Final: Art Session

For my art session I chose a close family friend. I was about to use model magic for the session, but I remembered a simpler art task that we were asked to do in class in the beginning of the semester; drawing and designing the first letter of our name. I found that exercise interesting, non threatening, and it had a element of freedom of expression in it which I personally liked. I felt this would be perfect to use, so I asked my friend Valerie to draw the first letter of her name, using any materials of her choice. Valerie is 32 years old, and I have known her for several years.

I drew next to her to make the session more informal and relaxed. I noticed that she did not start drawing right away, but took a few minutes to begin. After about 25 minutes she finished. I asked her a few questions about how she felt about the art task, and she said she felt a little anxious because the directions were very open, and she was not sure how she wanted to draw it, which materials she wanted to use, and she had many ideas.

One interesting thing that I noticed was that Valerie drew multiple variations of the letter V. Thinking back to when we did this exercise in class I don't remember seeing people drawing multiple letters, and I wondered if that represented different moods Valerie was currently experiencing, feelings, or ideas. The last thing Valerie reported to me about the exercise was that she felt happy using all the colors and felt youthful drawing again; she could not remember the last time she did art. It was fun doing this exercise with her, and observing Valerie's reaction to this art session.

Art Share: Meet Henry

This is Henry. He is a pirate with many magical powers. He lost his leg in a shark accident and was given the power to fly. Henry is just a boy and has not developed all of his powers yet. He waves to all of his friends as he gets ready to go on another mission as he protects the oceans people.

When creating my person, I knew i wouldn't be able to make something i had envisioned. It was really difficult to make each piece of the body including the facial features. I was able to make the hair look good but he looks very superficial. I originally had a mustache on him which made him look 40 years older but decided to take it off and make it a more friendly character where he looked angry and mean before. I will keep Henry because he is my creation but definitely wish I could have taken more time on his creation. 

Response: Dance/movement Class

In the last class where I learned a lot about the history of movement and dance therapy, I became increasingly interested in this type work. I have been a dancer for all of my life and I recognize the feeling of movement and centering your focus into just that at one time. I felt some of the directives that were given were out of my comfort zone but also shows how it can be very difficult working with some patients that feel out of their comfort zone. Music is definitely a way of connecting others and setting a tone for movement and creating a mood in the session/room. This has encouraged me to use the skills that I have from teaching dance for many years and being able to use that into practice. I work with older adults in a case management setting but if I was working with a different population in the future, I would look to study more of the ins and outs of dance therapy.

Final: Art Session

For my mock therapy session, I wanted to begin how we began in class with a very simple directive asking the client (my friend) to draw a bubble letter of their name and draw inside of it. After 20 minutes of my friend really delving into the creation of their letter we began to discuss what came up in the process. They were anxious at first as to how it should be done. Should the letter be bigger or smaller? What should i be making inside? As he focused for a while he began to create a path of change and growth within his life. He included letters than described his passion for accounting and how that was a huge part of his life right now. As he began to explain the accounting terminology which was very confusing and something I could not comprehend, I saw the passion and chunk of what made him who he is through studying something that he loves. He also wrote Good Vibes at the bottom because without those vibes he could not get through the vast experiences that were going on in his life. He felt very focused on the artwork and it was out of his comfort zone to draw because he hadn't done that since elementary school. He felt good about his drawing and wanted to keep it.

Final: Art Session

So the directive I gave my friend was, "Draw/Paint/Create something that represents your future." I gave her different paper options, and offered her different materials, and that was it. She decided to use two papers, and the water color. I didn't say anything until she was done, just watched how she created this. When she was done, I asked her what it looked like to her, and she said like a tornado, and went on to say, "I feel like I came from a really dark place, so that's why it started black and became lighter because I see my future brighter". I asked, where do you see yourself on this paper? She said, "in the red/yellow area, because I feel like I'm still in it, but it's not as turbulent as it used to be." Then I asked her what else it looks like to her? So she turned it around with the black on the bottom, and said it looked like a tree. I asked, how does a tree represent your future? And she spoke about growing down roots, and how it's a process but that after some time it gives fruit. Also, that a tree goes up and reaches high. 

