october – creativity in motion

Moments of Creative Breath: Creative Deed 365- September & October Offerings

It’s been a super active last couple of months during my Creative Deed making, so I am catching up on sharing my offerings here for the months of September and October!

In moments of long days & busy scheduling; having a moment everyday to stop & create truly fosters a sense of centering and opportunity to catch & regulate my creative breath. It’s times like these that this daily creative practice is important more than ever. It’s also a valuable reminder how essential it is to have this commitment part of my day and self care. I breathe in stillness & grounding. I exhale the possibility each deed released into the world could offer to another.

Creative Deed 365 | creativity in motion — Creative Deed 254 discovered on September 11

So here are the offerings I’ve made over the last 2 months with these quick videos from Flipagram (click on the image to view!)… These little videos are so much fun to create!

I also recommend these great reads to advocate for the role of creativity in self-care:

The Creative Life and Well Being- The Creativity Post

Are you missing out on an essential ingredient? – Kind Over Matter

Happy November and Art On!

Creative Chain Reaction

Month #10 just came to a close for my 3×5 365 project and in reflection I’ve decided to put together some of the words & phrases from days 274-304 in a poem of sorts:

Creative Chain Reaction

Welcome….stillness….

An artful perception

Of enoughness re-framed

Before & between

To challenge my adventure into imagination

A new day…. Always.

Believe! Work creatively!

Permission granted to do the things you love to do.

To honor the stories behind these stories

With mindful power and an abundance of hope

To reclaim with mercy & inspiration.

The next thing, a newness, re-birth….

Re-forming and finding grace

For a creative reveal, full of growth.

This is it:

A creative opening to fall into this rhythm.

Related Posts:

Mid October 3×5 Creative Moments

3×5 Journeying Into & Through

In the Presence of Now: Creating One 3×5 At a Time

Mid October 3×5 Creative Moments

I wanted to take this mid-October creative moment to share some of the 3x5s I’ve created this month as part of my on-going 365 project…. It’s hard to believe there’s less than 80 days left in 2014 and for my daily index card art making fun…. The rest of this year is flying by!

Mid October 3x5 Creative Moments | creativity in motion — October 3×5 Creative Mashup

I’ve noticed that with many of my recent 3x5s, I enjoy tearing/ripping bits and pieces of paper (usually from magazines or catalogs) and putting them together into a messy collage of sorts with my usual use of distressed inks & stains, dictionary pages, chit chat stickers, and the occasional washi tape cameo.

The color palette these days shifts between cool colors of blues and greens to warmer colors like yellow and orange. October so far seems to reveal themes of welcoming new energy (or saying goodbye to old energy disappearing) with new adventures harvested from creative seeds planted earlier in the year or new space from things that have come to an end. My 3×5 art right now also reflects a time of honoring/remembering what I am most passionate about, but also balancing simplicity & moments of stillness as fresh, new air for my work, creative practice, relationships, and loves.

“Change is a measure of time and, in the autumn, time seems speeded up. What was is not and never again will be; what is is change.” – Edwin Way Teale

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3×5 365 Begins

3×5 Journeying Into & Through

Shifting Made Visible

304 days of revo’lution making: my 365 project

Month #10 for my 365 project:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” ~Lao Tzu

Guest Blog Post on SpeakArtLoud | Art Therapy and Domestic Violence

Check out my recent guest blog post on SpeakArtLoud: Using Art Therapy with Survivors of Domestic Violence.

SpeakArtLoud is an innovative social-profit organization that uses the arts to empower women and improve communities. Learn more about the organization’s vision, mission, and values here.

Thanks so much to Sally and SpeakArtLoud for the opportunity to contribute this posting, especially during Domestic Violence Awareness Month!

