Since non-directive painting has been relatively successful in the past, I thought it would be a good activity to try with the Center for Life Skills participants. Instead of jumping right into individual painting, I came up with a collaborative activity. I gave each participant one color of tempera paint and a piece of paper. I explained to them that we would be spending ten to fifteen minutes on the activity at first, suggesting that they try to paint the feelings of the music. After that, they would switch papers with someone and continue the feelings of this new paper. The result would be a collaborative painting with two or more colors, and the idea behind it was to reduce the fear of creating something by themselves.
In groups past, the participants would be hesitant to begin this activity, telling me "I don't know what to paint, I'm not an artist." So I figured if we worked on the paintings in pairs, they wouldn't be the sole proprietors of their work. This would hopefully eliminate any inhibitions they might have had in getting started.
I'm happy to say that this was a very successful activity. They were very happy with my music selection of Miles Davis, and really seemed to enjoy themselves. Some of the participants were closing their eyes, nodding and bobbing to the music as they painted. It's unclear whether they would have had any reservations if I hadn't told them they would be painting with partners, but I couldn't be more happy with the reactions I got from this activity. Afterwards, a few of them tried explaining their paintings, and commenting on the feelings they got from the music. Three of them started talking about a local jazz festival. Overall, I think they really got a lot out of this activity, and the lack of observable reservations was really comforting for me to see.
In groups past, the participants would be hesitant to begin this activity, telling me "I don't know what to paint, I'm not an artist." So I figured if we worked on the paintings in pairs, they wouldn't be the sole proprietors of their work. This would hopefully eliminate any inhibitions they might have had in getting started.
I'm happy to say that this was a very successful activity. They were very happy with my music selection of Miles Davis, and really seemed to enjoy themselves. Some of the participants were closing their eyes, nodding and bobbing to the music as they painted. It's unclear whether they would have had any reservations if I hadn't told them they would be painting with partners, but I couldn't be more happy with the reactions I got from this activity. Afterwards, a few of them tried explaining their paintings, and commenting on the feelings they got from the music. Three of them started talking about a local jazz festival. Overall, I think they really got a lot out of this activity, and the lack of observable reservations was really comforting for me to see.
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