Over at 6 Degrees of Creativity, I recently helped organize a sock monkey swap for Kat Thorsen’s awesome Sock Monkey Therapy workshop- What fun! This exchange includes 6 Degrees community members from Kat’s workshop who signed up to receive a sock monkey, as well as make and send their own sock monkey to a fellow 6 Degrees Sock Monkey Maker. Sock monkeys from this exchange are heading across the US, to Canada, Australia, and Italy…I can’t wait to learn more about these sock monkey adventures!
Below are some of the photos I took of the sock monkey I made for this exchange and mailed out today. I hope he reaches his new home safely and his travels out of the country go well! I also hope he brings much joy to my special sock monkey recipient (ssshhh..) I know he will be in good, good hands!
Enjoying Kat's Sock Monkey Therapy!
Sock Monkey Accessory!
Super excited to meet the sock monkey coming here soon! I’ll be sure to share photos in Part 2! :)
In a couple of weeks, the 6 Degrees of Creativity Artist Trading Card (ATC) exchange will be underway and I’ve just finished creating a batch of ATCs to include as an extra ATC for each participant. As the facilitator of this ATC workshop and organizer of the exchange, I wanted to make an ATC for each individual participating in the swap:
When creating my ATCs I reflected on the 6 Degrees of Creativity community as a whole, from each of the wonderful workshops being offered and instructors, the inspiring photos of art, comments, discussions, and overall community, connection, and spirit of creativity.
I chose a series of words to describe this experience and included six dots on each ATC to represent the concept of 6 Degrees and how we are all connected through our creativity, as well as having the opportunity to spread this energy and inspiration among ourselves and to others in our personal and professional lives. The words highlighted on each of my ATC cards express my collective response I’ve witnessed.
I recently re-read the post Creating with an Open Heart, Creating a Movement on one of my favorite creativity blogs, A Big Creative Yes which reminded me about my intention behind bringing together 6 Degrees of Creativity. Dan Goodwin writes about the experience, importance, and sharing of creating with “an open heart” and how this practice inspires others to also create:
“By your example of creating, they then muster enough courage to try it for themselves. Then maybe this same thing happens with a couple of other people over a few months, and they too come out in public with their journals, their camera, their sketchbooks, because of your example. Maybe then each of these people you’ve directly inspired are then seen by three others, and they are encouraged to create more. In a short space of time, your act of creating with an open heart has lead to nine others doing the same. A month or two later, each of them are seen, and inspire three others, meaning now 27 people are openly creating, all as a direct result of your initial courage to do so… By creating with an open heart, you’ve created a movement.”
It’s been a pleasure to actively engage with so many excited about creating, sharing, and experiencing this joy within this creative community. Creating with an open heart happens at 6 Degrees of Creativity everyday and that is awesome. Lots and lots of creative goodness spreading everywhere… to our friends, colleagues, family, clients and more….And very soon, the sending out of our ATC mail art exchange will create a little more- I can’t wait!
I look forward to sharing how the ATC exchange went in a couple of weeks so stay connected for more!
When I started working in the social services field over 15 years ago, my first job was as a residential care youth worker. The unit I worked on included 10 pre-adolescent boys struggling with severe emotional and behavioral needs as a result of abuse, early childhood abandonment, and neglect. One of my first memories of beginning this new adventure was introducing purposeful and structured group time focused on general art making for relaxation, positive interaction, and self-expression. The programming was well received by the boys, my co-workers, and agency administrators, so much that they wanted more. This setting is eventually where I was fortunate enough to start my art therapy career, have the opportunity to develop the agency’s first art therapy program, and start to better understand some of the benefits and challenges related to group work within a partial hospitalization program.
Fast forward about nine years later when I transitioned from the residential treatment setting to work in a shelter with youth impacted by domestic violence, as well as work within a bereavement program with grieving children and teens, where I started to learn more about and become better skilled at trauma informed group work. A lot of this experience was obtained through great support and supervisors I was lucky enough to have in these settings, as well as the commitment I made to become certified as a Trauma Specialist and Consultant through The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC).
I am very grateful that during the last eight years I have been able to serve and focus most of my art therapy work on trauma informed groups for helping at-risk children and adolescents, whether this includes youth in crisis from exposure to domestic violence, adolescents in foster care, children and teens in shelter coping with homelessness, or grieving youth who have experienced traumatic death loss.
Inspired by this journey, I am excited to announce my new online course , Group Strategies & Interventions with Traumatized Children and Adolescents being offered through TLC. My course focuses on the benefits and considerations important to facilitating group work with traumatized youth and introduces participants to themes, sensory based activities, therapeutic books, games, and creative interventions to implement in the group setting with traumatized youth.
