I think the first group was really successful. I was met with much less resistance than I had originally anticipated for. I started the class off with a warm-up activity, something I plan to continue to do before the main activity every time we meet. The warm up activity was a way for them to loosen up a little- especially important for the first time we met. I chose to use the "Conversation in Pairs" exercise, which I adapted from the book, Art Therapy for Groups by Marian Liebmann. In this activity, the residents were paired up with the person next to them, and each pair was given a piece of 11x18 drawing paper. Next, each person picked a crayon (any visible color as long as it was different from their partner's color), and I told them to have a conversation with their partner, without speaking and without writing any words on the paper. The only way they were allowed to communicate with each other was by drawing. I could tell there were a few skeptics in the room, a couple of them had trouble starting off. I encouraged them to pose a question to their partner through a drawing. After about ten minutes, I asked people to share what they had been conversing about with each other. Many times there were responses like: "Well, I thought he was trying to draw a duck," and their partner would chime in- "I was trying to ask her where she lived!" Then everyone would laugh. After everyone had shared, and everyone had finished laughing, I asked them if they knew what the point of the exercise was. "Basically, the reason I started out with this activity is to show you that art is another means of communication- and that there can be miscommunication with art the same as with talking, or any other way of communicating." Everyone smiled at this, and a few commented- confirming that I didn't think many of them had thought of art as communication before.
Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome of this warm-up activity. I think it was exactly what the residents needed to break the ice with each other, as well as a successful way of introducing the general theme of the class. The most important result from this was to facilitate a positive group dynamic, which was clearly achieved. The residents were given time to interact with one another and share their thoughts on something new. Once they realized that most of them were in the same boat, they loosened up and actually enjoyed the activity.
For the main project of the day, I decided to chose a medium where the residents would be able to continue to interact with each other, as well as something that would be very constructive. I reminded them that each week we would have a theme for the activities- and all of the themes would relate to their life course. This week, however, we would not have a theme because it would serve as more of an introduction to our group. Instead, I suggested that we focus on the most important part of their life course- themselves. For the activity I spread out dozens of magazines across the table, gave each resident their own sheet of drawing paper, and their own glue stick and pair of scissors. I told them to look through the magazines, and cut out anything that they liked, or anything that would be able to describe them, and to glue it to the paper. Again, I was very pleased with the results from the residents. They spent almost an hour on this exercise, and they created some really interesting pieces. A common theme was food- luckily I had a handful of Racheal Ray magazines, and many of them included their favorite foods in their collage. One woman cut out a picture of an older woman driving a Ferrari. "That's me," she laughed. This activity was another way to strengthen the group (something I hope all of these projects will do) because they spent almost an hour chatting with each other, sharing pictures, sharing the reasons behind why they chose certain pictures, and they all seemed to really enjoy themselves.
Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome of this warm-up activity. I think it was exactly what the residents needed to break the ice with each other, as well as a successful way of introducing the general theme of the class. The most important result from this was to facilitate a positive group dynamic, which was clearly achieved. The residents were given time to interact with one another and share their thoughts on something new. Once they realized that most of them were in the same boat, they loosened up and actually enjoyed the activity.
For the main project of the day, I decided to chose a medium where the residents would be able to continue to interact with each other, as well as something that would be very constructive. I reminded them that each week we would have a theme for the activities- and all of the themes would relate to their life course. This week, however, we would not have a theme because it would serve as more of an introduction to our group. Instead, I suggested that we focus on the most important part of their life course- themselves. For the activity I spread out dozens of magazines across the table, gave each resident their own sheet of drawing paper, and their own glue stick and pair of scissors. I told them to look through the magazines, and cut out anything that they liked, or anything that would be able to describe them, and to glue it to the paper. Again, I was very pleased with the results from the residents. They spent almost an hour on this exercise, and they created some really interesting pieces. A common theme was food- luckily I had a handful of Racheal Ray magazines, and many of them included their favorite foods in their collage. One woman cut out a picture of an older woman driving a Ferrari. "That's me," she laughed. This activity was another way to strengthen the group (something I hope all of these projects will do) because they spent almost an hour chatting with each other, sharing pictures, sharing the reasons behind why they chose certain pictures, and they all seemed to really enjoy themselves.
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