Excavating our identity

Next week, I will be starting the arts-based research portion of my master’s degree. No doubt my findings will make their way to this blog. However, I am creating a little bubble of safety for myself, because I will be exploring aspects of my identity that are in conflict with each other.   One of the arts-based research strategies I […]

I’m scared of you. I’m scared of me.

Uptight Art Projects Do you think it is important that someone who is using the arts as a form of healing actually be an expert in that mode?  Should art therapists be artists?  What happens if they aren’t, and really don’t understand how to make art? Sometimes when I am out and about on the web, I come across prompts […]

Midlife crisis, art, and saving the world

Warning: I cuss in this blog post. And it meanders. Sorry. Why make art? Why dance? Why sing? Why write? To make a living? To show off? To heal? To relax?  To be comfortable? To have a pretty home?  Did I ever tell you about my mid-life crisis?  Boy, did I love mine.  I don’t have the patience to write […]

From spirit to paper to clay…

If you ever get tired of feeling like you have to come up with new ideas, fret no more. There are two reasons. First: reiterating symbols and themes allows you to explore and understand them more deeply, so stop trying to come up with new stuff and see what happens if you try working with the same ideas in new, […]

Who’s in charge of your art? (AKA, how to believe in yourself)

I’ve been dabbling with a blog post about the different approaches to art making. This was triggered recently by a parent who signed up to participate with her daughter in my Kids’ Art Camp.  I was excited to get a parent participant, but unfortunately she didn’t realize what she was signing up for.   Thinking that the class was going […]