Why do we do what we do?

I was just reading a post on Lanie Garrity's wonderful blog 14 Secrets to a Happy Artists life,  and one of her posts focused on this question.  It really got me thinking about my life now,  as an artist and as an art therapist.

I was born with a congenital heart condition, and as an only child growing up in Chicago, I spent alot of time alone, often in the hospital, and when not, missing school often, rarely playing outside with other children.

I was pretty lonely, and art became my best friend, my ally, and my constant companion.

I self soothed, created imaginary friends and worlds, and lost myself for hours in lovely fantasy.

This rich inner world, stayed with me my whole life, and after having open heart surgery on my 13th birthday, I threw myself into life and activity.

But artmaking stayed with me, throughout my life and shaped my life into the one it is today.

As a child, I remember often looking down from our third floor window watching the kids in the alley and courtyard, riding bikes, playing with hoola hoops and on the swings.  I felt like an outsider and wanted to belong.


And even though making art made me happy I wanted to do it with others...  Whenever I was sick, my parents would give me another paint by numbers set, or kit for weaving pot holders.  I loved to make different things, use my hands, and build little people out of mushed up toilet paper, making up stories and traveling across the united states in our long hallway with my handmade paper doll friends....

As I fast forward to my life now, I see that I live a life now that allows me to do art with others, share all the different art processes I have learned, and offer   others the opportunity to explore the healing realms of their imagination.

This is a bit more personal that I have been before on this blog, but it seemed to fit for today, so Thank you Lanie  for your wonderful prompt.

Why do you do what you do?     Ciao

A Few More Dolls - And my Inner Child

In my Friday Medicine Art Group we started the process of making  Spirit Dolls.   Since we meet for 3 hours and quite a few people were out last Friday, only a few folks  began.  They are in process and have great potential brewing.  Here are a few photos of  several of the dolls in their beginning stages.

II

In the group two weeks before this one, ( we meet alternating Fridays), we created  images honoring our inner child...(inner creative beings, which led to us creating the dolls in the next meeting.

This is mixed media collage of my inner child.   She looks a little moody, and I realized that I was a rather introverted child, due to having many health issues in my childhood.
She loved to make paper dolls and little people out of all kinds of supplies, so doing doll making with others definitely in a healing, and joyous salve to my inner little girl.

She also loved to do art with others, parallel imaginative, play, and I am so blessed to still be able to do this.  I have created my life work out of the longings of my inner child.

Speaking of being with others and making art as well as pushing my creative limits.  This weekend I am going to the Mendocino Art Center to  take a class in " Creating Stunning Abstracts" along with my friend and fellow art therapist, and partner in the Creative Arts Studio , Patricia Waters.  This class and its teacher, Mira M.White , have come highly recommended.  I am looking forward to doing something very different  from my normal creative focus.

Mendocino is one of my favorite places to go, and taking a class at the art center is a wonderful experience.  I will post images from the class and my trip next time I get around to posting.  Happy Art Making!!!

Spirit Doll Making Day @ my Studio

Yesterday I facilitated a day of creating Spirit Dolls at my studio.  I have been gathering with some old friends, colleagues from my days of teaching at the J.C every 4 months or so and leading art making days.  This time we created spirit dolls, using pre made stuffed muslin dolls, and transforming them into Spirit Dolls, with each individual letting a guide of some sort come through in the process. It was an engaging and fun day of expressive art making.  Again and again this brings me to the thought of somehow finding a way to focus on promoting Expressive Art Making Party Days for groups of women and their friends and families.  Here are some photos of the process and dolls that emerged.

After  molding and shaping faces out of sculpey, and putting them in the toaster over to bake, everyone began to focus on decorating their doll bodies.  
Some people painted the forms with watercolors or fabric paint, while others decorated the bodies with marker pens.  

When the faces were cool, they were painted as well as had hair or head pieces created for them.

Then  we were on to clothing them, as well as giving them chakras and any other healing attributes that added to their energy, and popped up out of the imagination.

They continued to evolve over the course of the day as each person played with the possibilities.  The imaginal world was in full bloom as each person's inner child had a field day with the doll making process.

This dolls carries a mask with it, to take on or put off as needed.

Tana's magical inner guide.

Gail created two dolls to give to her granddaughter Raven who is in the hospital with a serious health condition.  Although she had to leave early with her other grandbaby Katie, she is well on her way to completing the dolls, with the small one done, representing Katie and the large one' who will be Raven, having her face molded and ready to be added to the larger doll.  They will be given to Raven so she can play with and hold her baby sister while in the hospital, to keep her company and be a source of comfort as she continues her challenging health procedures.

I am so happy to have been able to facilitate this process for her and her dear grand mother and my friend Gail.

This day made me want to do this more often, what a magical, healing and playful day of artmaking.