How often do you play? When my professor asked the art materials class this question, I had to admit it had been a long long time since I had. When she asked why, I said I don’t feel like I’m allowed to play. It’s true, I always feel like I have to be doing something productive in my free time. Either that or I’m watching tv or a video.

My professor had brought in a giant bag of play-doh, finger paints, a beading kit, markers, fuzzy pictures to color in (kind of seventies-style, with black fuzz around the design you’re supposed to color in) and gel paint. It was totally fun and relaxing to just sit there and play, knowing there was no pressure and I didn’t have to make a work of art for the ages. So, do you give yourself the time and space to play in your life?

In art theory class I drew my first drawing which I never drew myself. I pretended to be a paraplegic and my partner was an art therapist. I could only blink to communicate. It was very frustrating at first because I just wanted to have her draw a mountain, but the only symbol I seemed to be able to communicate was blades of grass. She was very patient with me and enthusiastic. Often, just to please her, I would agree to whatever she was suggesting, no matter how far off from my idea. Towards the end the drawings became more entwined with what I was after and she drew the following image. It was actually quite relaxing just watching her hand move the oil pastel across the page.

Last night in art materials class we worked with found wood and metal. I brought in some driftwood I found walking along the beach. We worked in groups and at first my friends wanted to make a lamp but I wasn’t that into the idea. We pretty much had the lamp constructed, and it was fun to find stuff in our bags that we could use to add on to the artwork. Finally the lamp kind of fell down and I suggested we just turn it over and make something different. Then we decided to make a hanging structure installation piece. I wish I had a picture of it, but it’s in my cell phone and I can’t get it out at the moment.

Anyway it was my first installation piece and it was fun! We just started placing objects around it and making a piece that had a flow from the very top structure to the floor. We were laughing out loud, it was just a great experience. I was always intimidated by installation pieces but making this freed up my anxiety because it’s a temporary structure anyway, so why worry about it? So does anyone else out there have experience with installation or temporary pieces? It can be really fun for certain populations because it takes the pressure off making something really monumental that has to stand the test of time.

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.

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!”

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.

Last night in Art Therapy class we experienced the House Tree Person assessment. It was essentially developed as a personality test but it has far-reaching applications in art therapy. The person is asked to draw on a blank sheet of paper first a house, then a tree, then a person. We did this twice first using pencil and then using crayon. I drew the first tree very hunched over from the wind, it’s braches reaching over to cover someone. The second tree in crayon was much more sturdy and grounded and was reaching above and beyond itself. I did really feel like I went through a process of feeling kind of down about a certain situation in my life and that drawing the second set of sketches made me see the positive aspect of things.