This past week was very difficult. Last Tuesday we lost one of our community members, Roger. The news of his death hit me very hard, so I was grateful that I was told the day before common art. That let me take care of myself first, so that I could be there for the community the next day. Moving through the day with the weight of this loss was challenging, but we found that we could share the burden together. Continue reading
Musings from the Margins
Give and Take of Creativity
Last Wednesday I was able to return to common art with a lot more energy after a week’s break. It reminded me how important self-care is when it comes to being able to care for others. That day we began working with clay in order to make beads for jewelry. Each week we normally have volunteers who lead beading up on the stage in our space. They will be away, however, for a few months. In their absence we are working to provide other activities for the community, especially for those who would normally engage in the beading. Continue reading
Just Being There
Leading up to the holidays was a very fun time at common art, of making festive art and talking about plans and memories. Having these things to look forward to helped create an uplifted spirit in the community, even with the weather getting colder. Coming back after the holidays, however, I could definitely feel a slump among everyone in the community. Many of our staff and volunteers were away last week and will be away for a little while for varying reasons. COVID also hangs very heavily over me and the community at this time. So, I felt a little overwhelmed, in addition to feeling that lull myself, I also felt that I had to make myself bigger and have more energy to fill the spaces that were now empty. I know these coming months will be a challenge to bring excitement and art making to our community because of the winter lull.
Thanksgiving Table
Before fully jumping into this next part of the holiday season I want to write about the great success that was common art on Thanksgiving Eve. As I had wanted to take on a bigger project with everyone for a while, I challenged myself to come up with an art activity that would engage almost the whole community around thanksgiving. While I have led one or two tables in artmaking and pulled community members in, I had not yet attempted to engage as many people as possible. This was also a good challenge for me as one of the biggest things I am continually working on is “pulling people in” to the artmaking process. I feel joy when I am able to have someone who doesn’t often engage in the art, create something.
Farewell, Amanda!
This week at common art we had another staff member leave us. This was Executive Director Amanda Grant-Rose’s last week. On Wednesday at a big celebration in her honor many of our community members gave speeches and goodbyes. It was wonderful to hear everybody share stories about what an impact Amanda had on their lives over the seven years she worked here. This experience made me think more deeply about how we can influence each other’s lives and my own role here at common art. Two weeks prior we had lost our barista. I spoke a little bit in my previous blog post about the effect this loss has on the community. Both he and Amanda played big rolls in the lives of our community for the years they were here.
Leaving without Saying Goodbye
This week at common art the unexpected departure of one of our beloved community members was announced. We were told that he had found a job and had just moved to start it. It was his wish to leave without telling many people and to leave no contact information. While I have only been at the program now for two months, I felt this loss greatly. He had worked as our barista, our food liaison, if you will. He served the community coffee and meals with a smile and could often be heard laughing.
Pulling in New Participants
This week went smoothly. Monday at the prison, I chose to have the women attending Art & Spirituality share a word they felt drawn to. I spent the evening writing them in script. I am thinking that I may add more words over time to build some kind of collage of them. I think it would be nice to set it up each week for the women to see, especially as it grows with more words.
A Rainbow of People
This week started off really well with my Monday group at the prison. For the opening I suggested the group share a color that we could feel connected to that day. It was an unusually small group, and so, before everyone shared their colors, I had an idea. I wrote down each color mentioned and then, as I sat with the women chatting, I colored a piece of paper in a gradient of the colors and cut it into strips to make little bookmarks. Before making the gradient, I had found each color and then laid them out in an order that looked nice. While doing this and chatting with the women, I made sure to notice their process and reflect it back to them. The two women mentioned that this time was very calming and quiet for them and that just being there felt therapeutic.
Engaging Participants
This week at Boston Warm was slower. Everyone seemed a little tired and unmotivated, which made it difficult to get them to feel engaged. On Monday, however, at the Suffolk House of Corrections program on art and spirituality, I had some positive interactions that gave me a glimpse of the small ways I could be a positive presence at my sites. Continue reading
The Healing Power of Art
We welcome Marielle Carpentier, our art-therapy intern from Leslie University, who will post about her experiences with common art in the coming year. She writes about her first day here, September 29.
This week I had the great opportunity to lead a table at common art in doing collage. One major attraction of the day was painting pumpkins, which was also a great success. I was worried that the excitement of the pumpkins would mean that I wouldn’t be working with many people, but was happily surprised by how many people joined me. A big part of the success was thanks to artist-in-residence, Allie, for sourcing great magazines and stamps. Often with collage, interest and success can come down to what kind of images are available. I found a big reason the collage table was successful was because people could find images that they could relate to or that inspired them. Once these images are found, the excitement to create something with them begins. I found it interesting to see what inspired each person who came to my table. Some were excited by the detailed stamps, some the images of nature, and some the words in the newspapers. Even with the exciting (and very successful) pumpkin painting, I was so happy to have many people interested in engaging in collage.