Portfolio : A Room with a View

I am very excited to incorporate digital art therapy into my practice. Here are a few of favourite resources right now.

Graffiter - Making Graffiti Online

Polyvore Collage

 Grooveshark

Examples of Art that I created Online for Therapeutic Purposes.

MODULE 12 - CONSIDERING NEUROSCIENCE AND ART THERAPY

http://www.mentalhealthconnection.org/pdfs/perry-handout-effects-of-trauma.pdf

Adults interpret the actions, words, and expressions of children through the distorting filter of their own beliefs. In the lives of most infants and children, these common adult misinterpretations are relatively benign. When children have been traumatized these misinterpretations can be destructive. Perry et al. (1995)

I have been greatly impacted by the work of Dr. Bruce Perry. Dr Perry is the Senior Fellow of the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston, Texas and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Lámpara hecha con botellas de plástico (reciclable)

I really enjoyed this YouTube video - MasterPeace.

Chapter 4 in Kaplan's Book.

Kaplan, F. (2007). Introduction. Art therapy and social action (pp. 11-21). London: Jessica Kingsley Pub.

Whenever I get lost in my school work, studies, practicum, parenting, ect. I like to return to this chapter of Kaplan's book.

Social justice is a matter of faith for art is a my spiritual practice. My Unitarian tradition calls me to respect the interdependent web of all existence and work for social justice. Kaplan (2007) discusses the interdependence between the individual and the collective, between a person’s suffering and social imbalance. I believe that art therapists have an ethical duty to examine their own complicity and take a conscious and ethical stand in redressing social disparities. “Awareness and commitment should not be underestimated; in the fog of individualism that conceals the personal price of the social order, this clarity constitutes a transforming act of empowerment and revolution” (Kaplan, 2007, p. 31).      While not all art therapists will be comfortable with inciting revolution, if we are to fulfill our ethical obligation to advance the welfare of our clients, I believe that social action must be an essential component of professional art therapy practice. For as Kaplan notes, “the activist-therapist understands that political neutrality and therapeutic passivity only serve the omnipresent forces of oppression and injustice" (2007, p. 32). Allen (2007) notes that advocating for clients is truly activism; it is asking what has been pushed outside the margins and silenced? Sadly, CATA (1998) fails to take a strong position on the ethical requirements of art therapists to advocate for clients in the broadest sense of the word. I am also curious that CATA (1998) never explicitly mentions the dignity or the autonomy of the art work itself. Art work is most often considered from four ethical standpoints; the interpretation of client’s images, the exhibition of art work, art therapy record keeping and who has ownership of the final product (Moon, 2006). These ethical considerations become even more complex when the art is considered to be an ensouled entity.  I am curious about how the autonomous nature of an artist’s image adds depth and credence to acts of social justice.

Olivia Corson is a spirited and inspiring Movement Theater artist and teacher.

Poetry with Alzheimer patients - Click Here

I recently had the opportunity to volunteer with adults experiencing Alzheimer's Disease. We worked to create art. As we were creating images of days gone by, I was inspired by the hands of the woman I was working with. She was 94 years old. They are precious pieces of art as far as I can tell and deserving of a poem (A limerick to be exact).

Hands that have held babes

Have held past generations

Have knowledge of angels