Meditative Drawing

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way- things I had no words for." -Georgia O'Keffe

Crayons

This segment of Adventures in the Arts is about a project over the course of five months or so where I created and led a workshop at the Art and Spirituality Center at Mercy Hospital of Bakersfield.

In my Advnetures I like very much to keep busy exploring new avenues. I was in between projects looking for something different to do. I was given an opportunity by Donnel Lester, local poet and art enthusiast, to create a workshop of my own for the Art for Healing program at the Art and Spirituality Center.

But let me rewind a bit. I met Donnel through and art group, The Foundry, of which we were both members. Donnel and I had also happened to be working with a political activist group. He offered a program of facilitator training to the group, chich I attended. It gave me tools I would need to manage a process for whatever a group is doing in a meeting.

A facilitator presents the content, keeps track of time and guides the group through work or discussion.

My first experience of Art for Healing was when I attended a poetry reading group, which happened to be led by Donnel. I enjoyed the easygoing nature/ calmness and freedom of expression that was available in the session I attended. It was refreshing.

Metaphors, by Sylvia Plath

The Art & Spirituality Center  provides opportunities for art-making, laughter, music, and other creative experiences free of charge with the hope that each participant may become practiced in the skills of letting go, living in the moment, artful reflection and relaxation.

(Other workshops at the center include Laughter Yoga, A tiem to write, and open studio)

The content of the workshop had to be something that would heal emotionally, spiritually or physically. I remembered all thsoe times when drawing or scribbling when I didn't have words for what was happening. Doodles worked too. Normally I draw as quickly as possible, but I suppose sometimes I don't keep track of time. Drawing as a response to a feeling, situation or emotion was soothing to me.

  

Quick Coloring

There were a few words I bounced around and landed on the name Meditative Drawing. Meditation is the practice of focusing on a subject in order to relieve stress and strive for growth. In this workshop we reflected using drawings we made there.

The center already has many supplies that have been donated for their programs and open studio days. With that in mind I decided to use crayons and paper because I fell crayons are nonthreatening and relitively inexpensive. Of the many supplies they had, the closest thing to crayons available was colored pencils and pens with twist-albe crayon cores. Those were cool. For the First workshop Donnel supplied regular crayons. For the second one I gor more crayons to make sure we wouldn't run out. Always be prepared.

Crayons

Oncemy plan was more thought out Donnel and I asked a small group of people who would be interested in teh subject to gather for a trial run. The First one was at the end of July. I was nervous, so the intro and warm up were short (I was informed of this by the reviews). The tables were prepared with a box of crayons, and paper for each space to make our area look inviting.

Even though I prepared by writing out what I was going to say and hou to say it, I hadn't figured out how much time each topic would need. I made that up as I went. I was worried we wouldn't have enough topics for the time we had. I tried to let each topic take what seemed to me like a long time. It turned out to be juse enough. I even had to skip one for time.

The short break in the middle I planned gve me time to breathe. Topics used in the first session were "Introspective/Yourself," "The Nothing" and "Thriving"

"Yourself"

The second trial, in August, advertised online for  month and open to the public. It was easier. Topics I used in the second trial were "The Nothing," "Dream" and "Emotion/Feeling"

"The Nothing"

This project was so different from anything I have done before. It was such a rewarding experience. With the summer ending and resuming as a full time student at CSUB, I was unable to commit to schedueling another workshop. This might come back in the future; sometime, somewhere. It will be easier now that I've got the hang of it.