'Hairy-lastics' and 'Feeling Felt'

'hairy-lastics'

This intriguing object is a hair elastic adorned with felt dreadlocks, which I played around with on Thursday after reading about them on Wabi-Sabi Wanderings' lovely blog. I then took this newly-acquired skill to our teenage Girls in Stitches group on Friday, and we made these rather chunkier dreadlocks, seen here with a piece of unfinished flat felt... 

It strikes me that the felting process makes a rather nice metaphor for understanding the neurobiology of attachment. The wool strands are joined together by soapy friction, which can remind us that neurons that fire together, wire together, so that by repeated relational experiences with our parents or caregivers, our attachment styles are developed.

In a similar vein, Art Therapy and Clinical Neuroscience, edited by Noah Hass-Cohen has a chapter on attachment, in which art therapists create patterns of attachment using textile art to make illustrative books. Clearly there is something in this textile stuff...its just so tactile and touchy-feely.

sunflowers

I have been at a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training for Health Professionals weekend since Friday night. Its now Sunday night, and in the morning I am going to Stanthorpe on the Queensland Granite Belt (i.e. its going to be cold) for a few days with some of the family. The MBSR was great, both affirming and inspiring, and I would like to do more training and a retreat, sometime, when I have some free time and space. 

Practising MBSR should improve a therapist's attunement to her clients, or in other words, the client feels that their feelings have been felt. 

In the meantime, I need to get some sleep soon. 

more later. 

'a place(ment) to belong (to)'

'a place to belong' - wax crayon, textas and dyetex.

I had my first placement experience last week at A Place to Belong. I don't start officially until July, so this was a bit of an early appetiser. 

I have worked (and lived, as a young child) in many different therapeutic communities, so the process of sharing a meal, sitting in a circle, and talking about stuff, was familiar to me. What was unique is that this genuinely seems to be an 'organically grown' community, which the community members really value. The qualities that were stated several times were safety, support, and a place for feelings to be expressed. 

I am so excited about this placement. I can't wait for it to start. 

In my image, I have tried to capture the organic feel of the community. I notice that the words are hard to read, perhaps this reflects the 'topsy-turvy' feeling of not knowing who is a client, who is a volunteer, and who is a staff member. Although this did/will became clearer. And there are several other students, which I think could make it potentially a very supportive and enjoyable placement. I feel slightly disoriented (or 'topsy-turvy') by being in a student role, after being a worker and a lecturer for so long. but on the other hand, this feels like less pressure and responsibility, which I think I could enjoy. 

In the image I used some wax crayons I had melted down and poured into tiny muffin pans, to make new multi-coloured crayons. I guess I am also being melted down and recreated. 

Its been a long time between posts. The reason this time, is my son's laptop having a meltdown in the middle of block exams, and me having to relinquish mine for several days last week. But I have almost, almost, almost finished my academic marking for the semester. Time for a holiday.

Tomorrow, I am having a massage. This weekend, I am doing an MBSR course for Health Professionals, should be a really nice way to start my week off...

more later.

I heart Julia

Julia Gillard was magnificent on Q & A last night. An intelligent, articulate and compassionate woman with a sense of humour - and she knits!

(this is more of a tweet than a post, sorry!)

more later.

Transit of Venus, Magic Flute, Caitlin Moran, and how to live

photo by AP/Kevin Frayer, Guardian website

Great photo of the transit of Venus taken in Agra, India, showing a bird landing on a (small) bit of the Taj Mahal, with sun and Venus in the background.

rosella: winter flower/fruit?

On Friday, we saw a colourful production by Opera Australia of Mozart's The Magic Flute at QPAC. Not being opera buffs, this was a new and exciting adventure, with an interesting Enlightenment theme of 'how to live'. Going out on Fridays is always challenging, and staying awake requires caffeine, but it does make the weekend seem longer. And this is a long weekend already...

felt bear

On the same theme, of how to live, I just started reading The Wonderbox: Curious histories of how to live, by Roman Krznaric, having recently finished and loved How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, wow, finally a funny (hilarious) book about feminism, how very cool...

hibiscus

And felting moth-eaten jumpers, making a felt bear and starting to draw again...

pears

In another week or so, I should have completed most of my marking, and will have a brief and longed-for fortnight's respite, until starting my placement on 9th July. In the middle of which, I am doing a weekend of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training. Meanwhile, distracting myself by baking two demi-vegan chocolate desserts in two days - which equals one vegan and one not so much vegan chocolate dessert - yum.

Goma: Contemporary Women Artists Exhibition

Its winter, the weather is foul, exams are looming for J and S, and its not worth being outside, so I am making the most of being in, knitting, watching tv and old movies. We saw Saturday Night Fever the other night, what a great film, not just about disco, but also, getting out of poverty/Brooklyn/anywhere you feel trapped. And again, the theme is how to live. Perhaps this is what it (art, culture) is actually all about.

wonderful crocheted 

phone holder by Biddy Bags

more later.