Last week I was in Dallas for a national art therapy conference and wanted to share some highlights from the week about what I most enjoyed during my time away. The element I always appreciate about going to any art therapy conference is re-connecting with colleagues and meeting new people- and these five days were no exception. With various Art Therapy Alliance and International Art Therapy Organization meet ups, this provided a great opportunity for art therapists and students from both of these communities to come together in person and spend some time hanging out. It was great to connect face to face within the art therapy scene for a few days and outside the virtual world of profile pics, status feeds, and chatting on Facebook (no offense to how much I usually love this!). Thanks to everyone who came out to the featured meet ups throughout the week!
I met some of my favorite art therapist bloggers such as Erin Brumleve, Lee Ann Thill and Elizabeth Beck while in Dallas and was grateful for the opportunity to sit down and chat with each of them on film to learn more about their blogging. Stayed tuned for more on this as I work on editing and putting together the filming soon.
I also really enjoyed meeting, sharing resources, and ideas with those art therapists and students who attended my focus group on navigating the web and professional e-networking. Much of our discussion was dedicated to the application of social media in art therapywith highlights on the trifecta LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Ways in which art therapists are using or can use these platforms to further their professional relationships and opportunities were explored among those attending the group.
The group also provided a forum to create an understanding about what the social media environment can offer to the art therapist and also considerations about how to thoughtfully use these forums in way that protects ourselves and the client from the exposure that can happen when using these sites.
I would like to extend a special thanks to Poppy Schiebel who attended the focus group and provided her experiences about how she uses the Internet successfully in her work as an art therapist and marketing coach.
Another exciting opportunity for connection, collaboration, and creativity was the Art Therapy Alliance and International Art Therapy Organization Think Tank that took place on Saturday afternoon. Lots of brainstorming and good ideas were exchanged and thank you to those art therapists and art therapy students who attended! Look for more on what developed at this session soon…
As the Art Therapy Alliance communities on LinkedIn and on Facebook continue to grow, I look forward to more opportunities to connect through social media and future art therapy events where we can come together in the real world. Anyone interested in a social media, art therapy, and technology Symposium someday?
This week myself and International Art Therapy Organization [IATO] Founder Cathy Malchiodi launched the premier issue of FUSION, an e-Zine for Planet Art Therapy inspired by members and work of the Art Therapy Alliance and IATO, as well as a voice for news, stories, and the art therapy community worldwide!
Publishing this e-Zine developed from our common commitment and outlook to provide quality resources and a connection for art therapists everywhere. FUSION is all about a new energy, excitement, and blend of ideas, cultures, and people for a sustainable future in art therapy.
This 18 page issue includes news, art and feature stories from all over the globe, as well as partnerships, special projects, and events taking place worldwide. Take a look at some of what’s featured in this first issue below:
There is a gallery building on the Art Therapy Alliance website and on the International Art Therapy Organization site, there’s a slide carousel of sets submitted through Polyvore if you are interested in checking out what great art has been created and become inspired to submit your own. Thank you to everyone who has participated so far in this global project and also helped spread the word! Check out this inspiring “Creative Peacemaking” reflection from Silky Hart’s Wishcasting and this mention from Jamie Ridler Studios.
I finally finished a non-Polyvore image that I have been working on for this event:
While reflecting more about the concepts of art, peace, and sustainability I was drawn to these definitions of creativity, trust, and vision. For me, these words are closely linked and are basic components to the event’s concepts:
Art –> Creativity: Able to imagine and create; using originality, stimulating the imagination; extending beyond the normal limitations.
Peace –> Trust: To have confidence in something or someone; to know something in your heart.
Sustainability –> Vision: Creative insight or imaginative foresight and wisdom; something that is seen in a dream.
I believe in the integrity of these words. While there would be many more I might include, I know that I could have not done probably 99% of the work I do out there without paying attention first to these three.
Focusing on creativity, trust, and vision this year in particular has had a significant impact for me in a positive way. Cultivating this potential through connection, collaboration, and actioned intention has been liberating, energizing, and has given me the freedom to be in an entirely different space and with a growing new perspective about what’s really important.
And finally, I continue to be grateful for the opportunities and people in my life that have contributed to and keep me on this rewarding path towards art, peace, and sustainability.
Yesterday the Art Therapy Alliance and International Art Therapy Organization launched a global interactive art event called “Art Peace Sustainability.” The event includes submitting postcard-sized art works reflecting these concepts or making response art inspired by the following questions:
Does art therapy impact peace & sustainability on the planet?
How do art, peace, and sustainability intersect?
