Removing Obstacles
Posted: November 24, 2019 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Visual 1 Comment
Ganesha has become a comforting figure to me. He is the remover of obstacles and master of wisdom and knowledge. A beloved friend attended the festival of Ganesha in India. She brought with her, an item from our home and placed it on an altar during the festival. I’ve continued to find him in lots of places, or maybe it’s the other way around.
Since my last post, regrettably over a year ago, I have struggled with how to incorporate my surgical screws into some creative effort.
Recently, I’ve been experimenting with clay and simple sculpture materials to recreate my perception of Ganesha, holding symbols of personal obstacles.
To be continued…
Destruction/Creation
Posted: October 26, 2018 Filed under: Art & Healing 4 CommentsTwenty-five years and 5 surgeries later I’m still healing from an accident which changed my life. Two friends died in a car accident and I was spared. I walked away. I did not know that both of my feet were injured and continued to not know until 13 years later when arthritis and bone spurs brought intense pain when I walked.
A lot of life has happened in 25 years. I am married to an incredible partner and have 2 beautiful, strong-willed, compassionate and creative children. I have a fulfilling career where I try to connect with and support others on their paths to healing and recovery.
Surgery 3 weeks ago removed 2 screws which have been keeping my left, big toe joint from bending. I feel compelled to use these objects in some way that transforms them from what they were into something new. I’m still trying to make sense of what happened so long ago and here is another opportunity to try.
Redefining & Reframing What it Means to be SAFE
Posted: July 29, 2016 Filed under: Art & Healing 2 CommentsWhat is safe, what is unsafe?
What does safety look like, feel like, sound like?
How do you know when you are safe?
How do you know when you are unsafe?
I ponder these questions as I go deeper into my work with little ones, grown ones, and the ones in-between. With dialog and art media we explore stories of struggle, threats to safety, resilience, set-backs, side-steps and efforts to move forward.
I created these sculptures from the same foil/tape method as used with the starfish and giraffe series. I will complete with acrylic paints once they are ready. For me, the shells represent a familiar, innocent and straight-forward form of safe space and protection. Often, in my clients’ experiences, there is no familiar, innocent or direct connection to this most basic need.
Starfish Galaxy
Posted: November 23, 2015 Filed under: Art & Healing 2 Comments
Continuing to explore the experience of resilience and survival and what it looks like through metaphor and sculpture. Materials include aluminum foil, masking tape, acrylic and puff paints.
Playful Processing & Integration
Posted: September 2, 2015 Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities 4 CommentsMy daughter was present and engaged during my post surgery recovery in 2011. She worked healing magic on me as well as her dolls and lovies.
Colored tape, bandages, hugs and kisses…bedside with mama for those many days of recovery.
Today my daughter, aged 6 and headed for her own surgery, visited a most wonderful, child oriented surgery center where she was offered a child’s vantage point on what to expect. Once home, we spent the next several hours acting out the new information using whatever props and subjects we had close at hand.
Witnessing Resilience and the Will to Survive
Posted: August 13, 2015 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Visual 1 CommentI’ve created a scene using sculpture to reflect the process I often experience when working with children and adults.The giraffes are watching the birth of starfish in varying stages of loss, pain and regrowth. The resilience and determination is often so great that one can only give thanks for being allowed to witness such spirit.
Project: Hope Process, Process Hope
Posted: July 17, 2015 Filed under: Art & Healing 3 CommentsThe giraffes have long awaited the next members to the foil/tape sculpture family.
A single starfish has emerged which seems to sing of loss, hope and rebirth. When an arm is lost a new grows back. Loss is so clearly a point of transition from one state to another.
There is no stagnation only movement towards rebirth. Let the process shine.
Altered Selves
Posted: March 29, 2015 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Visual 3 CommentsIn my work as an Art Therapist and Licensed Counselor, I am helping adolescents and adults dealing with substance abuse issues. Â We have been creating “altered books” as a means for journaling and self-expression. I have come to see the altered book as a metaphor for the physical body, and its alteration from substance abuse.
I am using hardcover books – cast-offs gathered from friends and the local Goodwill thrift store – that my clients have reinvented and redefined to hold words, images and transformed paper; the altered book releases feelings and communicates ideas. Covers are collaged and fixed with Mod Podge, and then about 1/3 of the existing pages are torn out from the book to relieve the binding and allow space to add new works.
This has been a powerful art experience for everyone. While there are wildly creative and endless possibilities, here are a few images from my own journal just to give the idea. A special thanks to those friends who have rallied to collect books for this ongoing project.
Fairy Condos
Posted: May 7, 2014 Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities 4 CommentsAdding some pint size (maybe more half-gallon) magic to the property this spring with milk cartons, acrylics, Sharpies, stickers, varnish, sticks and glue gun…
an Art Farm 