Experientials Vol. 27

It seems like it has been a while since I did one of these. Spring Break was amazing. I got to spend some great quality time with family and friends. I was also able to check out the Speed Museum's "Medieval and Renaissance Treasures From the Victoria and Albert Museum" (speedmuseum.org/exhibitions.html#v&a) which was really incredible. I have always admired DaVinci and to see one of his notebooks was a treat I never imagined would happen. It was almost too much to take in, that I was looking at one of DaVinci's notebooks, a truly awesome experience. It was difficult to come back, but it has been a great first day back. In multicultural we had a guest speaker (Edna Patterson fabricswork.com) who truly embodies the art therapist retaining the artist identity. And in group we took on another identity to do our group process, and it was quite entertaining—I think some of the ladies could have been actresses!

This first piece is one that Edna had us do that was to talk about the racial differences. I titled mine "The Divide." I felt that at the core each of us is the same. However on one side I have what I have perceived as a rich cultural history and ancestry, and the other a blank slate. I feel a lot of times that "the other" (whether it be african american, asian, native american) has such a rich heritage, while I know little about my own heritage. Not that I have none, but simply I know very little about it. I wish that I knew about my heritage in the same way.

On this piece we were supposed to do a really quick portrait of someone else that we were going to embody during our group session. It was supposed to be someone stressed in grad school, and the group session was supposed to be a mandatory support group.

And after the session we did a sociogram of ourselves and 4 other group members. My person is the small circle in the bottom middle. I was much more quiet and reserved (hard for me to do actually!) and I felt that I was closed off, however with many deep layers. And then there was another quiet and reserved person also shown as a smaller, less dynamic shape. The green shape was a person that acted as a mediator in ways, trying to get myself and the other quiet member to vocalize. And on the two sides are some of the aggressors in the group. There are lines of communication drawn—for instance, the two quiet members are loosely connected, while the agressor on the left infuses the whole group with his negative energy.

We also did a sociometric sculpture, where one of the members positioned each of the group members and gave us a phrase to say. We then all came to life and said this phrase. It was really interesting fascinating. I wish I had pictures of that as well ;)