Does the creative process of art making resolve conflicts?
The event’s concepts have important meaning to me personally and something I also try to incorporate professionally into my work as an art therapist working with children and families impacted by domestic violence. I regularly offer a community-based Peacemakers Art Therapy group for kids to help teach skills and empowerment related to peacemaking and conflict resolution through art-making, creative writing, and other activities to promote non-violence and sustainable living.
In this group, I implement art interventions that explore what peacemaking is, why it is important, and to help identify/develop peacemaking strategies that the child can use at home, school, in the community, as well as with family, friends, and bullies. The art therapy group also supports the child’s emotional expression, self-esteem, working together, and problem solving skills related to the peacemaking concept.
The image below was inspired by this work and values I try to inspire in the kids I work with in the Peacemakers Group:
Yesterday I received the altered book back that the Buckeye Art Therapy Association (BATA) Board of Directors have been working on in a round robin mail art exchange since January 2009. I first made note of this project focusing on the theme of leadership in my post The Art of Leadership when I started off the book. Since then, ten other board members have contributed to the book’s pages with their reflections, thoughts, images, photos, and quotes around this topic.
As I eagerly looked at each page carefully, several themes surfaced about being a leader, what it means and feels to lead, what cultivates this, and helps it grow. Art about what it means to be a leader, the leadership experience, role models, qualities of good leadership, and the impact one has in this type of role were just some of the few themes that surfaced throughout the pages. Themes about integrity, trust, openness, creativity, and vision were everywhere from my fellow board members. It is good to see us all on the “same page”. To view a slideshow of the book’s pages to see for yourself, click on the image below.
BATA BOD Altered Book- Art of Leadership Slideshow
I sincerely thank each BATA Board Member for taking the time to be part of this project, thoughtfully considering the theme, and sharing what leadership means to them through their images and writings.
This week I received my original altered book back from the Art Therapy & Positive Psychology E-group round robin project. I have been writing about this project and its process on and off since February and now with the return of my book, everything has come full circle. I am thankful for the pages that Melanie, Emery, Rachel, Gioia, and Lani created in my book and want to thank each of them again for their contribution. The inspiring messages and images of gratitude, happiness, joy, and thanks were a treat to savor over as I went through my book. This book will serve as a wonderful “gratitude” reminder on those tough days that pop up!
I think my most favorite part about this project was the element of giving/offering through the pages we all created in every person’s book and then the final product of receiving our own book back. Lots of good vibes being shared with the energy of creativity!
One of the many inspiring quotes included in my book comes from Lani’s page, which completes the book as the last page:
“AUTHENTICITY is a daily practice. Choosing authenticity means: cultivating the COURAGE to be emotionally honest, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the COMPASSION that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle and connected to each other through a loving and resilient human spirit; nurturing the CONNECTION and sense of belonging that can only happen when we let go of what we are suppose to be and embrace who we are….” ~Brene Brown Ph.D.
The round robin altered book project that I have been participating in over the last few months is coming to an end soon. This week I finished pages for the last two books and I look forward to receiving my orginial book back soon. I have really enjoyed working on the five different books received from Lani, Gioia, Rachel, Emery, and Melanie who are all in the Art Therapy & Positive Psychology E-Group on Yahoo where this project was organized by Gioia. It has been a pleasure to contribute to everyone’s book and create images and art connected to themes related to gratitude, happiness, and inspiring messages of hope, joy, and peace. I will miss receiving a new book every two weeks to work on!
As written in my previous blog postings, there seemed to be a theme throughout many of my pages related to growing and nurturing happiness. What I learned the most during this process was the consistent reminder that happiness is truly in my hands: through the choices that I make, the relationships I nurture, and having an attitude and awareness of gratitude and thoughtfulness for the simple things. Through this awareness comes growth, inspiration, and clarity about what is really important. It is a reminder that I need daily to help keep things in perspective…and of course, making art about this is the best reminder of all that I can give myself!
Below is a short film featuring the pages that I did for everyone’s books as a way to bring each of the experiences I had together… Thanks to my fellow art therapists who were in this project with me for their inspiring words, images, and energy, as well as for Gioia for bringing us all together. I am very excited to see what my completed book has in store for me!
On a related note, in the e-group this week Gioia posted an interesting article featured in the June 2009 issue of The Atlantic titled, “What Makes Us Happy?”. The article and video reports about research from Harvard University directed by George Vaillent over several decades on the lives of men they followed beginning in their college days at Harvard in the 1930’s to present day where many are now in their 70s and 80s. The study investigates if there are important components to having a fullfilled, healthy, happy life and what factors contributed to this for those who were followed. I found the study an interesting perspective on the pursuit of happiness.
