write words, images or symbols all over your paper in no particular order. Let your imagination wander all over the place in your mind, and jot down information about: emotional, historical, social, political issues relating to this incident. Make sure to write the words or symbols all around the paper. This exercise is designed to explore feelings that are often hard to capture in our linear way of speaking and writing. Once you have completed this, leave it for several hours or a day, then go back to it, and circle some words or images that seem connected to one another on the page.
How are you feeling based on the information you jotted down? This exercise can be a great process to explore our subconscious. Can you find someone to share your information with to help you process your feelings? If you have an overall positive outlook, can you connect with the resilient individuals we have witnessed this week? If you are feeling very negative, is there a way to bridge your feelings to those individuals who showed extreme courage this week? If you are looking for more art therapy interventions, please look around this blog and adapt other exercises to this topic.
Because the Boston Marathon attracts such a global crowd, I assume people in most parts of the world might have strong feelings connected to this race and everything it represents. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.
Mastering Boredom
Snow Day? Free time? Screen time? The catalyst for this blog entry comes on a full fledged snow day in which my city has come to a screeching halt with inches upon inches of beautiful snow. After the initial hours of joy on this type of day, boredom is often the next mood that sets into the average home of homebound individuals. Our latest technology seems to dictate how we march through these kind of days, screens in hand. Before you grab a screen if you find yourself with some free time, can you find some time to just sit? The art therapy exercise today is to just sit without any distractions. Are you up for the challenge?
One of the biggest casualties of our brave new world just might be boredom. We are so over connected and overwhelmed with lack of time in the western world, and our devices most likely are the culprit. The word boredom even has very negative connotations in this era, but this constant distraction to avoid boredom at all costs just might be dampening our creativity.I am inspired by the story J.K. Rowling has shared in many interviews on her moment of inspiration for the Harry Potter series. She was on a train, without any reading materials or writing journals, and the train experienced a several hour delay. While staring out of the window wondering how to pass the time, she shared that the entire series hit her like a bolt of lightning, and had she been engaged in a book or actively writing in a journal, this entire story might not have ever been imagined.
Another source of inspiration to encourage you to find some time to be bored comes from Thomas Edison. Edison had an arm-chair in his lab that he would sit in during the day while holding two balls in his hand, with the balls facing down. When he would begin to drift off into a alpha or theta state of consciousness, the balls would drop with a thud, arousing him into a state of full consciousness. He would jump up and capture all of his thoughts on paper. He shared that this need to stop and just sit without any distractions was a key element in developing his ideas.
Try it. Record your thoughts after sitting. Good Luck!
First World Complaints
Do you have any complaints today? Before you read on, please quickly jot them down.
The inspiration for this blog entry is from the video (see link below) of people in Haiti repeating first world complaints. Can you imagine a person in a third world country who is dealing with their basic survival needs hearing/repeating your complaint or validating you and your current predicament? This blog entry is not meant to minimize your gripes, but to use our extremely polarized paradigm of the earth’s inhabitants to re shape your view. Expanding your lens is a powerful tool to put things in perspective and/or minimize their level of seriousness. The statistics are that 70% of the world’s population lives south of the Equator, yet 70% of the world’s resources are north of the equator, leading to some serious “haves” and “have nots”. Our interconnected world makes access to images and other people’s plights crystal clear.
If you have taken any basic psychology classes, you are probably familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The basis of Maslow’s theory is that until the basic needs are being met ( food, water, shelter, clothing), self actualization is not possible, because so much of our brain space is being used in an attempt to meet those basic needs. There are several other layers to this model between meeting the basic needs and arriving at a state of self actualization. No need to feel guilty if you have these basic things covered.
The path toward self actualization probably includes minimizing the complaining, or if your goals are not so lofty, you might want to consider complaining less if you find your friends or workmates are annoyed by you. We will conclude this exercise with another list, this time writing some things you are thankful for today. Studies have been done on people writing daily thankfulness lists to combat depression, and the results have been surprisingly profound.
Art Therapy 365 