I went on to give some observations such as: 

What you see in your painting describes two different things that both have a process, you have also mentioned a lot about your past and how you've been able to work through it. Considering that you used two different papers, is it possible that you feel a departure from your past and have moved on? Because the darkness is on the smaller paper, and when it gets brighter and clearer it's on the bigger paper. She was shocked at this moment, and didn't realize that that is exactly how she feels about it, and promised me she didn't choose this intentionally but that it was true. I also asked, did you notice that just as you described going through a process, your gradient here went through a process too? I also reminded her that the directive was to draw something that represents her future, yet everything she did and "saw" was connected to her past in some way, she then said when thinking about her future, she remembers where she came from and is thankful that she has been able to learn and grow from her experiences. And then we talked a little more about it afterwards.

This exercise was fun, and of course it was more vivid while it was happening. My friend definitely saw how art can bring things up that she wasn't even aware of but clearly feels to be so true. She asked if we can do this again, and to do it with a group of people. 

Final - An Art Session with Friend

I was feeling a bit stressful when I heard the assignment since it’s hard for me to find someone to spend 30-45 minutes with me for a session. My clients from my placement are not suitable for the session (I am working in the ACT team and I need to go to the clients’ place, their rooms are too small for them to draw.) So at last I asked one of my friend, Z and she readily promised to help.

Z is a second year graduate student of NYU Wagner, she has been stayed in US for four years. She is recently struggled in the relationship with B, a man she loves. She met B in one of the elective class she attended in summer, and they began dating. B hinted a lots of times wanting Z to be his girl friend, but Z just ignored it. But a month ago, Z find herself began to like B, so she expressed the idea that want to be together with B but B rejected, which made her feeling sad recently. Also, as the final approaches, she feels anxious as well as depressed.

Z hang up with me last week and told me about her whole story with B as well as the pressure on finals and graduation. After hearing her story, I feel that she is the suitable person to do the therapy so I asked her whether she wanted to and she readily agreed. So I set up a time with her and met with her at the school library. I booked a room in advance as my session room and brought the oil pastels, color pencils, water colors papers, brushes for supplements.

Z showed up in the “session room” as scheduled time and she told me that she was already looking forward to the art session. She told me that she was really overwhelmed and hoped the session would help her. After she sat down, I first asked her to draw an animal character. I was thinking of doing the same session we did in class: create the animal character first and then make up a story. She chose to use the oil pastels and began to brainstorm. She asked me whether she could look up the pictures on the Internet since she is not good at drawing and I agreed to. She started to look up rabbit pictures online and tried to copy the picture. But she failed to do that since she didn’t like the piece she created. She asked me to change the object so I then asked her to draw the feeling she was in right now. She took 15 minutes to finish it. And she said that she is satisfied with this piece.

The picture she created was a landscape. She stuck to use the oil pastels. She drew the dark clouds which were raining at first and then created the mountains. She was chatting with me when she was creating the piece. She was talking about the things happened around her recently. After she told me some good things happened on her, she said that “I am gonna to draw a rainbow in here.” And she started to create the rainbow.

After the piece being finished, I asked Z what she would like to express in the whole piece. Z told me that she feels like all the things she is now going through is like the dark clouds which were raining. And the mountains are the metaphor of herself. She would be stronger after the storm. And the rainbow in the piece is representing hope. I asked her how did she feel after drawing and she told me she feels relieve after finish drawing since she feels she expressed herself during the process of drawing.

I appreciate her for sharing the feeling with me. Although we were friends, but sometimes some bad feelings are hard to express. This art session helped me to a different side of her and I think it’s a good way for her to express and venture her feelings.

Art Share- Final Assignment

For this assignment I choose to use my roommate. After growing comfortable in the course I began to use the techniques learned on a few of my clients. These clients range from age ten to age fourteen. I enjoyed these experiences and felt positively about exploring how it would feel to do art with a friend and someone who is of a different age.
The session was quite impromptu and so the only art materials were small sheets of white paper and a pen. I asked if she would be able to work with the materials and she confirmed. I asked if she would require a pencil and she again declined. I gave the directive to doodle whatever came to mind. As I was lacking art supplies I did not want to give a complicated directive. Her response was confusion. She asked if there was something more specific I would like her to do. After I responded, no ,she proceeded with her image.

Initially she created the image at the top. She began in the left corner, shifted to the middle, and proceeded to fill the remaining space. She expressed discomfort with her image and grabbed another paper to begin a new image. She stated she would now draw Santa Clause to match the season. Overall, she stated she felt uncomfortable with the general questions that were asked. She believed I should have known what the images were rather than asking her. She stated she felt as though she was spoken to like a client rather than having a conversation; she too is a social worker. I believe it may have felt odd for her to play the role of a client rather than the individual asking the questions.
After the session was concluded I proceeded to explain the purpose of general statements and how making directive statements could be misinterpreted. She understood and agreed. Overall it was interesting to work with someone in a similar field and being able to share the knowledge I've obtained during the course.

