Survived the First Day

So, survived the first day of classes...It was long, but I knew that it was going to be. I am excited about this semester now. I think that we are going to learn some really interesting things. The multicultural class and the group class both sound really interesting.

One of my teachers did ask me if I was a type J today... which in the Myers Briggs personality test is Judging. And yes I guess I can be judgey judgerton sometimes ;) I found it really funny that she said this... I guess maybe I am.

So these pieces are just some that we did in my group art therapy class in an open studio format. I used oil pastel on tracing paper, and really liked the effect that is gave me...

Oh and I forgot to tell a story about Headstart the other day. One of the kids said "Ms Kelley, why you making that sound?" And at first I didn't know what he was talking about and then I realized I was sniffling (like I always am) and that must have been what he was talking about. And so I explained that I had allergies and all that and he said "Well you kinda sound like a monster when you do that!" I died laughing... what a cutie. So yep, now I am a monster too!!

New Year, New Semester

So it is a new year, and a new semester. Wow, 2007 was a big year. I was accepted into grad school, met someone special, moved to st. louis, started grad school and so much more. And 2008 is starting out great already. I can't wait to see how this one turns out, I am sure there are lots of great things to come.

So this semester promises to be a good one. I continue to work at Headstart but will also have a client at a juvenile detention center. I am taking several classes that will prove to be interesting I am sure... Multicultural Issues in Art Therapy, Group Art Therapy, Child and Adolescent Art Therapy and Research Methodology (where I will be starting work on my thesis EEK!). And wouldn't you know, before classes start tomorrow, we already had homework!!

For our first assignment of the semester we were to view House of Sand and Fog, which is a really great film—albeit depressing as hell, and then make an art response and writing response to it. In the movie there is a quote "In my country, there is an old belief that if a bird flies into your home, it is an angel who has come to guide you . . ." and I found it to be one of the central ideas in the film. However this angel did not bring peace and harmony, but death. And so my art piece was centered around these two themes.

And this piece is one that we did before break that I never posted. It was the last day of clas and we were talking about growing old. This whole experience was very emotional for me, but not because of the piece. As a group we bonded immensely over the course of the semester, specifically in the last several days... I have to admit that I chose collage because I did not have the creative energy to do anything else. But the symbolism in it has to do with growing old graceful and always learnign and always being beautiful and who you are...

I am sure that there is much more to come, I can only imagine...

Experientials Vol. 16

I am really a liar it seems... got another one for you today, actually two! So one more day of class left, one final and I will be done with the first semester of grad school. How exciting is that? It has been an amazing 4 months. All the ladies are awesome in the program and we have had some great experiences together, both in the classroom and outside (can't wait to thursday nights celebration in fact!)

So for these two pieces we were read a poem and asked to respond to it. It was about a transcendental guide and this is what i came up with.

So these are a bit darker than most my pieces. I am sure my mood, which is great but drained, had some to do with it, as did some of the imagery in the poem... but none-the-less they are what they are!

Experientials Vol. 15

Ok so I lied :) We did do an experiential. We were all asked to look at an image or in my case read a poem and to let the images come to us and draw them. [disclaimer to go with this image... I am not nor do I want to be pregnant right now :)] So my poem said something like, "she found her belly in the swirling clockwise sea" and this is the image that came to me. I think that it is directly correlated to the poem, but I think that it could also be symbolic of femininity in general.

Semester 1 Wrap-up

So sadly I won't have very many more fun things to share until maybe January or so. The semester is winding down so we have all of the meat due! We had 3 papers due last week. Another 3 due next week, a couple presentations, and oh yeah don't forget the finals. All in two weeks time!

But I do have this to share with you.It is a project that we were working on called a Self-Box. It is supposed to have symbolism about our personal growth and self... I'll let you all come up with your own symbols on this one though!!

So that is about it for me... wish me luck!!

Experientials Vol. 14

So this week has started out long already... again! We had a test today and we have a paper due on Thursday. I did start actual sessions on Monday so that was interesting, again it is just another step to making this all feel more real.


So first I wanted to share some pictures of my big helper, Brody... I think that he thought that it would be fun to lay on one of my pictures! The pictures don't show it quite as well... but it totally looked like I tie-dyed his feet, the other one was red and purple!! What a cutie :)

On this next piece we worked with a partner and worked on restatement. Basically we made a picture talked about it and then our partner was supposed to listen and restate what we said. It is really hard to do without changing the meaning of what they said. My story was something about how a lot of my art this semester has had similar themes and that I thought that it had a lot to do with being away from home and away from everyone I love... It was interesting in the restatement my partner said that it was a physical separation which I really tuned into, because that implies that it is not an emotional separation—which is completely true.

On this one we again worked with partners and we were given emotions to embody and make a piece of art. We were supposed to so this without any verbal communication and our partner was supposed to "listen" to our non-verbals to determine what our emotion was. Mine was boredom. It was really hard to stay in character and not get interested in making art, but my partner got in the ballpark—she used words like sad and withdrawn. I might not have been sad, but withdrawn certainly kind of fits...

And this last one is just something I did after getting done with the test early. It doesn't really have any significant meaning except that I purposefully tried to have my two figures interact and to remove the barrier between them... It didn't feel right doing it though, maybe I haven't completely worked through it yet.

Experientials Vol. 13

So another week down... I still can't believe how this semester is winding down so fast.


So this was kind of a neat experience. We were talking about family assessments and one of the pieces we talked about is called the family scribble. For this piece everyone in the family draws a scribble drawing. As a family you try to see things in the drawings, choose one to work on jointly and then create that piece. Our class was divided into two families and each person was given a role to play in the family. The first picture is just an example of a scribble drawing, the next is the finished scribble drawing my family came up with (which we called Mouse in a Firehouse) and the third is what the other family came up with (which they called Clown Bear).

This next series is also neat. We did these three as a group and the first one represents a child I am working with at Headstart, the second is how I feel in response to that child and the third is just me. In the first one I just feel like the child is walled off, quiet and reserved but has a great personality waiting to come out. In the second one I feel like I can't ever quite reach the child and that I have not connected yet, maybe that there is a barrier between us. And for the third one I had an image in mind and wanted it to be full of life and energy, after drawing it I realized it looks kinda like a footprint. But the purpose in this is to compare the three and see what we can learn about the relationship. I found the exercise very insightful.