Tonight's AT1 class was a study of the Kramer method of analysis. Very interesting. For the sake of learning where a client is he will first draw a picture in pencil, then paint a picture, and finish up by making something with clay. Pencil for cognitive and technical skills is more free association. Pencil, because it can be a erased, can allow a greater degree of control.
The shift to paint releases emotional expressions as the client gains more command over the medium.
Clay is about dexterity as well as possessing the potential for regression. Clay is primal.
The entire class did "experientials" (we made some art
) last week based on Kramer's evaluation method and brought it in for discussion this week. People, the teacher particularly it seems, liked my clay piece. The teacher pointed out that in a session Edith Kramer would have the patient paint the unfired clay as coloring the object immediately was important to the analytic process.
Some of you are wondering no doubt who the hell Edith Kramer is. Edith Kramer is one of the people who founded the concept of art as therapy. She herself was an artist and, in her time, worked in institutions for children with what we today would call special needs. She believed that creating art in and of itself was the healing process. Analyzing meaning was not so much her emphasis.
The class discussed what color my sculpture might be if color were applied. Some interesting answers. The teacher asked me. I told them I want it to be colorful; lots of red, pink, bright blue, etc. I'll leave it as is until the end of the course. Once the course is over I may sand it and smooth it down and paint it. I did not tell anyone I want to paint it with nail polish for the shiniest finish possible.
I have been accepted to work as a volunteer for the Expressive Arts Therapies Summit taking place early in November. It's a series of workshops and events focused on creative arts therapies. I will be working two days as a volunteer in exchange for two days attendance for free. I am excited because there is a workshop/lecture on the use of dollmaking in therapy. One of my hobbies is collecting, making, and repairing dolls.
Some of you who are sticking around reading this are probably delighted at this entry as a welcomed departure from my usual bitch and moan sessions I've been putting here of late.
Tomorrow I am taking the body of my collages (around 50 pieces) to my therapy session. My T has agreed that we can look at it as a body of work. It's time. Individually the pieces do have their particular importance, but the time has come to look at them progressively and as a unit. I'll keep you posted.
My other class, four 7 hour sessions, begins Saturday. Rhythm
and Role will be interesting. I have no doubt.
!
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