Attempting to become more comfortable with the idea of leading this class, I thought I might try out some of the different exercise concepts on my artistic youngest sister, Kenley. I also recognized the potential for a positive impact on her psychological wellbeing and I went for it. In retrospect, I was surprised at how well the results I got from her corresponded to the research I've been reading. In using a directive approach*, I found there to be a clear difference in Kenley's level of communication in her explanations of each piece, compared to her normative verbal expression. These results were especially relevant concerning her illness.
I was really interested with her performance in the second exercise, Creating a Healthy Place, an activity designed to specifically target an afflicted individual's chronic condition. She never talks about having Cystic Fibrosis, and tends to remove herself from any situation in which anyone else might be discussing it. Using art as a facilitator, I was excited to see a huge increase in the amount of information that she was willing to divulge to me.
Overall, I believe Kenley was so successful with this activity because of her interest in art. However, this statement is not meant to confuse anyone by eluding to the fact that she was more successful because she was artistic. I believe the non-artist will actually have an easier time with these exercises because they have had less of a fundamental education in art making, and therefore fewer preconceptions to be hindered by. Before beginning each exercise I was cautious about how I should try to word my directions in order to keep her communication with me as open as possible. But in the end, I decided that being straightforward with her would be the easiest way to gauge the impact this would have on the expression of her feelings.
I began the session with a quick relaxation technique, an aspect of the class I plan to implement before each session begins. Being calm and relaxed before each session will offer each individual a clean slate of emotion and feelings in order to encourage greater expression from their work. I also played some Coltraine in the background... she totally liked it.
Exercise 1: Dream Imagery
“Think of a dream that you remember really clearly. Close your eyes and think of it.”
She opened her eyes, “When the raisin lady was chasing me.”
I gave her a pencil and computer paper to start with.
“I’m not very good at drawing the raisin lady.”
“It doesn’t matter, just draw it as well as you can remember.”
Halfway through her drawing, I offered her markers, crayons, and a ruler, but she continued to use the pencil.
“It wasn’t a very wonderful dream, so it shouldn’t be very colorful, it was a nightmare."
"Okay."
"Well, I was in this forest, hiking. And then, cause I was older so I was allowed to hike alone, and then all of the trees turned into vines with grapes growing on them. Then the grapes molded into raisins and then the raisin lady popped out on her bike with a basket full of raisins, and she yelled at me to eat raisins. And in my backpack, you know those little yellow guys from the aim? They were in my backpack, and I got home and I let them out and I went under my bed. Then the raisin lady came to our door, and grandma let her in. She told her that I was upstairs hiding under my bed. And then the little yellow guys came out with swords, trying to chop up the raisin lady but they couldn’t because she was made of brick solid, so she couldn’t die. I got so scared that I jumped out the window and into the woods and all the trees turned back into vines again.”
Exercise 2: Creating a Healthy Place
“I want you to make three drawings for me."
"Okay..."
"In the first drawing I want you to draw what it feels like to have CF.”
Immediately she smiled awkwardly, “It doesn’t feel like anything.”
“Well I want you to tell me that throuh your picture.”
“Okay.” She picked up a blue marker and drew a picture of herself, a big grin on her face and a t-shirt, then told me she was done.
“Are you sure? Look at it again.”
“Oh wait, I’m not done.”
She picked up more colors this time, and continued to draw until she had finished.
"Tell me about what you drew."
“There’s blue hair because I’m different than other people, and I’m smiling because I’m happy, and my name is on my shirt because I like my name. “
"How does this show me that this is how you feel to have CF?”
“I’m smiling, I’m happy.”
“It makes you happy to have it?”
“Well I’m happy anyway. And the blue is because I’m different than other people.”
I smiled. It was probably the first acknowledgment of her nonconformist attitude she had ever shown me.
“For the second drawing I want you to draw me a place where you wouldn’t have to worry about having CF. It can be real or imaginary.”
“What if there’s more than one?”
“Draw the first thing that pops into your mind.”
“You might not be able to tell what it is.”
“That’s okay, you can tell me about it when you’re done.”
She picked up a pen and drew until she told me she was done.
"Are you sure?"
"Yep. This is grandmas house, and this is Polly in the window, she likes to go up there. And I did that because it’s the first thing that popped into my head. And I did that because I don’t have to do any treatments there, and I can just have fun there.”
“And you don’t want to color it in?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“Because I like black and white pictures.”
“Third, I want you to draw me a place where it would be really harmful to have CF.”
I think she had a clearer idea of these directions.