Over at 6 Degrees of Creativity, my Artist Trading Card (ATC) workshop is getting busy with community members working on their mini artworks for the workshop’s Creative Goodness ATC exchange next month. Members are encouraged to create a series of 6 ATCs reflecting their interpretation of what creative goodness means to them and select five cards to mail to me and then be exchanged with other 6-degreers in mid February. Some of the early ATC arrivals are below: coming from Texas, New Jersey, New York, Wyoming, and Michigan. The most traveled ATC so far is all the way from Australia!
Art Can't Hurt You
Margaret, Texas
Resilience
Rebecca, Michigan
Equanimity
Brenda, Wyoming
Do it!
Kathy, New York
Freedom
Eleni, New Jersey
Create & Connect Without Harm
Gayle, Brisbane
Beautiful! And word is more ATCs are on their way! Look for another update about the exchange in February when it is swap time!
Since the launch of my ready to revolution eBook, I’ve been receiving some images and word on art journaling pages from individuals working on their 2012 Revolution! This has been so very cool to receive and learn more about!
In this post I wanted to highlight Art Therapist Fiona Fitzpatrick who recently sent me some of her revolution art after checking out ready for revolution. Fiona has been involved with art journaling for a few years now, which also includes teaching Visual Journaling: Where Images and Words Meetat Sydney University’s Centre for Continuing Education in Australia to introduce and explore its benefits. During our e-mail exchanges, Fiona expressed that she enjoys the process of combining images with writing in the format of a book and keeps various journals and altered books for different areas of her life, both personal and work related. Great self-care and a nice way to maintain your personal creative practice with art-making!
Fiona chose to simplify her revolution making process and decided on three intentions to focus on for 2012:
Fiona's Intentions Book Cover
Fiona's Stillness Spread
Fiona's Trust Spread
Fiona's Yes Spread
Thanks to Fiona for her willingness to share her art journaling with the Creativity in Motion community! I definitely agree with Fiona’s thoughts about this kind of art-making and sharing being a nice balance for the art therapist’s creative self-expression and to just have fun!
Recent resources I also wanted to share on the topic of art journaling and its benefits:
This great post on Tiny Budda, 10 Journaling Tips to Help You Heal, Grow and Thrive, which includes mention of art journaling;
It’s exciting to announce a new art collaboration coming in February being organized by The Art Therapy Alliance! Spaces & Places: Where We Createwill be an art therapy community photo documentary project developed by me and Magdalena Karlick, ATR, LPAT, LPCC inviting participants to submit a photo of their creative work space and favorite tools of the trade.
Through social media and digital photo sharing with Flickr & Instagram, this collaborative project aims to provide education, awareness, inspiration, and understanding about the spaces & places, settings, populations, and materials that art therapists, art therapy students, expressive arts therapists, and art organizations work in and use for their practice.
Photos (or video!) that this project will be looking for include:
Images of your creative space: Where you work, intern, or your own personal art-making space
Commonly used art supplies and media in your art therapy work or internship with clients
Favorite technique: An art intervention or technique approach with individuals or in groups
If your creative space has changed: Before and after photos
Submission guidelines and more details to be announced when the project officially launches next month! Information will be posted to the Spaces & Places: Where We Create project page February 13.
We are also looking for organizations, programs, and blogs interested in becoming an endorser of this project. Feel free to contact me via info@arttherapyalliance.org for more information.
All week I have been in denial that 2011′s 21 SECRETS is closing on December 31, 2011, but today that day is finally here. I still can’t believe it. I’ve sooo enjoyed being part of and teaching in this art journaling community organized by Connie Hozvicka of Dirty Footprints Studio…21 SECRETS has truly been a highlight of my 2011. The creative connections, art journaling ideas, inspiration, and encouragement have been amazingly wonderful and I will really miss this community!
With 21 SECRETS coming to a close, I’ve invited ready for revolution participants to share their 2012 intentions or any of their revolution art in the works:
Janet's 2012 Revolution Intentions
I created this image on my computer to share my Revo’lution words for 2012. The background image is of a Pohutukawa tree flower bud. Here in New Zealand we call them the NZ Christmas tree as they have bright red joyful flowers that are out at Christmas time. This bud is about to burst open and “OPEN” is a big word for me this year. To be authenticially OPEN to vulnerability, love, joy, gentle kindness, compassion, gratitude, connection and belonging, so I can allow my resilient spirit to live whole-heartedly ~Janet
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Janette's 2012 Revolution-Page 1- Inspire
I have started my Revo-lution 2012 book, I’ve only done one page so far but I thought I would share it…The book is a 5″ by 5″ board book stripped back to the board and then gesso’d and I’ve used images that inspire me. The couple on the left are my parents who have loved and inspired me all my life; the sunset at Castara bay in Sunny Tobago (one of my favourite places on earth); a bit of an old map of Ryde which has a fascinating history; Albert Einstein – who was a genius, deep thinker and often a little playful, I would have loved to have met him; Joan Miro is one of my favourite artists and so is Keith Haring. The little image bottom right says Plant a Seed, because that’s what inspiration is – the potential for something great. I’ve included ArchBishop Desmond Tutu because he is another highly intellegent man, deep thinker, has a heart the size of a planet and a ‘wicked’ laugh. I would love to meet him. ~Janette
(See more of Janette’s revolution book making forthcoming on her blog.)