Getting the Picture: Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2011

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Throughout this month, I hope to share news, resources, project, and blog posts again this year about how art is helping survivors of domestic violence and bring attention to the issue of interpersonal violence. Here are some art-based events and projects happening that you can get involved with or spread the word about:

Seen in the news recently, OASIS (Opposing Abuse with Service, Information and Shelter) in Hickory, North Carolina is organizing an Art Crawl and exhibits to bring awareness to the impact and issue of domestic violence for later this week, including a display of “In Her Shoes” by The Peace Rose Sisters and the paintings of domestic violence survivor Michelle Johnson Major. Johnson Major is also the founder of Be a Voice Arts (BAVA) that uses art to speak up about abuse. On BAVA’s site you can learn more about how to participate in an Artist Trading Card (ATC) project called Voice ATC Challenge to bring awareness to domestic violence and help survivors.

Another art-based project in the news recently is the exhibit Pearls of Wisdom. This project in association with A Window Between Worlds and artist Kim Abeles highlights the metaphor of a pearl’s formation: “transforming memories of domestic pain into objects and shared texts that offer public lessons of courage, strength and solidarity”. The concept expands further with The Pearls of Wisdom: End the Violence community engagement project which includes not only public exhibitions, but workshops, programming, and an online curriculum for high school teachers and college classes. You can learn more about these Pearls of Wisdom offerings here. Also check out the Pearls of Wisdom blog and community wall, where you can create your own pearl and share it online through posting your image on the project’s blog.

If you are interested in learning more about National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, visit the Domestic Violence Awareness Project for more information.

21 SECRETS Art Journaling Playground: Last Call

October is quickly approaching… and wow– this means that registration for 21 SECRETS will soon be closing. I can’t believe it has already been six months since Connie Hozvicka of Dirty Footprints Studio opened the 21 SECRETS’ doors! With over 800 participants and now 22 workshops and instructors all dedicated to art journaling, I am so enjoying what this experience has had to offer. I have met loads and loads of creative and inspiring art journalers from around the world, including the amazing group of teachers I am working with, participants in my class ready for revolution and colleagues from the art therapy community who are participating, as well as many other creatives from all around the 21 SECRETS playground! The content of techniques, concepts, and approaches to art journaling have been so much fun to learn more about, experiment with, create, see posted in the 21 SECRETS community, and share.

Sooo….if you haven’t registered for 21 SECRETS yet and been thinking about joining us, you still have time this week to sign up and play until January 1, 2012. And…just announced today, Dirty Footprints Studio is discounting 21 SECRETS to $49.99!

Last call! Registration closes for good on 11:59 pm PST, Friday, September 30th. Learn more and how to register here.

Art as a Voice: Art Therapy with Survivors of Domestic Violence

I am putting some finishing touches on my paper presentation for the annual Buckeye Art Therapy Association (BATA) Symposium about art therapy with survivors of domestic violence, which includes my current work with women and children in a shelter setting. I am looking forward to sharing how art therapy provides an important voice and facilitate support around key issues such as creating safety, the cycle of violence, facilitating trauma intervention as well as offers an opportunity towards understanding, coping, and hope.

Attendees will:

learn trauma informed considerations, common treatment goals, and art interventions to consider when working with this population;

learn about the impact of domestic violence and three ways art therapy empowers survivors feel safe and tell their story;

be able to identify three treatment goals to utilize in art therapy when working with survivors of domestic violence;

be introduced to art interventions that help address issues around safety, support, the cycle of violence, and crisis intervention.

The paper will also highlight some content forthcoming in a new chapter about art therapy and domestic violence in the Second Edition of the Handbook of Art Therapy to be published in November. It is a sincere honor to be a co-author of this chapter and wonderful that Guildford Press wanted to include a chapter dedicated to the use of art therapy with domestic violence survivors in this new edition.

This presentation also takes place on the eve of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is great timing to bring additional awareness to the issue, its impact, and resources to help survivors.

I look forward to seeing friends and colleagues from across Ohio and beyond come together soon for this year’s Symposium!

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