“It’s the perfume section in Macy’s because with CF you can’t breathe perfume and stuff like that, its bad for your lungs. And when people spray it there, its not good for me. And that’s why.”
Exercise 3: Self-Portrait
“I want you to make a self portrait.”
“I need a mirror.”
“I want you to do it out of your head. Close your eyes and imagine your face, that’s what I want you to paint.”
I had expected this reaction from her.
She started to paint.
“I know how terrible this looks, but I don’t really care.”
“Don’t think about that, I’m not judging you, I just want you to paint.” I also expected this reaction of my little product-focused artist.
“Well, It’s me, kind of, not really. Can I do one that I can look at myself with the mirror with? I chose that color for the background because it’s my favorite color. And I chose red because when I get mad at Kerry, I beat her up and my face gets all red. And that black stuff in there, is dirt, when I roll around in the mud. And that’s it.”
Exercise 4: Family Portrait
“I want you to draw a family portrait.”
“In age order?”
“How ever you want to draw it, it’s your picture.”
“I’m not very good at drawing bodies, can I draw people heads on animal bodies?”
“Kenley, all I want is a family portrait, how you do it is up to you.”
“I picked the dog for daddy because he’s dopey, and he lays on the couch all the time like Kody. And I picked the mermaid for mommy because, I don’t know why, I just did. I picked an octopus for me because I like to do things really fast because I like to jump around. I made Kerry a goldfish because she’s boring, I made Kylen a bunny because she’s always so bouncy. And I made you a butterfly because I just felt like it.”
Kenley spent about an hour and a half with me doing these four exercises, and was disappointed when I ended the session. The fourth exercise was particularly interesting because of her suggestion to use animal bodies on the heads of her family members in the Family Portrait exercise. I made sure not to give too much direction when explaining what I wanted her to draw for each activity, and I think this offers an interesting insight to Kenley’s feelings. It’s important for the people in my class to know that they are encouraged to be as creative as possible, so that there will be a more interesting and cathartic result from each activity. Also, I expect that they will all be very judgmental of their work, at least at first. I need to make sure they know that it is the process of creating these pictures that is the most important part of therapy... not the finished result.
Written by a famous poet on the act of reading: "The reader should be carried forward, not merely or chiefly by the mechanical impulse of curiosity, not by a restless desire to arrive at the final solution, but by the pleasurable activity of the journey itself."
*Directive Approach- one method as opposed to the non-directive approach. In directive approach, the leader offers directions surrounding a theme and/or topic of importance. The amount of direction is up to the leader, though usually just one or two sentences about what the leader wants from the client is the most useful in sparking catharsis.
I was really interested with her performance in the second exercise, Creating a Healthy Place, an activity designed to specifically target an afflicted individual's chronic condition. She never talks about having Cystic Fibrosis, and tends to remove herself from any situation in which anyone else might be discussing it. Using art as a facilitator, I was excited to see a huge increase in the amount of information that she was willing to divulge to me.
Overall, I believe Kenley was so successful with this activity because of her interest in art. However, this statement is not meant to confuse anyone by eluding to the fact that she was more successful because she was artistic. I believe the non-artist will actually have an easier time with these exercises because they have had less of a fundamental education in art making, and therefore fewer preconceptions to be hindered by. Before beginning each exercise I was cautious about how I should try to word my directions in order to keep her communication with me as open as possible. But in the end, I decided that being straightforward with her would be the easiest way to gauge the impact this would have on the expression of her feelings.
I began the session with a quick relaxation technique, an aspect of the class I plan to implement before each session begins. Being calm and relaxed before each session will offer each individual a clean slate of emotion and feelings in order to encourage greater expression from their work. I also played some Coltraine in the background... she totally liked it.
Exercise 1: Dream Imagery
“Think of a dream that you remember really clearly. Close your eyes and think of it.”
She opened her eyes, “When the raisin lady was chasing me.”
I gave her a pencil and computer paper to start with.
“I’m not very good at drawing the raisin lady.”
“It doesn’t matter, just draw it as well as you can remember.”
Halfway through her drawing, I offered her markers, crayons, and a ruler, but she continued to use the pencil.
“It wasn’t a very wonderful dream, so it shouldn’t be very colorful, it was a nightmare."
"Okay."
"Well, I was in this forest, hiking. And then, cause I was older so I was allowed to hike alone, and then all of the trees turned into vines with grapes growing on them. Then the grapes molded into raisins and then the raisin lady popped out on her bike with a basket full of raisins, and she yelled at me to eat raisins. And in my backpack, you know those little yellow guys from the aim? They were in my backpack, and I got home and I let them out and I went under my bed. Then the raisin lady came to our door, and grandma let her in. She told her that I was upstairs hiding under my bed. And then the little yellow guys came out with swords, trying to chop up the raisin lady but they couldn’t because she was made of brick solid, so she couldn’t die. I got so scared that I jumped out the window and into the woods and all the trees turned back into vines again.”
