These are some of the drawings made by residents of Carillon. Today was important because I was able to see how the residents responded to me, especially when trying to persuade those less inclined to give it a shot. The first woman I worked with wasn't particularly keen on drawing with me. She told me she didn't know what to draw. I thought about it for a minute, wanting to give her just enough direction to become interested in what we were doing, but not too much so she wouldn't just be copying what I said. "Pick your favorite color," I said. I had laid out a number of markers and crayons on the table. "The orange," she replied. I told her to start with a circle, it was a good starting point. A circle could be anything and it wasn't too hard to draw. When she was done she looked at me. "Okay, what about something to go in the circle?" I asked. "The eyes, I guess they would go here, right?" And after that, she didn't need much more direction and drew a really interesting picture of a person with brown hair, grass, and a sun. At first she didn't want to keep her drawing until an aide came over and suggested that she give it to her son. I would have liked to get a picture of it, but it proves a strong example of person-centered process therapy.
A second woman who was wheeled over to my table needed much less encouragement to use the supplies in front of her. I asked her to pick out her favorite color (blue), and she was off. I again needed a starting point, each of the residents seemed overwhelmed with the blank paper in front of them and no ideas in their heads. So again I ran with the circle idea, and after that she was completely involved in her picture. She was non-directive drawing for twenty minutes or so before she got tired of it. When she was done I asked her to explain it to me. "See, it's so good, she doesn't even know what it is. Actually, I don't even know what it is," she said. Again, an example of person centered process therapy- without analyzing the drawing itself I will say that she really concentrated on what she was doing, and enjoyed the act of drawing itself. Analytically, I think it's common for the circle to be interpreted as a head. Even though the resident wasn't too sure of what she was making, I think this drawing definitely follows that trend.
Next, two more women were placed at my table, both needing quite a bit more direction than the first two. Again I started by asking them to draw me a circle, and here is what they each came up with:
The woman on the left was very timid about drawing anything, she repeatedly told me that she wasn't an artist and she wasn't any good. Her circle turned into a letter O from which she wrote some words. When she was done, she folded the paper and handed it to me. She was really proud of what she had made, and that was good enough for me.
The woman on the right drew a first circle in green. I asked her what it looked like to her, and she told me it looked like a heart. So she drew a heart inside the circle. After each time she would draw something on the page, she put her marker down and looked at me. In order to keep her going, I had to pick out a new marker and hand it to her, at which point she mimicked either the initial line or circle, and put the marker down again.
I think this initial experience of art with nursing home residents has given me a better idea of how to handle the class at Longview. I think I will continue to use the circle as a starting point, it's an idea similar to that of Mandala drawings. Mandala drawings are an art therapy technique that encourage people to draw within a circle because of the symbolic ideologies surrounded by that shape. With more experience it will probably get easier to find new ways to get them out of the idea that they aren't any good because they haven't had any experience in art before.
A second woman who was wheeled over to my table needed much less encouragement to use the supplies in front of her. I asked her to pick out her favorite color (blue), and she was off. I again needed a starting point, each of the residents seemed overwhelmed with the blank paper in front of them and no ideas in their heads. So again I ran with the circle idea, and after that she was completely involved in her picture. She was non-directive drawing for twenty minutes or so before she got tired of it. When she was done I asked her to explain it to me. "See, it's so good, she doesn't even know what it is. Actually, I don't even know what it is," she said. Again, an example of person centered process therapy- without analyzing the drawing itself I will say that she really concentrated on what she was doing, and enjoyed the act of drawing itself. Analytically, I think it's common for the circle to be interpreted as a head. Even though the resident wasn't too sure of what she was making, I think this drawing definitely follows that trend.Next, two more women were placed at my table, both needing quite a bit more direction than the first two. Again I started by asking them to draw me a circle, and here is what they each came up with:
The woman on the left was very timid about drawing anything, she repeatedly told me that she wasn't an artist and she wasn't any good. Her circle turned into a letter O from which she wrote some words. When she was done, she folded the paper and handed it to me. She was really proud of what she had made, and that was good enough for me.
The woman on the right drew a first circle in green. I asked her what it looked like to her, and she told me it looked like a heart. So she drew a heart inside the circle. After each time she would draw something on the page, she put her marker down and looked at me. In order to keep her going, I had to pick out a new marker and hand it to her, at which point she mimicked either the initial line or circle, and put the marker down again.
I think this initial experience of art with nursing home residents has given me a better idea of how to handle the class at Longview. I think I will continue to use the circle as a starting point, it's an idea similar to that of Mandala drawings. Mandala drawings are an art therapy technique that encourage people to draw within a circle because of the symbolic ideologies surrounded by that shape. With more experience it will probably get easier to find new ways to get them out of the idea that they aren't any good because they haven't had any experience in art before.
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