Tag Archives: art therapy

Rainbow Message

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Last week I put on the plastic cover to protect our Rainbow Messages and placed it on the wall in the Parish Hall.  I am deeply grateful that folks at Café Emmanuel allowed me to share my idea. I’m proud of everyone in the group. As a member of the LGBTQ community, I have witnessed how beautiful we are in our community and how much I have grown in the past eight months. Love is the power, and I know we all have it. I felt love sometimes hidden in interactions between people. I know I will still feel it even after we say goodbye. Again, I sincerely appreciate all the kindness and wisdom we have shared. I will use it to nourish my professional expertise in art therapy.
–Wanyi (pronunciation: wan-ee)
Note: Cafe Emmanuel is our weekly, well-being-luncheon-and-entertainment program for LGBTQ+ seniors and their friends. It has become a model of LGBTQ+ eldercare for the rest of the country.

If you were a clock, what time would you show? 

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“Saying goodbye is not easy.” resonated in my head this week. Monday (1/9) was my last day after nine weeks at the Suffolk County House of Correction for the Art and Spirituality Program. When leading the opening group check-in, I asked participants: “If you were a clock, what time would you be now?” Some people said they were in the morning; some people said they were in the afternoon. What spoke to me was that some people said they were at 12 o’clock midnight, which means it is an end but also a start of something new. I related to their words deeply. Indeed, without goodbyes, we would not be able to have a new beginning. The ending of something can also be a new start for people who are looking for a change.

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Happy Holidays

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Last Friday at Boston Warm, we had a party: there were red-clothed tables, a community-decorated Christmas tree, a Christmas movie, hand-decorated cookies, all of it. It was such a joyful and relaxing moment as a community. As always, my favorite moment was our Uno game (shout out to Junior for winning four games in a row)! I’ve often found that when we play Uno, the game brings us together, and there is tangible relaxation in the atmosphere. We can all focus on flexing our skills. Overshadowed by fun and friendly competition, our differences are minimized. This focus on play is also part of what makes drama therapy effective.

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Being Present Consistently

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This Monday (11/14/22) was my first time leading the opening and ending of the Art and Spirituality Program with other facilities and volunteers at Suffolk County House of Correction. This program provides people in prison with accessible art materials, valuable time just sitting together and making art, and space to express missing and thanking their loved ones.  As usual, we started by reading the poem, “Reflections after Compline” by Sue Stock [1] and sharing a word that reflects the day. Then we made cards or origami art together. After creation, we came back as a group and shared our creativity.

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Welcome our new expressive-arts interns!

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Wan-li

I am Wanyi, a second-year graduate student studying Art Therapy at Lesley University. Having grown up in Taiwan, I had the chance to learn fine art for my bachelor’s degree and was fortunate to have lived and taught in three different countries. During those time periods, I found the therapeutic power of art through leading art-making sessions in my communities. To further my knowledge in using art as a therapeutic medium, I came to the US to learn from the best.

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Weaving a Farewell Tapestry

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I am thinking of endings today as I recently announced to the community that I only have a short time left at common art. I expressed my gratitude to everyone and told the community how much they have helped me grow. I shared with them the site where I’ll be going for my second internship and explained how my experience with them helped me get this opportunity.

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Trading Cards

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This week I really felt my growth as a facilitator. Over this past year I have worked on building my confidence and my ability to identify what art activities will be well received by the community. While I can come up with many ideas of art to make, not all of them are going to be of interest to the artists. So, in order to lead a successful art-making idea I need to have built my own confidence as well as an understanding of what the community enjoys. I also need to know what small challenges could be embraced.

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Identifying Strengths

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This winter at common art we have had a lot of staff and volunteers away, whether for just a week or for some months. Missing so many people really showed me how much each person brings to common art and how strongly I feel their absence. I was able to really test my growth last week as our resident artist Allie took a much-deserved week off. Her absence gave me a clear picture of just how much she does for the program.

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Give and Take of Creativity

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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

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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.

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