Art share: Final Assignment

For my final assignment, I partnered with a classmate and we took turns doing the same activity in our sessions. My partner had a directive in mind, which wasn't too structured, but was enough to ease my anxieties. I ended up randomly collecting things to paste on my paper, old wrappers, newspaper clippings, words, random drawings. The only directions I had was to pick out things that had no meaning and paste them on a paper. It was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. In the end, we discussed each thing that I pasted, and how it related to what happened in the last week. I thought it was really cathartic not to have to worry about drawing, and I liked being able to be more random and less precise. I was also able to talk about how things were relative (a bad dream I had ect) As far as being a clinician and using art therapy, it's something I definitely need to practice more, but I feel really strongly about incorporating it into my work, and am hoping to take courses to expand my knowledge and practice. My artwork is on the left.

Session with a Friend

I really enjoyed this exercise. I don't imagine that it would be as much fun doing this with a client! I invited a friend over to do this project with me. She is not involved in the MSW program, but her and I have been friends for many years and have a lot in common. We both have spent a lot of time working with children. She has expressed interest in Art Therapy and I have spent a lot of time talking about the course with her throughout the semester. She was a bit controlling from the beginning. "I can't draw" was her first response when I asked her if she would help me. I told her that I couldn't draw either, and it would just be a pencil and a piece of paper. Reluctantly she agreed to come over for a session.

"Why can't I use a pen?...I want to use a pen." These were some more examples of her resistance or desire to control the situation before we even began or she knew what she was drawing. I think that she felt a lot of pressure to do a good job with whatever her task was going to be. I told her that she had 15 minutes to draw a birds nest. I think that she felt uncomfortable with me watching her draw and laughed a few times and I laughed back, but tried to keep focused and serious.

I only had computer/printer paper in my apartment. I know that you are supposed to use quality materials with clients, and I think that this may have influenced the session. I don't think that it had a negative impact, but I think that if my materials were a little more professional, it may have changed the tone of the exercise a bit.

Observations that I made with her about her drawing included the fact that the nest is almost perfectly centered in the page. She drew the ledge, she said, to make it clear that it was a bird's nest. I think that I noticed the moment when she realized that the floating drawing in the middle of the paper may not look like a bird's nest to some people (I thought it clearly looked like a bird's nest and may be another example of her wanting to do a "good job" for the exercise). She also may have been uncomfortable with all of the empty space that was left after she finished the nest. Her strong shadowing/definition of the lines in the middle of the nest also may be an example of her trying to make the drawing obvious of what it is. She spent a lot of time and attention on that circle. When we were going through observations, I pointed out that she didn't include any eggs. This made her very defensive and uncomfortable and she told me that "it means that I don't want to care for anyone other than myself!!" and then told me that I only gave her 15 minutes, and that I didn't tell her to draw eggs only a nest. It was a humorous exchange. I unfortunately didn't feel comfortable exploring these feelings with my friend at the time. I explained to her that the drawing doesn't necessarily mean ANYTHING, but if it is making her think about certain things, maybe she should spend time thinking about them.

All in all, it was a very fun exercise, and I look forward to hopefully one day working somewhere where I can do this type of work with clients!

Class Experience Response: Dance Therapy

I have to say that this class had more to offer than I imagined. Over the break, I was talking with my family about creative arts therapy, and my dad asked what made it different then handing some kids some crayons and paper. While I did my best to explain what art therapy looks like, I found myself having the same reaction to dance therapy, asking myself what that could possibly entail. To my surprise it was so much more than I thought. As discussed briefly in class, Two things that stood out to me from the short film we watched was how movement therapy is a way to connect with clients who have heard all the words before. I was especially keen on how one woman explained that she was able to articulate herself so well, that she could even hide behind her words, but not connect with the feelings. For me personally, I found this class to be the most emotional, and the most vulnerable. I'm so grateful to have been exposed to this information, and I want to continue to learn more about this modality.

Final blog-art therapy session

Snufkin is a friend of mine and has been in the United States for three years. She is a lover of animals and has two guinea pigs and regards them as her children. I told her about the art therapy session and asked her whether she was willing to participate in. She said yes. Then I explained our final project’s requirements and asked her whether it is ok to write about our art therapy session and post it on our blogger. She agreed.

