Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
I’ll start with an ending. One Art Therapy Techniques class in 2014 ended with each member of the group creating an altar of the art that was made during the quarter. We made Mandalas every class, as well as masks, body tracings, finger painting, inner guides and characters, and containers. In that class, I made a point of encouraging students to pay attention to how they treat their creations, asking everyone to create a portfolio to house all of their art. It is important to make space for this artful language, as it is a roadmap in one’s journey, from moment to moment, class to class, and year to year. 
That class at times felt like a womb. We spent a lot of time and space articulating and creating safety, as well as the parts of ourselves and lives that were in want and need of being held. Students settled into creating, observing others create, and using one’s voice to articulate what was born, seen, and felt. It is important for Art Therapists to learn how to drop into the artful process, so as to learn how to facilitate this “drop” in others. It’s a somatic knowing, and emotional learning, an allowing for oneself to slow down, follow, and listen. I encouraged students to pay attention to what they avoid, discard, dislike, cross out, cover up, and repeat.
Students spent time with their masks on and off. 
In one evaluation a student wrote that as an instructor, I “rocked it like a ninja turtle.” I relate to that as Ninja Turtles love pizza, wear their homes on their backs, and are able to deal with difficult forces. But on the real, a teacher can only offer the space, attend to the dynamics of a group, and make choices; the students have to allow the rockin’ to happen. And they did. I love art therapy. I love these students. And space, above all else, I love space. Because that knowing, that perception of what internal and external space IS, FEELs like, and CAN be, is where inspiration is born.
