Altered works…

I’m taking a modalities class this semester which encompasses three (creative arts therapy) modalities every 5 weeks of the semester. The first class I’m taking is called Altered Works, and really touches on the work I’ve been producing during the second year in Pratt’s Art Therapy Program.

I’m not sure if it’s Pratt, my internship, the upcoming termination of the city (Oh yea! I’m moving to Dallas May 18th, 2010! More info later), or everything combined, but I’ve been working a lot with collage and transformative materials this year. Fragmentation turned into a collective whole? Makes sense.

The following is a sample of a directive in the last Altered Works class in which we were given seven or so materials and told to work with all the materials provided to make a college after reflecting and meditating briefly about an “ah-ha” moment during our work as art therapy interns.

While thinking back to my ah-ha moment, I thought of a specific client I worked with individually first year. I had so much anxiety about the right way to connect, thinking there was a right way to connect with this client, and one day my instincts took over and my intellect flew out the window and an authentic connection was made in the relationship between myself and my client. We connected outside of intellect, and our relationship was transformed from then onward.

There is no procedure manual for how to conduct therapy. Every therapist brings their identity to the session. Every client brings their identity to the session. And a relationship is formed. The connectedness in that relationship and the bridge between the two individuals is what the following piece is about.

I used two pieces of driftwood and bridged them together with a toilet paper roll (something usually to disregard), packing materials (light, gentle, and careful, usually disregarded), glue (a “bonding” material. pun intended), and lightly layered a strand of pearls in and around the piece which personally reminds me of the energy in the room that settled after authenticity was intact.

Samson in high quality

Don’t forget to turn the volume up.

For the record:
We are proud parents. Very very very proud:

Home is where we start from

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more
complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment

T. S. ELIOT
‘East Coker,” Four Quartets

I need this book. Not because it’s required for school, but because I need a source of support and inspiration as a part of my ever-growing library when I enter into my professional life. It’s not the only one.

• The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients
  By Irvin Yalom
• Attachment in Psychotherapy
  By David Wallin
• The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations
  By Christopher Lasch
• The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being
  By Daniel J. Siegel
• The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization
  By Onno van der Hart, Ellert R. S. Nijenhuis, Kathy Steele
• Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of Self
  By Peter Fonagy, Gyorgy Gergely, Elliot Jurist, Mary Target
• Oneness and Separateness: From Infant to Individual
  By Louise Kaplan

And I’m sure there are many many many many more. Suggestions welcomed.

Basic Needs Book circa 1980s

circa 1980s

Artfully helping Haiti continuation with contribution updates.

Last night I signed off around 4:30 in the morning saying: The collective whole, the impact, and the hope couldn’t be provided without you.

I’d like to continue to prove this theory by providing updates from Artfully Helping Haiti.

Craft Hope!

As of 1/20/2010 – Craft Hope has sold over 1000 items and raised $20,000 dollars on their Etsy site for Doctors Without Borders! And although I initially thought they were only going to be donating proceeds for Haiti until the 21st, this comes in from their website:

Please do not be confused and think the shop is closed. We are OPEN for business. We just need to take a two week break to get a more formal system in place for accepting donations. Please spread the word that you can support Doctors Without Borders by shopping in the Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy shop.

Indie Fixx!

Indie Fixx is on its 7th day of auctions. Although the total in numbers is unclear from the blog, some of the successes have been shared with readers:

Day 4 Auction - Closed! Raised $220

Day 3 Auction - Closed! Raised $180

Day 2 Auction - Closed! Raised $115

Day 1 Auction - Closed! Raised $360

Radiohead for Haiti!

Radiohead is in it’s final hour of auctioning off tickets on Ticketmaster for their benefit show tomorrow. As of right now the general admission starting bid is at $425 dollars per ticket. At this rate, if 1300 tickets are sold $550,000 + will be raised! Don’t quote me on that, because I’m not sure how it all works through Ticketmaster’s auctioning. I’ll have to ask Scott later how it works, but, regardless, Radiohead for Haiti will be a big success!

Hearts for Haiti!

I saved this one for last, because we’ve made some contributions to this Etsy shop and I wanted to share the images with you. But first, this shop is STILL ACTIVE and has raised over $12,000 as of 1/22/2010 and new items continue to be added.

On to the purchases:

All we need is love cards

Love will keep us together cards

Be Mine Valentine Card

Shades of Love envelope sealers

Continuation!

While the unsettling feelings of physical helplessness related to the chaos and devastation in the world lingers, the persistence of effort and the outpouring of community support continues to inspire me daily.