back to school - and role reversals

customised QUT bag

This week has indeed been a bit surreal - and a bit of a culture shock as well. When I first went to uni, in 1977, we wrote our assignments by hand (being too poor to own a typewriter!), and there were subsidised cafes, union shops and communal spaces to hang out; now we have to go to Google Hangout, which isn't actually a real place, but an internet virtual space. And a cup of tea cost me $3.70 at the campus cafe...so the next day I took my thermos flask and tea bags with me...

I am supposed to be 'friends' with other students in my cohort of over 50, on Google plus, but I don't yet know the names of most of the other students, and the maximum in a group is 10 - so who do I choose? And is this really just another glorified version of Facebook?

To be fair, the content has been fine, the students I have spoken to have been friendly and interesting, I am learning my way around, and the number of assignments is daunting but probably do-able. The days have been long however, and I am keen for this first part to be over, so I can digest and reflect...I am only writing this today as the Saturday workshop was cancelled at the last minute, so I have some free time. 

A couple of 'my' graduates from UQ MMH art therapy program are doing the same course as me, this is really interesting and I am already noticing changes in my relationship with them, since I no longer have to be their teacher. There is a small group of creative therapists in the cohort, which is fantastic. I am starting teaching next week, so the weirdness will continue. I am sure I will have more empathy at least...

Meanwhile, in the real world (sorry QUT) it has been raining like crazy. More rain is likely in the next week. 

And its a year since the most damaging Christchurch earthquake.

And the Australian Labor party is having its most cataclysmic, ridiculous, damaging leadership battle, again, between Julia Gillard (Prime Minister) and Kevin Rudd (recently resigned Foreign Minister). Hopefully it will soon all be over. I can hardly bear to reward this bad behaviour by ever voting for them again...is it just me?

more later

Sewing and other attachments

bunting banner for 'in stitches' girls' group

We started a sewing group for teenage girls last week at work, called 'In Stitches'. This is the banner, made from an Ikea upholstery remnant and using iron-on vliesofix (?) for the applique of the letters. The individual flags are machine stitched onto wide blue bias binding, which is folded in half and pinned into place, enclosing the top of the flag. It almost forms a circle when the edges are drawn together, this was for the purpose of photographing the banner. I am very excited about this group!

felt collage: 'secure attachment'

felt collage: 'insecure ambivalent/resistant'

felt collage: 'insecure avoidant'

felt collage: 'disorganised/disorientated'

These four collages were created by me a few years ago, in response to reading 'Circles of attachment: Art therapy albums' by Joanna Clyde Findlay, Margarette Erasme Lathan and Noah Hass-Cohen, in Art therapy and clinical neuroscience edited by Noah Hass-Cohen and Richard Carr. Most of the book is heavy-going, but this chapter describes a delightful project in which art therapy students created fabric 'attachment journals' to illustrate the four main attachment styles, and to ultimately explore their understanding of their own attachment style.

Some of the trainee therapists found that their attachments became more secure, as a result of doing the project.

I had to make one as well, since it combined book-making, felting, fabric collage, machine embroidery and of course, Attachment Theory: Bowlby and Ainsworth's framework for understanding early infant-carer relationships. I can remember thinking at the time of making the collages, my attachment style was probably insecure, (either avoidant or ambivalent) although now I am not so sure.

And now I am reading about attachment again, in a prescribed reading for my Social Work Masters, starting next Monday. I found it interesting to learn that Bowlby, once a follower of Melanie Klein, was rejected by the Freudians for emphasising the real environment of the infant (i.e. the primary caregiver) rather than the 'psychic projections' or fantasies of the baby. This gave me some insight into why attachment theory was so unpopular when I was studying art therapy at Goldsmiths in the 1980's, as the theory was based on Klein and the 'object relations' school.

The reason this theory is in a book on neuroscience and art therapy, indicates (I think) that neuroscience is now proving that Bowlby and Ainsworth's attachment theory was right. Sorry Melanie!

I seem to be managing without my laptop, although am writing on a borrowed Mac, which is making this slightly harder than usual. And I know I am about to get much busier...

This is an interesting quiz from Tamsin's blog, which i mentioned recently: find your political compass. Relieved I was in the same quadrant to Gandhi, Dalai Lama and Mandela. Phew.

more later.

Then the wind changed

photo from the chook project

This is the title of a beautifully made documentary on ABC I-view - only available for another 13 days!

It is about the grief and recovery of the residents of Strathewen, Victoria, who survived the Black Saturday Bush fires in 2009 (exactly three years ago). It includes a fantastic community project to create knitted chooks for the primary school children, and (briefly) a cute baby wombat, which is cared for by one of the survivors. It speaks more generally about grief, the need for healing rituals, such as 'soup night', and how the community regrouped (literally). It also tells the stories of some of the individuals and families, including the documentary maker, Celeste Geer, and how they coped with losing their homes, loved ones and friends.

The link to the chook project reveals that the woman who initiated the chook project is an art therapist, Barbara Joyce. Very inspiring, as I know from experience how hard it is to knit a chook...

wombat feeding time at Australia Zoo, June 2011

I am back from Townsville, and counting down the days until my Masters in Social Work begins on 20th Feb. But today I am back at work...

More later.

going North - again

tropical flower, Cairns

I am off to Townsville in north Queensland today, for a couple of days. I am facilitating a training workshop for artists, who will be delivering art workshops for people living with a mental illness. 

This photo was taken in Cairns Botanic Gardens last year, when I had a similar gig. 

I enjoy working with remote teams, they are usually very grateful for any input! I found out today I hadn't booked my accommodation, despite having a distinct memory of doing so. I am staying at the Sugar Shaker (Holiday Inn), which has a roof top pool!

This time I am travelling without my laptop, as I have a 10kg baggage restriction, and its hard to have faith in a USB the size of a thumbnail (literally, this time) - but its all backed up onto another one as well. I will have to get used to living without the laptop; it needs to be sent away for repairs as its still under warranty - only works when plugged to power socket. This is not good timing, as I am about to start my Social Work Masters at QUT (uni) in 2 weeks, and most of the content is online...

Fixing things has been a theme this year so far (isn't it always?). First my camera, then my sewing machine. Our gate is also falling apart, and we need some major repair work done on our front stairs - the joys of living in a Queenslander! I used to put up with things only sort of working, but no more! 

Cairns Botanic Gardens

colour chart, porters paint

I have always loved colour charts! Full of possibilities...I guess its like opening a new box of paints. A woman who attended a workshop I ran called 'Giving yourself permission to paint' once said, her ambition was to get her paint box dirty!

Congratulations are due to two other bloggers this week. 

Firstly to my friend Amanda, who writes Sharing Studio Secrets, and has just posted her 300th post, after 6 years of blogging, mainly about her art practice. 

And secondly to climate scientist (and my sister) Tamsin, who has just launched her new blog very cleverly titled All Models are Wrong (but some are useful), on the completely different topic of climate change modelling. Tamsin has been inundated with responses, including some who objected to the title of her blog.

Putting yourself out there is brave, whatever your topic. I am proud of both of you, and of anyone else who aspires to more than liking something on Facebook!

I may be more erratic for a while, due to laptop issues and studying. But I'll be back.

more later.