Vaillent identifies that there are particular healthy responses that helped these men deal with the stresses and happenings of life, as well as protected them from psychological harm. These include “altruism, humor, anticipation (looking ahead and planning for future discomfort), suppression (a conscious decision to postpone attention to an impulse or conflict, to be addressed in good time), and sublimation (finding outlets for feelings)”.
For me and my happiness formula, I translate this to: compassion, laughter, intention/growth, detachment, and creativity/making art! What’s yours?
This past week-end The Buckeye Art Therapy Association (BATA) sponsored a Leadership Workshop for Art Therapists in Cincinnati, Ohio facilitated by Cathy Malchiodi to discuss the importance of transformational leadership and service in the art therapy community, as well as an opportunity to learn and explore skills important for art therapists to practice and become agents of change. I believe this workshop was very valuable to those who attended and inspired a lot of my own art-making before, during, and after around the topic of leadership.
Before coming to the workshop, registered attendees received Where Leadership Comes From: A Leadership e-Zine for Art Therapists written by Cathy. The e-zine included information about leadership styles, destructive vs. creative systems, common needs for leadership, leadership characteristics, and intentions motivating service. Cathy’s zine inspired me to do a mini altered book on some of these topics and content before coming to the workshop. Below are a few pics from this book.
Leadership Mini Altered Book
Lead Well
Leadership Needs
During the workshop participants were invited to do art around the idea of intention. Our first image was to focus on an intention connected to your own leadership: a phrase, quote, or saying that really captured this motivation. Some intentions that were included in the e-zine that really spoke to me were: “No matter what the weather looks like, we have to go ahead now. Waiting any longer could be even more dangerous“… and “Real, authentic change emerges only from a place of deep focus and intention“.
However, the intention that spoke to me the strongest was the one I chose to do my first image about: “We don’t grow unless we are tested.”
We Don’t Grow Unless We Are Tested Intention
This intention speaks to my own experiences related to becoming more aware with what it means and takes to be a leader, my own growth in understanding this better, and the positive impact that these “tests” (opportunities, changes, or people) have had in my life. There are many things that I never thought I could do (or would do), but through these challenges I have grown in ways I would have never dreamed of. Again…the theme of growth continues…
The second image we were invited to create was a leadership intention related to the success of the group, organization, or system we work in. My intention for this includes visioning hope, openness, and the freedom that exists in something new. I believe in the potential, energy, and ideas that will become inspired by this intention and through being a part of a collaborative effort in the world of art therapy. Again…imagining new beginnings…
Something New Intention
Thank you to Cathy for facilitating this workshop for BATA and to all the art therapists who attended and shared this experience with us. Hopefully we can do this again sometime in the future!
In the last week or so, a couple of really interesting altered art projects have come across my computer screen that I wanted to share and pass on:
DSM Altered Book
Altered DSM: Ron Huxley and some of his therapist friends created this altered book using the old DSM III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders) and posted the photos on a Flickr photostream. I love this idea! Thanks Ron for sharing this project! FYI: The book is available to show in galleries or conferences.
Over on The Altered Page, Seth Apter and other artists posted updates, reveals, and photos related to DisCo – the DISintegration COllaboration. 123 artists participated in this collaboration where “art bundles” were left exposed to the elements outdoors. There are many “before” and “after” photos posted on the Altered Page, as well as on the blogs of those artists who participated. Below is a short film from one of the other artists, Lee Anne Ghilain and her reveal:
The next phase of the project includes the artists taking their disintergrated bundle and making it into a new art piece. I know I’ll be watching to see what transforms!
I always love to see how others use altered art and collaborative projects to explore different themes and topics. Feel free to post and suggest any interesting ones you may know of!
I recently received Gioia’s altered book for the Art Therapy & Positive Psychology e-group round robin I am still participating in. It was such a pleasure and so inspiring to see the pages done before me from Gioia and Lani full of hopeful messages, imagery, and art. Great reminders and good vibes to take in this past week while I was working on my contribution to the book.
Growing Happiness
My spread dedicated to “growing happiness” was inspired by Gioia’s cover, which read “Happy Artists Grow Here”. After finishing these pages and reflecting what I created for Lani’s book a couple of weeks ago I remembered that those pages too were about growing (See Imagine: New Beginnings Start Here). I see a theme surfacing for me within the different books I am working on and what I am working on with myself. Good stuff on growing, new life, nurturing, harvesting. Something I need to think more about.
