Summertime Creative Happenings & Goings On

Summer is starting to kick off and so is some creative fun and art therapy happenings coming soon:

July 1: 6 Degrees of Creativity’s 2015 virtual workshops open!  Yay!

6 Degrees of Creativity

As part of this year’s offerings, I am excited to launch a new workshop dedicated to discovering the hidden creativity around us.  My curiosity around this topic was first sparked by this recent post and something I thought would be a fun endeavor to embark on together as we search for uncommon or unknown ways, forms, and different examples of how creativity can present itself.  I am also looking forward to the offerings that art therapy colleagues Sheila Lorenzo, Rachel Mims, and Heather Randazzo will be inviting participants to engage in as well, which include workshop topics on self-care through art & nature, recycled art & mail art fun, and yoga & art.

Social Media & Art Therapy

July 9-11- American Art Therapy Association Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota: I will be involved with three offerings during this year’s AATA Conference:

• The Digital Landscape of Social Media: Thursday, July 9, 1:30-2:30 pm: I will be leading this focus group to stimulate dialogue and discussion about social networking’s important role in building community
  and creating connection for art therapists worldwide.

• Art, Transformation, and Trauma: Papermaking as Art Therapy: Friday, July 10, 10:15-11:45 am: I will be moderating this panel featuring the work of  art therapists who use papermaking inspired by the social action and art-based mission of the Peace Paper Project. Panelists include Meredith McMakin, Rachel Mims, Amy Bucciarelli, Genevieve Camp, and Janice Havlena. Content will include papermaking as a form of trauma intervention, including vignettes addressing eating disorder recovery, managing illness and disability, grief and loss, and working with veterans.

• Ethics of Identity in Digital Culture & Art Therapy: Saturday, July 11, 10:15-11:45 am: I will be contributing to this panel with art therapists Megan Campbell, Moriah Lancaster-Laird, and Natalie Carlton about topics connected to digital technologies and ethical considerations for the art therapy profession.

I am also looking forward to bringing Creative Deed 365 to Minneapolis and invite you to consider joining us if you will be attending the conference!

July 24- ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County Trauma Collaborative: I’ve been invited to present on Art Therapy & Trauma Intervention to members and agencies who attend this quarterly meeting.

Stay tuned for other updates and art from Creative Deed 365 and the Random Acts of Art Adventure, in upcoming summer posts as these creative pursuits carry on!  And I hope to be able to share some of the wonderful work in the spirit of my Creative Covenants workshop happening over at Hali Karla Arts’ Spectrum too. And, right around the corner….Daisy Yellow’s ICAD 2015 begins June 1 – Wondering if I should combine my creative deed making with daily index card creating for this fun annual event? Hmmm…. more on this in my next post!

Summertime creativity is definitely in the air!

*****

Related Posts:

Creative Deed 365 Minneapolis

When it’s hot…Make some paper!

Social Media’s Role in Cultivating Art Therapy Connection, Community, & Creativity

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Releasing & Reforming

I just returned back from the 2012 BATA Symposium, Releasing and Reforming: Art Therapy as Social Action in Dublin, Ohio and wanted to share some photos and inspirations from the last few days:

Breaking Rag @ the 2012 BATA Symposium’s Pre Conference Course

Peace Paper was honored to be part of this year’s Symposium and it was great to team up with Drew and Margaret again to introduce to Symposium attendees how papermaking can be used as a form of social action, trauma intervention, and transformation.  Thank you to the BATA Board of Directors, BATA President Michele Tarsitano Amato, and Symposium Program Chair Marshae Armante for inviting us and their hospitality. We enjoyed exploring the many ways papermaking can be applied to the art therapy setting, the work of art therapists, and the enthusiasm about these possibilities from attendees.

I also attended a breakout workshop facilitated by Michigan art therapists Margaret McGuinness, MA, MEd, ATR-BC, Kathy Schnur, MA, MEd, ATR-BC, and their colleague Karen Smigelski, MA, LPC about The Power of Words to Promote Change.  They introduced us to creating “Taglines” with polymer clay, beads, wire, and other creative embellishments to create messages & affirmations for cultivating kindness, as well as an intervention for responding to/exploring the impact of bullying.  The workshop reinforced how our words have power & energy that affect others, emotions, and thoughts.  Learn more about the workshop’s concept, their data on the power of words, and The Power of Words to Promote Change workshops being offered through WillowsEdge Counseling and Art Center.