I reserved a room at our library and invited her to do an art therapy session with me. I offered a set of oil pastels, watercolors, magic clay and a 24 pack of colored pencils along with a few sheets of colored paper. I told her that she could draw what ever she wanted to draw or let me give her a theme. She preferred having a theme. So I utilized the themes that I learned from class then let her pick one from “create an image that expresses feelings, tell a story, depict relationships” or simply “be/play/meditate with the material”. She originally wanted to draw her relationship with her girlfriend; however, she found out that the relationship was too sophisticated to express in one painting. So she ended up drawing her feelings about her life in the United States.

Before starting the session, she asked me about the time limit and whether she could draw with her new hat on. I said, “there is no strict time limit. Although the painting is supposed to be finished in 30 minutes, she can go over a little bit. As for hat, you can do what ever you want to make you feel comfortable when you draw.” I found her request about wearing a hat was interesting and wondered why she wanted to wear a hat. So I asked her why after ending the session. She told me that the hat was so soft, warm and made her relax and comfortable. The hat also reminded her of her guinea pigs, and she always put her two guinea pigs on her legs when she is working at home. It is a habit for her. So her hat acted as substitute for her guinea pigs.

Snufkin used color pencils, then switched to oil pastel later and chose oil pastel as her main medium. She told me that the colors of color pencils were too light and would waste her a lot of time drawing a picture. “ Using oil pastel can be quicker and easier,” she said. She began her painting by drawing a bean-shaped circle in the center of the paper. Later, she started drawing its inside. After that she added shells and lines. She drew red ones first, then pink and green ones. She finished the picture in 7 minutes, which is fast. I was surprised at her speed. 

Like what we did in our class, when she was finished, I asked her feelings toward the session. She told me that she felt so nervous at the beginning and had no idea what to draw. She also felt a little bit awkward when I was watching her drawing.  However, she felt less nervous and relaxed after focusing on drawing process.

Since I had no idea what feelings that her painting expressed, I asked Snufkin to explain her painting to me. She told, “It is a core and can be interpreted as myself. The black shell is my self-defense or self-protection mechanism and can protect me from getting hurt. The purple was my favorite color when I was a kid. It is innocent and childish part of myself, which is something that I cherish and want to keep” Her painting was so symbolic. I noticed the blue shell and I asked her “How about that blue shell, is it another self-protection?” She said, “ oh, no. It’s not my shell. Instead, it’s my blue jacket and you know that blue jacket, I wear it all the time. It has accompanied me for five years and sort of like a friend.” It was so interesting that she combined abstract concept like self-defense and concrete material her blue coat in the same picture.

 Then, we moved on to those lines. I wondered what about those colorful lines?  Snufkin said that they represented limitations or rules. Red lines represented rules that hurt her so much and left scars. She also used pink, which is a color that she dislikes. I brought up the question why she chose pink to draw those lines. She said “Yes, I do not like pink, but pink is my girlfriend’s favorite color. ” I asked her whether those lines represent limitations that come from her girl friend. She said, “Kind of, I have changed a lot after being together with her.” I asked whether she could be more specific and give me more details. Then she started telling me her stories with her girlfriend. Snufkin used to be a smoker and prefer having casual relationships. After moving in together with her girlfriend, she quit smoking and had an exclusive relationship with her girlfriend. In terms of her exclusive relationship, she felt a lot of limitations that she has never felt before when she was in casual relationships. As for the green lines, they were different from red and pink ones. Red and pink lines are parallel lines. However, green lines were cross lines and far from her. I asked her what those green lines represented for. She told that they were general rules or morals; she would be guided or influenced by them.

Snufkin just explained her drawing to me so far and had not mentioned the feelings her art piece expressed. I was curious about what emotions or feelings that her painting tried to convey. She told me that it was quite complicated and subtle. She was wrapped by those so-called rules and limitations, which made her could not breath. They were the feelings about living in the United States. It included everything, her life and relationship.

I appreciated her honest and sharing her feelings with me. In fact, I did not expect that she would share so much with me and thought we would just focused on her paintings and her feelings of her life here. However, she ended up sharing not only her feelings in the United States but also her relationship with her girlfriend. I pointed out that she told me a lot today and asked her if I were not her friend, would she share as much as what she shared with me. She answer was no. Snufkin said that because I was her friend, she trusted me and felt safe to share with me. She did not mind opening up and sharing inner thoughts with me. If I were a stranger or a therapist, she would not feel comfortable sharing.

FINAL BLOG - MOCK SESSION

For my mock session I decided to do a session with my best friend, someone that I have know for almost a decade. I lay out all the art supplies and he chose to work with acrylic paints enthusiastically. 

Given our previous conversation about his artistic ability or lack of it, I decided to reproduce our ink blot in-class exercise.

I noted how while he was doing the exercise he was very worried about skill and ability and had to reassure him that it was not about that, he also had a a hard time keeping quiet, he asked a lot of questions about the meaning, if that would be judged, if he had to use one side of the paper, if he had to do symmetrical figures etc. Honestly I was annoyed by how many questions he was asking, specially since I didn't know how to answer all of them

His work was very meticulous and measured, he was surprised when he saw the ink image that resulted after folding the page, he said he had not anticipated that to happen, and was truly quite shocked about it.

This is what he made. 

When he shared his image he explained that there were two soccer players confronting each other and so he decided to paint one happy and another one sad. He also emphasized the shoes' brands. He expressed that throughout the exercise he felt he was slacking ability and felt intimidated by it, he also expressed that he did not want to draw anything that would reveal too much about him. He is really passionate about soccer and that came through in his work.

For me it was a difficult client, just because of all the questions he kept asking. I also felt that knowing the person so well game me an unfair insight and perhaps a biased perception of his work and process. I was surprised of how meticulous he was in the work and had other expectations of his work, so in a sense I wasn't sure how to deal with this. I felt also intimidated to play this "therapist" role with someone that knows me too well, I was aware that he could also be making judgments about my role. 

Overall it was interesting and fun, but in general it made me feel that I need to practice more in getting more comfortable in this space and also to remember that art therapy is not always for deep trauma, and that pieces will not always reflect something deep or profound. The little things and the superficial things can also be very useful.

Final - Art Therapy Session

I dragged my heels a bit with this assignment, mostly because I was nervous that I would have no idea how to conduct the session. Once I gave myself a good pep talk I approached a friend in the MSW program and luckily she said she would be interested. We met at my apartment and I used the art materials from class. Looking back, I probably should have conducted the session in a more neutral setting. I felt that I may have had the unfair advantage of feeling more comfortable since I was at my home. However, this also made me think about what clients must feel like when they walk into our offices; they are entering into our space all the time.

We started the session talking casually and recapping our days. I was mindful that I was about to take on the role of art therapist so I didn’t want to chat too about myself too much. Luckily, since the art materials were in front of us our attention quickly turned to the session. She asked if there was a specific material she should use but I told her that it was entirely up to her. She immediately turned to the oil pastels and a blank piece of white paper. Looking back, I totally forgot to tell her that she could use water with these oil pastels! I’m curious if that would have changed her image at all. I decided to use a directive prompt but only gave her three options: tell a story, draw a relationship, or free draw. I wanted to make sure I gave to option on free draw because I didn’t want her to feel bound by my directions. She thought for a bit and then started drawing. I have to admit I had a hard time staying quiet at first, but I quickly realized it was my own discomfort so I stayed quiet and let my anxiety pass, which it did.

Once I accepted my discomfort I was able to move on and actually enjoy watching her artwork unfold. I found myself searching for symbols and “clues” while the image was taking on shape. I was looking so much at the creation of the work that I almost forgot to observe her body language and facial expression. She sat with her legs crossed and her upper body curved over the artwork. She would sit up straight every once in a while to look at what she was drawing and then go back to working on the piece. This lasted about 10 minutes but it felt like it was much quicker.

After she was done I asked her to describe what she drew. She said she chose to draw a relationship, specifically her relationship with her clients at her field placement. She drew her hands holding pools of water, which was “slipping” through her fingers. The water was collecting at the bottom of the paper an being held in by two figures on the side. I thought it was interesting that there remained a  white space between the pool of water and the bottom of the page, as if it were floating.

I also thought the placement of the hands was interesting. It is the central focal point of the image and the arms are coming down as if from the heavens. I mentioned this (without using the word “heavens”) and she said that she sometimes feels like she is meant to be “creating miracles” with her patients. I asked how she felt after she said that and she responded that she realizes how much pressure she puts on herself. I wish I had explored more about the little people on the side but I guess I immediately made an assumption about them and didn’t feel the need to ask her about them. I wonder now if it represents the many hats she has to wear as asocial worker.

All in all, this was a beneficial session. I was really nervous but by letting the art do the talking I realized I could actually feel comfortable in the session. If I were to make any changes I would have had her do another piece since she only spent 10 minutes on hers. I think it would have been interesting to then compare and contrast the two, as if they together would tell a more complete story.