ATC Artist Trading Cards

Above are a series of four ATC or Artist Trading Cards that I created for a swap with other artists/art therapists. I enjoyed creating them and allowed the materials I chose to guide the process. Creating these was also a reminder of how important the process of art making is to my practice and to who I am. As for my research I am truly feeling stuck. Stuck. I'm not sure how I want to continue which sends me into a space where I begin to think about all the different directions and paths I could possibly take, unfocused. I'm going to create some art around my research topic and hope that it rejuvenates me as these ATCs did.

The above image is from http://www.luzinterruptus.com/
It 's a beautification/installation project by Luzinterruptus in Madrid titled Urban Nest, the link was forwarded to me and is initally from the website Dudecraft, just to keep the resources clear http://www.dudecraft.com/2010/08/urban-nests.html

I will likely comment more on this project soon, however for just now here's the image, link and info.

Follow Up: Qualifying Meeting

A group of students offered homemade play dough during their presentation, I naturally made this pinch pot nest. Next we were asked to create a contour drawing, an artform I am fond of. Above are the images. A welcome presentation returning to class after my qualifying meeting with my committee members. The meeting went well and I truly enjoyed having individual attention specifically and directly offering me feedback on my literature review and pilot study. With some minor revisions I have "passed" my qualifying papers! Which is fantastic! Now the question is what direction to continue in for my dissertation, I fortunately have some time to take space and allow my thoughts and responses to percolate. I need to edit the pilot a bit as there were many components and make the study more functional. I think the term attachment, both philosophical and psychological can be difficult to understand, so I want to bring in language that can be more meaningful and more directly understood. One aspect that seems to continue to peak my curiosity is how a variety of art materials and the nest metaphor allow children to express themselves and afford an opportunity for multiple languages, particularly around their experience of being cared for. The other piece I am certain of is having participants from a wide range of ethinic backgrounds.

Qualifying Paper Meeting

I am teaching an intensive class this week, and today during lunch I will have my qualifying meeting. My own excitement and nervousness about this meeting, along with the each student's anxiety about thier presentations for today and tomorrow is truly challenging our abilities to be present. Now as I write they are meeting in groups to clarify what they will say to me and the class. I have reviewed my pilot study and literature review and am planning for what I will say to my professors...parallel process extreme! Everybody's back in class.....more soon-

City Nest Farm Nest

Over the weekend I noticed two different nests in separate contexts. One nest was a part of a window display in Boston, the other was at our local farm.