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October 17, 2007

artist's way: session 3

by gl. at 4:06 pm

the third session of artist's way was right after i got back from england and was, in fact, one of the reasons i came back so early. if the trip would have happened later on, i might have skipped a week and stayed longer in england, but skipping the third session is too soon, since the first four sessions are primarily about developing confidence in the group and trust in the process.

the art exercise was a process i call "love letters": some people see the artist's way as confronting their demons or getting down to work in a grim sort of way. but i want participants to start from a position of strength and love and power, so i really enjoy this exercise. i took an izone photo of some part of themselves they wanted to represent as a self-portrait. then they wrote down everything they liked about themselves, then wrote a poem about it & sharing it. as each poem was shared, each person in the group wrote a 1-line response to it and passed it to the writer. then they're all collaged or decorated onto a card to post at home. it sounds a little silly, but it really works: hearing other people validate, affirm and enhance the things you like about youself is a very powerful experience.

i wish they still made izone film: mine has become very unpredictable and large blobs of undeveloped areas will appear, in addition to shifting the hue fairly red. why did you give up on us, polaroid? i may have to figure out another way to do photos; i really enjoy using them in activities, but without a fairly immediate way to print them, it's not very useful. normal polaroids are much bigger than i'd want.

center (identity): a tray full of chestnuts with one shining candle amongst them. i love chestnuts; they feel like the harbringers of fall.

music: the upbeat moby songs from play, 18 and everything is wrong. but one of the participants brought the eels' "i like birds" to play as part of her checkin and we got up & danced.

posted by gl. | October 17, 2007 4:06 PM | categories: artist's way