Below is my “Tagline” I created during their workshop:

Tagline: Listen to your inner voice

I also added another spread to my Adventure Gluebook inspired by the Symposium with paper & goodies from last month’s paper stash swap, some items and handmade paper I picked up or received during the Symposium to use as collage stuff, and my SMASH label maker.  I think my Tagline could go inside one of the pockets or be attached to one of the pages tabs where it would be more visible. This gluebook is really starting to fill out nicely!  I look forward to continuing to work on it.

BATA Symposium 2012 Adventures Gluebook Spread

Nepalese Style Peace Paper On the Go

Last week-end during a visit by Drew & Margaret, they kindly left me with two large pieces of Nepalese style Peace Paper they recently made at the Grass River in Lampson Falls, New York (thank you!). Check out the awesome photos of their outdoor papermaking in action here.

With the Buckeye Art Therapy Association Symposium approaching in a little over two weeks, I thought we could donate a piece of art created from this paper for BATA’s Annual Silent Art Auction. Money raised @ the auction will go to continued legislative efforts for Senate Bill 205, regulation to license art therapists in the state of Ohio.

I wish you could all feel the texture of this piece!  I chose one of the sand dusted papers covered with embedded pine needles to work on with beeswax, crayon wax, a little acrylic paint, and some earthy tone paper pieces received in the recent 6 Degrees of Creativity 2 paper stash swap. Lastly, I added words as part of a Prayer Flag made by Drew and also serves as one of  Peace Paper’s Icons:

love on earth

praise the lives of all

and let me deliver

the aid of humanity

to offer persistent

hope and trust

My next step is to attach a wooden dowl rod & twine across the top so it can hopefully be displayed as a wall hanging.

Margaret, Drew, and I are looking forward to spending time at this year’s BATA Symposium presenting about Peace Paper and exploring the variety of ways that the papermaking process can be used for social action, trauma intervention, and within the art therapy setting.  It’s going to be great three days…

When it’s hot…Make some paper!

Over the last week it has been increasingly hot here…with temperatures heating up to 100 degrees at times.  It’s finally cooled down a little, but on a couple of these hot days I’ve pretty much remained inside when I could, with thankful thoughts for central air conditioning, crossing my fingers for the power to stay on, and using the time to engage in some art-making!

After returning from the GMU Papermaking as Art Therapy for Trauma Intervention workshop, I was inspired and curious to discover how I could set up a DIY papermaking space that would be mobile and easily accessible for papermaking.

I’ve been gathering materials we talked about at GMU that could be used for adapting to this process if you don’t own or have access to a  Hollander Beater:

• Wooden stretcher bars, mosquito netting, window screen for creating DIY mould & deckles
• Blender for re-purposing paper material into pulp
• Specialty pulps to add to the blended paper mix for strengthening

I used a variety of paper material in making this batch of pulp: magazine photo collage,  handwritten content, some extra pulp I saved from this papermaking experience, and added a little bit of specialty pulp: denim, cotton rag, and wool.

 The transformation begins!

Using my handmade mould and deckle (stretcher bars & stapled window screen around the frame), I pull a sheet!

Wet paper in need of drying enjoys the extreme heat on our sunroom windows

Paper!

I’m excited to be teaming up again with Margaret Mahan and Drew Matott for some Peace Paper fun and papermaking inspired activity as part of this year’s Buckeye Art Therapy Association Symposium: Releasing and Reforming: Art Therapy as Social Action, September 6-8, 2012 in Dublin, Ohio.

September 6 will include a pre-conference course: Papermaking as Art Therapy for Trauma Intervention that will provide attendees with an understanding about how the papermaking process can be beneficial with populations as a form of social action and therapeutic transformation in trauma and loss intervention.  During this course, participants will be provided with a closer look at the papermaking process as they create handmade sheets of paper from pulp (with a portable Hollander Beater) collected along Peace Paper’s travels, explore concepts related to art as transformation and how this media can be implemented further with various art therapy settings.

On the evening of September 7 there will be a presentation highlighting lecture and visual content related to utilizing papermaking and creative expression as a cathartic process to give meaning, create transformation, and provide empowerment through releasing and reforming fibers into new stories and new beginnings.

Saturday morning September 8 will include an artmaking workshop inspired by concepts and intentions dedicated to social action, peacemaking, and using papermaking as a transformative media for self-expression and making Peace Paper Flags to explore reflections, intentions, and expressions for peace and change using handmade paper created from Peace Paper’s recent travels.

Check out the all the inspiring presentations and offerings at this year’s Symposium here.  Registration is now open!

We hope to see you there if you can make it!

