February 22, 2005 archives

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February 22, 2005

artist's way: week 5

by gl. at 3:22 pm

missing two participants, though they both emailed their checkins, which i read aloud, and sven left a proxy bear clutching an "Artist's Way!" banner.

this week's activity was blind contour drawing: a self-portrait for 5 minutes, then with another particpant for 10 minutes, then another self-portrait for 15 minutes. writing responses were done with eyes closed. i'm curious about how i'm going to fit more than 4 people on the walls for this exercise & the blind painting exericse.

i don't know how much to say about the participants because one of the most fragile parts of the group process is developing trust and faith in each other. monday nights are supposed to be the nights without expectations, a safe space where participants can be vulnerable and revealing. do i damage that trust by writing about specifics?

for instance, rob says since his last artist date (to see cornell west @ reed w/ sven, and yes, we know that an artist date is meant to be done alone, but i still say something is better than nothing) he's been struggling with his relationship to god and especially church. earlier in the evening, joanne said she was sometimes uncomfortable talking about her buddhist beliefs in a group of agnostics. this is all relevant to artist's way because it's supposed to be a spiritual path. the word "god" is all over that book. am i doing my group a disservice by being unable to go there with them? but at the same time, how do i make it safe for aetheists like dan? joanne wrote a great version of the artist's prayer: "please."

in other artist's way news, brian wanted to give up morning pages altogether because he wasn't getting any exercise and says he doesn't have more time to cut. i recommended he moved to 1 page or 3 smaller pages, that even 10 minutes of morning pages each morning was a practice worth continuing.

posted by gl. | permalink | categories: artist's way