Exercise 2: Creating a Healthy Place
“I want you to make three drawings for me."
"Okay..."
"In the first drawing I want you to draw what it feels like to have CF.”
Immediately she smiled awkwardly, “It doesn’t feel like anything.”
“Well I want you to tell me that throuh your picture.”
“Okay.” She picked up a blue marker and drew a picture of herself, a big grin on her face and a t-shirt, then told me she was done.
“Are you sure? Look at it again.”
“Oh wait, I’m not done.”
She picked up more colors this time, and continued to draw until she had finished.
"Tell me about what you drew."
“There’s blue hair because I’m different than other people, and I’m smiling because I’m happy, and my name is on my shirt because I like my name. “
"How does this show me that this is how you feel to have CF?”
“I’m smiling, I’m happy.”
“It makes you happy to have it?”
“Well I’m happy anyway. And the blue is because I’m different than other people.”
I smiled. It was probably the first acknowledgment of her nonconformist attitude she had ever shown me.
“For the second drawing I want you to draw me a place where you wouldn’t have to worry about having CF. It can be real or imaginary.”
“What if there’s more than one?”
“Draw the first thing that pops into your mind.”
“You might not be able to tell what it is.”
“That’s okay, you can tell me about it when you’re done.”
She picked up a pen and drew until she told me she was done.
"Are you sure?"
"Yep. This is grandmas house, and this is Polly in the window, she likes to go up there. And I did that because it’s the first thing that popped into my head. And I did that because I don’t have to do any treatments there, and I can just have fun there.”
“And you don’t want to color it in?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“Because I like black and white pictures.”
“Third, I want you to draw me a place where it would be really harmful to have CF.”
I think she had a clearer idea of these directions.
“It’s the perfume section in Macy’s because with CF you can’t breathe perfume and stuff like that, its bad for your lungs. And when people spray it there, its not good for me. And that’s why.”
Exercise 3: Self-Portrait
“I want you to make a self portrait.”
“I need a mirror.”
“I want you to do it out of your head. Close your eyes and imagine your face, that’s what I want you to paint.”
I had expected this reaction from her.
She started to paint.
“I know how terrible this looks, but I don’t really care.”
“Don’t think about that, I’m not judging you, I just want you to paint.” I also expected this reaction of my little product-focused artist.
“Well, It’s me, kind of, not really. Can I do one that I can look at myself with the mirror with? I chose that color for the background because it’s my favorite color. And I chose red because when I get mad at Kerry, I beat her up and my face gets all red. And that black stuff in there, is dirt, when I roll around in the mud. And that’s it.”
Exercise 4: Family Portrait
“I want you to draw a family portrait.”
“In age order?”
“How ever you want to draw it, it’s your picture.”
“I’m not very good at drawing bodies, can I draw people heads on animal bodies?”
“Kenley, all I want is a family portrait, how you do it is up to you.”
“I picked the dog for daddy because he’s dopey, and he lays on the couch all the time like Kody. And I picked the mermaid for mommy because, I don’t know why, I just did. I picked an octopus for me because I like to do things really fast because I like to jump around. I made Kerry a goldfish because she’s boring, I made Kylen a bunny because she’s always so bouncy. And I made you a butterfly because I just felt like it.”
Kenley spent about an hour and a half with me doing these four exercises, and was disappointed when I ended the session. The fourth exercise was particularly interesting because of her suggestion to use animal bodies on the heads of her family members in the Family Portrait exercise. I made sure not to give too much direction when explaining what I wanted her to draw for each activity, and I think this offers an interesting insight to Kenley’s feelings. It’s important for the people in my class to know that they are encouraged to be as creative as possible, so that there will be a more interesting and cathartic result from each activity. Also, I expect that they will all be very judgmental of their work, at least at first. I need to make sure they know that it is the process of creating these pictures that is the most important part of therapy... not the finished result.
Written by a famous poet on the act of reading: "The reader should be carried forward, not merely or chiefly by the mechanical impulse of curiosity, not by a restless desire to arrive at the final solution, but by the pleasurable activity of the journey itself."
*Directive Approach- one method as opposed to the non-directive approach. In directive approach, the leader offers directions surrounding a theme and/or topic of importance. The amount of direction is up to the leader, though usually just one or two sentences about what the leader wants from the client is the most useful in sparking catharsis.
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