Part 1, if you missed it...
Part 2: Practical Examples of Ownership Language
I look around and see so many things that say "Stop doing THIS!" or "Don't do/think/act THIS way!" or even "Fight THIS!"
With so much negative bombardment, is it any wonder I feel so overwhelmed and defeated much of the time, especially…
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Featured Artwork: Mandala Buddha, acrylic on paper, 36"x24", 2012, Tejal Murray
Over the last few blogs, I’ve been exploring Stephen Cope’s The Great Work of Your Life in a general way with examples from my own life. Today, I’m going to dive more deeply into the teachings by profiling one of Southwestern College’s graduates.
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Hello! My name is Beth Lykins, and I am a current student at SWC. I am starting my final quarter of my first year in the Art Therapy and Counseling program, and I wanted to share a student’s perspective of life at SWC. I am attending part-time, so I generally take two courses per term.…
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We are asked to look within ourselves in our first few classes here at SWC. This process varies from person to person. For me, it has been an incredible opportunity to work on some issues I had thought were already worked through. It only goes to prove the cyclical nature of self-exploration and personal growth.…
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Students at Southwestern College show mastery of content in creative ways.…
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On Monday evenings there is an informal gathering of writers in the art studio building on the campus of SWC. Facilitated by Ann Filemyr, this group in dedicated to self exploration and expression through writing. The rules are simple: keep your hand moving, suspend judgment, and it is OK to write bad stuff. The exercises…
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I have had the honor of watching the power of art therapy first hand, in my personal life recently. I asked my husband if he would mind if I shared this story, and he told me to go ahead, so I would like to share it with you. It is a true testament of how…
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By descending down into the depths of the soul, and not primarily by a painful acquisition of many manual skills, the artist attains the power of awakening other souls.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Art therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process,…
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“Interesting how you are only using a black sharpie marker in your art today,” says my art therapist, as she gently points out my visible tension with perfectionistic, black and white thinking….…
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Come Undone by Laura Schoff
I feel with such a passion that art has the capacity to heal in many different ways. It has been my support, my processing, my guide, my inner world displayed. Without this art, I may have not have completed my first classes at Southwestern. A year and a half(ish) ago,…
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Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Oh, yes, yes I do… like big books, art therapy and counseling tomes (including books about expressive arts therapies and indigenous and ancient healing traditions) and I cannot lie. One of the best…
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Influenced by archetypes and art therapy, Sprout explores the interplay between the unconscious and conscious parts of the psyche. …
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by Debbie Schroder
Program Chair for Art Therapy/Counseling Program
It doesn’t really surprise me that as we approach the eighth week of the quarter, I’m finally able to spend a little time putting together an image that contains mandalas created by incoming art therapy students, during orientation. The quarter has been full – of teaching…
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by Debbie Schroder
The gardens on campus are lush and the temperature is hot – it must be Portfolio Review time!
Every year we ask our art therapy students who are moving into 2nd year, to bring in at least three pieces of art created during first year. By looking at their art and hearing…
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In April, 2014 a call was made: "Archetypally speaking, who is showing up for you lately? What mentors, thieves, medicine folk, or tricksters are asking you to speak their name, embody their abilities, and artfully express the connections you have? Please, answer the call, create the art, embody the voice that wants to be heard…
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A photographic journey of the passing clouds in New Mexico and Colorado.…
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by Karen Stefano Ed.M., M.A., L.P.C., NCC
How can you unwind your body and mind, listen to the inner stirrings of your spirit, and supercharge your creativity? It’s easy. Tissue Paper Collage!
Mythologist Joseph Campbell said, “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” The truth is that our culture is motivated,…
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by Jessica Callaway, LPAT, LPCC, ATR-BC
I didn't know what to expect when I decided to go to Haiti. I realized when I was on the plane that I was partly, or mostly, going for selfish reasons. I was excited to practice art therapy and teach yoga in an environment I had never experienced,…
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An exploration of the stories, memories and personal significance behind the jewelry we wear. …
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I am a big fan of reusing materials into new forms. Broken bits glued together to make guardians; Torn fabric to make new yarn or a rug; Old shoes into a Journey; Or large boxes into castles. After reading, Endangered Threads: Socially Committed Community Art Action, by Janis Timm Bottos (2011), I knew that there…
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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…
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An art therapy experience of honing in on our soul's needs. …
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by Debbie Schroder
I can’t seem to stop smiling. I’m smiling because of my morning – I went to the Roundhouse, the New Mexico State Capitol Building, to watch Art Therapy intern Todd Nichols speak in the Rotunda. A number of senators and state officials also spoke, but they didn’t bring art! Todd…
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What is a Container?
There are so many types of containers, a person, place, or thing that holds. Many images come to mind: a milk carton, hands, shoes, a home, a room, a box, a nest, my heart, a chair, a mouth, a closet… Many sensations come to body: warmth, safety, fear, constriction, flee,…
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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM