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.