Bridging Papermaking & Art Therapy at GMU

CPP Exhibit @ Corcoran Gallery of Art

I just returned from an amazing week of events and helping co-lead a Papermaking as Art Therapy for Trauma Intervention workshop with Peace Paper’s Drew Matott at George Mason University as part of Arts, Military, + Healing: A Collaborative Initiative, — a project developed by Tappert & Associates as part of The Arts and the Military.  This week long event was hosted by the Veteran Artist Program (VAP) and included organizations and programs such as Combat Paper Project, Combat Paper NJ, Peace Paper, The Telling Project, and Warrior Writers facilitating workshops at various sites throughout the DC area.

Studio 1009 @ GMU

The workshop that Drew and I presented at GMU included presenting considerations important to papermaking, art therapy, and trauma, as well as provided participants the hands on opportunity to take a significant article of their own clothing to learn the transformative process of making it into paper.

Papermaking!

Participants de-constructed/cut up the article of clothing (rag) they brought, had this rag made into pulp, and then learned how to pull and form sheets of their own paper with an introduction to western papermaking.  Participants were also introduced to creative sheet formation (layering pulp of different colors), how to make and use screens from a meaningful photograph for pulp painting, and how to bookbind with the paper we made throughout the week.

AMH Papermakers @ GMU! | Photo: Erwin Thamm

The week flew by!  Lots of meaningful, thoughtful paper and art was reclaimed and made in Studio 1009.  It was an honor to be part of this experience and work with everyone who attended- thank you to all the participants!  Another thank you to the VAP team, George Mason University’s School of Art and Design, Helen Fredrick, and Patrick Sargent for being our hosts during this workshop…such wonderful facilities, equipment, inspiration, and support!

You can check out photos from all the amazing workshops, receptions, performances, and AMH events by viewing this slideshow from VAP.  You can also learn about upcoming Peace Paper activities & papermaking workshops in 2012, as well as follow Peace Paper’s travels and happenings through Facebook.

Update (5/23):  View this video & news piece by Nicole Goodrich from the workshop published via The Army Times.

Peace Paper: Papermaking, Art Therapy, and Social Action On the Move in 2012

A new project and team that I am very excited to be involved with is Peace Paper, founded by Drew Matott and Margaret Mahan to empower bereaved international communities through engagement in collaborative art processes addressing peaceful reconciliation and positive forward thinking.  Through paper, writing, book, and printmaking activities, Peace Paper workshop participants transform significant articles of clothing into works of art which broadcast their stories.

Peace Paper announced its 2012 Tour Schedule last week, which includes a variety of workshops, conferences, teaching, and training across the US (Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington DC, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York , Kansas) as well as international visits in Eskulan, Kosovo, Turkey, India, and more with the project’s amazing creative team.

There are a few art therapy focused offerings for 2012 that Drew, Margaret, and I will be facilitating:

• May 14 – 18- Arts and the Military Conference, Washington, D.C.– As part of The Arts and Military Conference hosted by George Mason University, Drew and I will be offering a five-day papermaking workshop for art therapists and survivors of trauma. This workshop will focus on technical training, practical applications, and hands-on demonstrations of papermaking and implementation for trauma intervention.

• September 6-8- Buckeye Art Therapy Association Symposium, Dublin, Ohio–  Margaret, Drew, and I will be in the Columbus area as part of the 2012 BATA Symposium. This will include a full day pre-conference workshop for a limited audience to provide participants an understanding about how the papermaking process can be beneficial with populations as a form of social action and therapeutic transformation in trauma and loss intervention.  During the BATA Symposium, we will present a keynote presentation on the topic of art as social action, focusing on lecture and visual content related to utilizing papermaking and creative expression as a cathartic process to give meaning, create transformation, and provide empowerment through releasing and reforming fibers into new stories and new beginnings.   A workshop offering entitled, “Expressions for Peace” will invite Symposium attendees on the following day to create their own reflections and expression for peace on handmade paper flags created from Peace Paper’s recent travels.

• October 12 & 13- Kansas Art Therapy Association Conference, Emporia, KS– Margaret, Drew, and I will be conducting a two-day workshop for art therapists, including a lecture highlighting Art as Social Action and Papermaking as Trauma Therapy.  This event will also include an exhibit of Peace Paper artworks.

I am so looking forward to teaming up with Margaret and Drew again in 2012 for these events.  Save the date(s) and stayed tuned for more details on each of these offerings!  You can also stay connected to Peace Paper updates and news on Facebook, on the web, and follow the project’s travels through the Peace Paper blog.