"Precious" Mixed Media on Paper

This piece was created for Clinical Art Therapy class, 2nd semester of the MAAT program at St Mary of the Woods.  

The directive was general- create a piece that reflects your idea of art therapy.

The specific technique is new, one that I am really enjoying, mixed media with chalk pastels.  I created a sketch, then a foundation of values using acrylic paints.  Then I finished the piece using graphite, chalk pastel stick and chalk pastel pencils.  The piece was sealed with matte spray sealant.  

The title of the piece is "Precious".   The piece reflects client  / therapist interaction; large eyes and hands & small mouth symbolize my views of the therapeutic platform.  

MAAT St Mary-of-the-Woods January Residency Art Pieces

 These pieces were created during the January residency starting semester two of the MAAT program at St Mary of-the-Woods College in Indiana.  At the conclusion of our first gathering, we created small "stones" to carry with us through the semester and inspire us with a personal message or thought when things become challenging, stressful, etc.  (Not if, when).  My personal goal for the semester is to just Be in the moment, experience and enjoy the process.  This is something I've wanted to do since I graduated from University of Tennessee with my BFA in the late '90s. 

My "stone" shows a man blissed out in the moment of creating music, on the backside it says, "Dont Worry" and "Sheer joy"

During the second day of the residency, we had art creation time, and were given the directive to create a piece that reiterates or elaborates upon the intention of the stone.   

On the final day at the conclusion of our Clinical Art Therapy class, we created group art pieces.  Starting with an independent piece that we then tore into chunks, we shared out our chunks, then created another independent piece using the group's pieces.  My final work depicted a man sailing away on his journey.  All the little flying creatures are my cohorts flying off to their various corners of the world, from California to Florida to Hong Kong.