'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.

Rainbow on Mater Hill

'rainbow on Mater Hill' using Polaroid app.

Last night a rainbow appeared over the Hotel Diana opposite the Mater Hospital, as I arrived to view my art therapy students' case study presentations. Its the end of semester, which means no more assignment writing (for me - hurrah!) but lots of marking activities in the next few weeks. I have now completed (as long as I pass all my assignments) a quarter of my Masters of Social Work. 

Do rainbows really appear at symbolic times, or do we just notice them more at significant moments? I remember seeing one just after my father died, in March 2010, and at the time I found this very comforting. 

'mantra' - pastels and dyetex

This drawing is about meditation, and reflects how the mantra (sound) which I repeat in my mind when I meditate (using the Transcendental Meditation, or TM method) becomes overridden with thoughts. The mantra is represented by the letter 'i' (the mantra starts with the letter 'i') and is in pink, faintly visible inside the white shapes. Meanwhile, thoughts crowd in, and overlay the mantra. Some of them follow pathways, represented by the wiggly lines, and some are more random, represented by colours. The overall effect, although distracted from the intention, is still positive.

Visually, this image appeals to me: it creates the effect of a colour field, which besides being an art movement, also makes me think of the Tamla Motown and Phil Spector's 'wall of sound'. The element of cohesion, and the submersion of individual parts into the overall image, seem to fit with this style of composition (whether music or art). Interesting, since I started this by writing about the sound of the mantra. 

'yarn-bomb' on riverside bikeway near QUT, using Polaroid app.

I spotted this piece of knitted 'graffitti' whilst cycling a few weeks ago, but only just stopped to photograph it. The link above is to a site which details a collective yarn-bombing of King George's Square in Brisbane, tomorrow. Amazing what a google can unearth.

Meanwhile, I am still knitting a jumper I started last year. (As it is sleeveless, it is possible I may complete it this year, while its still cold enough to wear it. I made the mistake of putting it in my handbag the other day, and lost some stitches, and I picked them up slightly incorrectly, so its now flawed, but I don't think it will matter...) 

The middle of 'Caution': location of yarn bomb and bicycle

During the break between semesters, I am hoping to post more often. We'll see how that goes. 

succulent, South Bank, using Pin hole app.

more later. 

Mother's Day, Milestones, Marking: Morning Meditations in May

two views of Hiromi Tango's 'X chromasome', mainly textiles, found objects

 

Sally Smart's 'Artist's Dolls'

Judith Wright's 'Wake'

 I found time to drop into GOMA ten days ago, to see Contemporary Australia: Women, on until 22nd July, and QAG, for Modern Woman: Daughters and Lovers: Drawings from the Musee D'Orsay in Paris, until 24th June... images above - to get an idea of the scale of Hiromi's work, you can walk inside the fibre structure, its like a magical hollow tree, much better than Enid Blyton!

Mother's Day couscous

drawing tools

'finding a still centre': wax crayon and dyetex

One more week of the first semester to go: that is a huge milestone for me, both as a social work student and as an art therapy lecturer. Also, this blog is about to reach its three thousandth view, which is also huge, especially considering my neglect this month. 

Although I have all but abandoned my original blogging structure and commitment to self-scrutiny, I am feeling very motivated to continue, and I know its helping me to 'keep it real'. Morning meditations have been happening most days, and have extended to 25 minutes. The image above is an attempt to capture the feeling of inner stillness, despite the external panic and craziness. Mainly, its working.

Mother's Day last Sunday (my lovely sons made the couscous salad) was a nice in-breath before the most insane week this semester, mainly due to over-commitment and 'marking activities'*. So being on placement next semester could be almost like being on holiday, ha ha...we'll see. 

All assignments should be in within the next week or so, phew...

more later.

*sadly this is not about 'mark-making'!

Teen romance, mindless gang violence, underage sex, and youth suicide: What's not to love about 'Romeo and Juliet'?

Having started a year or two ago with Hamlet and King Lear, and now with the added incentive of being able to take advantage of student/youth-rate theatre tickets*, I am trying to take my sons to as many Shakespeare plays as possible while they still agree to come (one is in year 11, and one is a new English/ESL teacher, so it makes sense!). Last night it was Romeo and Juliet. Strangely, all the themes resonated exactly with my current assignment on young people and mental health issues.

'no shelter' - pastel drawing and watercolour

Its been a tough week - or should that be fortnight? (I am losing track of when I last posted, always a bad sign). The image above is in relation to one particularly difficult client situation, with the sense of hopelessness I am feeling about the possibility of change, and below is the detail, which in fact, turns it around to focus on the four of us (me and the client's family) standing under the (inadequate) umbrella during a very violent storm...

detail of 'no shelter'

Changing the colour electronically changed the mood somewhat - if only it were that easy in real life! 

This week I left my phone at work, lost my keys (found them later), missed a train, and left an assignment at home that I was supposed to bring to class. On Friday, my I-Phone blew a fuse when I tried to charge it, and it died, along with it four months of 365 Project photos, and all my phone contacts. Then I went to the gym with only one new orthotic to correct my posture/cure my plantar fasciitis (need one in each shoe or feels very lopsided) - so I did Body Pump with no orthotics and no insoles - very weird (you have to take out the insole to insert the orthotic). 

'enough is enough' - pastel and watercolour

I did this (above) in class with my art therapy students, looking at cognitive approaches, and thinking about Affluenza, which I have been reading this week. Its about having enough, which according to the authors, is never enough...but it was written before the GFC.

So, in  a week in which I 'had to buy' a new phone and shoes to fit my new orthotics, I have been reading about overconsumption. 

 

'on Goodwill Bridge'

However, there is a happier ending. Turns out that buying the phone was relatively easy, and I didn't have to wait for 25 minutes to be served, as I didn't go to the Telstra shop. The sales assistant was a very personable engineering student (I know!) who even gave movie recommendations when I told him I was a social work student. And the phone was 'free'!* 

Actually, I have to pay another $10 a month, but no upfront fees, and it includes more calls than I will ever need to make. I am sounding like an ad, argghh. And speaking of Urgghh boots. Allelujah. Ugg boots accept orthotics! The next few months are suddenly looking much brighter. 

And cycling was fabulous today, in the bright sunshine, chilly, but made the coffee on the bridge that much more wonderful. May is a beautiful month in Brisbane. Now if I can just get my assignments done by the end of the month...

more later.

Ugg boots accept orthotics!

*This bizarre logic derived from the 'save by spending' philosophy outlined in Affluenza.