And this great idea from Phoenix was posted yesterday: I’m hoping to spend 12/31 contemplating and creating pages for my revolution journal for 2012. I ran out of time to make one during 21 Secrets, but my goal is to have photos of the pages on my phone or Ipod so I can look at them regularly and remember my priorities for the year. Honestly, thank you so, so much for your class. I’ve always been big on resolutions that vanish within a day or so of real life. I hadn’t realised just how exhausting it all was until I sat and watched your workshop and something inside me seemed to just relax at the idea of visual reminders of the direction I’m heading (not the dress size I’m wanting!!!)
I looooove all these good vibes for ringing in the New Year with revolution art making…. and here’s some more good stuff for art journaling in 2012: A new 21 SECRETS line up has been announced for 2012 and goes on sale January 2. Yay!
I am so grateful that I take time to do this process. I find it so valuable. Identifying my intentions and creating a revolution book each year (this is #4) has helped me take purposeful and meaningful time to reflect on what I want to focus on within myself, as well as invite and attract into my life during the upcoming new year.
This year I also added a “2012 Revolution” Board on Pinterest to help further inspire my intentions. I still need to finish the book’s cover and back, but I look forward to this revolution book serving as a visual reminder, affirmation, and guide throughout 2012 for each of the intentions I’ve chosen:
Attention: Value. Energy. Worth.
Paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others.
Authenticity: Real. True. Genuine.
A particular way of dealing with the external world, being faithful to internal rather than external ideas.
Creativity: Strength. Connect. Grow.
The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships to create meaningful new ideas and forms.
Joy: Happiness. Gratitude. Heart.
A state of happiness or felicity, a source or cause of delight.
Perspective: Choice. View. Forward.
Attention to the choices of a context for opinions, beliefs and experiences.
Re-Connection: Strong. Hope. Inside
To link or be linked together again.
Sincerity: Open. Truth. Clarity.
Acting truly about feelings, thoughts, and desires.
Kindness: Choose. Forgiveness. Love.
The practice or quality of being kind.
Sooo..Bring on 2012! Wishing you all happiness, creativity, & goodness for your own revolution making & in the New Year…
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Want to discover what your twentytwelve revolution looks like? Learn more here.
I started working on my 2012 revolution book last night to hold the intentions authenticity, attention, creativity, joy, kindness, perspective, re-connection, and sincerity. This will be my fourth revolution book and engaging in this year-end tradition to create & invite chosen intentions into my life throughout the upcoming new year.
As I worked on each page, the feeling I had about this process and my intentions for 2012 was very powerful and full of so many good vibes. Beginning my work on this book was humbling and provided an emotional connection never experienced before in my past revolution making.
My plan is to still have my new revolution book finished in the next week and ready to go for 2012… I am looking forward to more work on each of my pages and continued connection with my 2012 intentions…my best revolution yet…
My creative addiction to sock monkey making continues and has gone into overdrive this month! Not only am I stopping at random Dollar Stores and Five Belows to check out the selection of inexpensive, fun socks I can use, but I’ve also started to invite others around me to join the movement and make their first sock monkey with my stash.
As posted here in October, 6 Degrees of Creativity instructor, sock monkey guru, craftivist, and art therapist Kat Thorsen has been the wonderful inspiration for bringing the joy of sock monkey making into my life and so many others in the art therapy community!
During Kat’s online chat for 6 Degrees of Creativity last month, I was further inspired by what she shared about the therapeutic, healing, and empowering qualities of sock monkeys for at-risk youth and communities in need. Examples shared by Kat included helping women in Africa create a sustainable source of income through learning how to make sock monkeys, as well as having sock monkeys or the sewing process accompany youth survivors involved in court testifying as an object of safety and comfort. You can learn more about Kat’s work through her blog Sock Monkey Art Therapy and Post Street. In addition, if you are looking to give a sock monkey a new home or a creative, handmade gift purchase going to a good cause, check out Post Street’s Etsy Store, where all the proceeds go to supporting Sock Monkey Art Therapy.
I’m sure this won’t be my last sock monkey related post! I’ve been inspired by an art therapy colleague and 6 Degrees of Creativity community member to create my next sock monkey with camouflage socks, but still on the hunt scavenging the local stores for that lucky find.
