In art therapy materials class our professor placed a pile of rocks in the middle of the table and let us all choose our favorites. Then we had to write about the rock using “i am” sentences. Afterwards we drew a safe space for our rock to live. I know, it sounds funny when I put it this way, but we all got really into it. This is what I wrote:

I am rough, sharp, jagged, wounded, punctured, misshapen, unique, weathered, I have something of worth to offer beneath the surface that is trying to come forward, in between two worlds, sturdy in both worlds the whole is greater because of these two disparate worlds coming together.

Writing about the rock allows you to reveal who you are, and drawing the safe space for the rock shows what you need. One of the students was really resistant to the whole exercise, but in the end she was the one who was most affected by it and ended up breaking down. The professor said using different old keys would work well too, and I thought that was a great idea. You ask the group to tell what the key is for and what it opens. It really opens up you up, and allows you to talk about yourself without realizing that’s what you’re doing.

My friend Keith is a super-sharp computer whiz and very creative. He made this Subtle Tunes remote control for iTunes. It’s great for when you’re working on something on your computer but want to be able to control iTunes quickly and easily, and see what’s currently playing. It’s part of Yahoo’s widget engine (which they bought from a company called Konfabulator).

If you’re not familiar with Yahoo’s widget engine, it allows little programs to run on your desktop. Anyone can build a program for it, and there are thousands to download in all different types of categories such as weather, news, and games all in the widget gallery.

This is such a great idea. Pratt offers a summer art therapy intensive which allows students to be in classes only 5 weeks a year, and you receive your M.P.S. in art therapy at the end. It’s great for working folks who can’t afford to take two years off and get a degree. 3 weeks in the summer are in New Hampshire and 2 weeks in New York. Sounds pretty intense though. One of the students in my class said, “You’re gonna need therapy yourself after that!”

In 1976 my mom bought a brown AMC Hornet. It was an awesome car at the time, it fit all the groceries in the hatchback and we used it on vacation to the jersey shore as well because that back just about fit everything you could think to pack in. My mom loved it because it always ran really well and she rarely had to take it in to a garage. She loved that car so much that she kept it well into the mid-eighties. By that time I was in high school and I was totally embarrassed getting rides into school in that thing. My friends also would joke about the big “brown hornet” coming down the street. Alas, my poor mom finally gave in and bought a blue Pontiac LeMans to get with the times. Her hornet which she traded in was still running fine. Well, that Pontiac had more problems with it, and she missed the old Hornet. I still miss it too.

And did you know that there once was a special-edition Gucci Hornet? Lovely.

Hornet on wikipedia

John O’Donohue is an amazing author of books which explore celtic pre-christian notions of spirituality. His works are a real antidote to our fast-paced consumerism culture. My favorite of his is Anam Cara, which means soul friend in Gaelic. He talks about the importance of friendship, deep and intense friendships which develop over a lifetime. And he really encourages the reader to be true to their own buried yearnings and to know themselves better. He feels that the highest purpose for us is to be creative. A really inspiring read.

“A friend is a loved one who awakens your life in order to free the wild possibilities within you.” John O’Donohue, Anam Cara

The Magic Garden was this amazing kid’s show that was on in the seventies in the New York tri-state area. It was a very creative show, with two young hippie women and their crazy puppet characters. My favorite part was the story box, which they would open, and inside were all these awesome props and costumes you could wear and then they would make a story out of whatever happened to be in the box. I remember the sweet anticipation of waiting to find out what was in that box! If you remember the show and love it like I do, you can listen to the songs here, and get all sentimental.

Newsweek had a very interesting article this week about Freud and his theories, and how they’re really out of vogue right now. One of the most interesting parts of the article I thought was called “The Therapist as Scientist” when they discussed how important it will soon be for science to prove the effectiveness of therapy. Neuroscientists and psychologists will need to unite in order to prove that therapy actually works and has an effect on the brain. Yet, many therapists have been resisting this type of testing.

I really think it would be great to prove scientifically that therapy works, because it would put therapy on the same level as other medicines, and give it a validity that it needs. I think Art Therapy would greatly benefit as well, since Art Therapy has been looked at as one of the more “flakey” professions and only recently just got licensed in New York state. What do you think?

Before I studied art therapy I created my art series, Mentally Ill But Still A Human Being. I think it was a form of art therapy for myself. It explores the effects of mental illness on families. I just sold my first piece and I’m really excited that someone responded to the work. Read more about my artwork here.

For art materials class we created masks. I had never worked with plaster of paris before and it was a really engrossing experience. I decided to make a Sheela Na Gig (I wrote about the history of Sheela Na Gigs before here.) I still have to name her. She’s a very protective spirit. Hopeful and joyful but a little rough around the edges. I used real irish lace for the hair and eyes. She’s kind of like a grandmother figure. Her arms echo the design of the traditional Irish claddagh ring.

There’s a huge disconnect between what many Americans think of as Irish and what it really means to be Irish. I think a lot of the disconnect stems from the fact that our immigrant ancestors came here from abject poverty and terrible conditions. A lot of them never wanted to go back to Ireland again and wanted to forget all about it. My grandmother on my father’s side called it the “Veil of Tears” and never wanted my dad and aunts and uncles to learn gaelic. She wanted them to totally assimilate into American culture.

The end result is that I think a lot of us Irish Americans are missing a vital part of our background, the language, the pagean religion…a lot that was not only taken from us with so many invasions of the island of Ireland but also that we let go ourselves over the years.

So, what does it mean to be Irish? I’m not entirely sure yet. I ended up marrying an Irish guy who moved here 6 years ago, and in getting to know his family, I’m starting to understand a little bit. First off, you have to own land. Gone With the Wind was very true to that theme, with Scarlett O’Hara hanging on for dear life to her Tara home. My husband was obsessed with buying a house. His grandmother has been instilling the virtues of owning property in him for his whole life. It makes sense if you think about Irish history why it would be important to own land.

The other thing I’ve learned is that there is Irish curry. And you don’t eat it with rice, you can only eat it with chips (french fries). And for some bizarre reason in Ireland you can only get it in a chinese place! Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

And if there ever is gonna be healing
There has to be remembering
And then grieving
So that there then can be forgiving
There has to be knowledge and understanding

–Sinead O’Connor, Famine