PRESENT p r e s e n t PRESENTING

If you had told the shy, quiet little girl that I was that one day I would enjoy being filmed or enjoy giving presentations to large groups of people I don’t know that I would have believed you!

Today, I am reflecting on how much I enjoy sharing information and resources through presentations and trainings and courses—how much it makes me feel ALIVE.

I am preparing to give a ‘lunch and learn’ talk to my colleagues at Elder Care Alliance about the beautiful work that my students did about art therapy with older adults. And I’m also preparing for my sessions at the Expressive Therapies Summit next month.

For me, it’s not about being on stage or performing. It is about sharing ideas and resources and being in intellectual and creative community.

What connects you to others? How do you feel about giving talks or presentations?

Woven Life

Image shows several pieces of watercolor paper, painted using salt technique and wet on dry. The red and pink paper has been woven into a piece with rich browns and blues.

Today, I had the opportunity to join Brian Leonard (the filmmaker who created “I See You” a film about the art therapy work I do with older adults) in a guest-lecture session in Sky Bergman’s class in the Art & Design department at Cal Poly, SLO.

As we were answering student questions, and talking about our work, I was thinking about how much I love the interwoven nature of our lives.

Some of the warp and weft that showed up today:

• I deeply resonated with Sabrina Ward Harrison’s book Spilling Open when I was in High School. And my prized book to this day is about Candy Jernigan’s work: Evidence.

• I graduated from Cal Poly.

• Sky and I reconnected when I started working with older adults and she was working on her film. Later, I’d get to see her at a screening of the film in SF.

• Brian and I met through a volunteer project his daughter was part of. They continued to volunteer, and the family spent most Saturdays with me, doing art therapy with older adults at Mercy.

• Brian proposed, filmed, and created I See You.

• Sky encountered the description of the film and realized it included me, her former student.

• We all spoke together today with her students, answering questions that overlapped, interplayed and inspired. As I shared, I recommended the two books above.

• I clicked out of Zoom, so inspired.

• And then I remembered, that just the day before, I had been guiding a live session about weaving with watercolor for ArtSnacks.

Weaving.

What is woven in your life?

Photograph shows a white woman’s hand holding a small, roughly cut heart made of watercolor paper with a salt treatment. The woman has several rings on her third and fourth fingers. The background shows several strips of woven watercolor paper in blue, green, and red. The watercolors were created using salt and plastic wrap.

Art Journal Images...

Things we carry with us each day contain little surprises, little moments of beauty.

The most interesting part, the most aesthetically pleasing part may not be the image at all...it might be the edges. 

Where does one color come up against another?

Where do the textures create visual interest?

...even stray threads or worn down edges...

When I'm working on a single page, I am not thinking about what came before or what comes next...

...but later, reflecting back, context provides all sorts of interesting areas to explore...

...and then, I close the book and move on to the next thing.

On Inspiration...

This morning, as I drink coffee and mentally prepare for a private event in the studio, I'm thinking about inspiration. Where does it come from? What do we cognitively think inspiration is and how does that compare to our visceral, lived-experience of being inspired?

I have some strong feelings about all these 'drink and draw' and 'wine and canvas' events. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that there is enough demand for creative spaces, for mark-making and paint splashing! On the other hand, I wish these spaces emphasized personal expression over step-by-step execution. I also worry that it sets people up to compare or compete instead of express and enjoy.

But that does not mean I want to shut them down! I think there's room for all of it. If a 'drink and draw' event leads someone to buy a sketchbook and make coffee-shop portraits or doodle on their work agenda I'm all for it! If a 'wine and canvas' event opens the door to more creative expression, then by all means GO FOR IT.

Here's what happens in THIS art studio:

• I will create space where your own, authentic inspiration can visit you.

• I will encourage you to listen inward. Look inward.

• I will facilitate use of materials to bring your ideas into the world...sometimes that means introducing a new term or technique or method. Sometimes that means silently bringing a new color to the table.

• I will encourage you to play and make messes...and we make some good messes here!

My goal is to empower people to bring more creativity into their lives...to notice interesting things in their world and to feel more comfortable working in images and textures. My goal is not necessarily that each person makes a "masterpiece," though that frequently happens! If a poet feels she has a new language to write with or a marketing professional has an experience of healthy stress relief, then I've done my job and this studio has been a successful space.

I'd love to hear your stories of attending 'drink and draw' or 'wine and canvas' events. Did you want more? Did it open the door to continued creativity? What do you need in order to feel comfortable trying something new?