Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
By Deborah Schroder
I continue to be just stunned by the continuing wall of beauty that contains the Capstone murals. The weekend course, or Part One of Capstone, when the mural painting happens, is how we encourage students who are finishing up Practicum, to explore what they know and have experienced about group work, and to also begin to visualize how they might complete their own Capstone Project during Internship. It feels like an important bridge between Practicum and Internship.
We asked each group of painters to title their work and write a brief Artist Statement, and I’m happy to share these along with images of the murals.
Synergy
This piece represents the integration of all four group members, holding our individual expression as part of a greater whole. We are all drawn to spirals as a metaphor for our journeys. To us, spirals represent calmness, and an infinite process of stirring things up, going inward and expanding outward: essentially, the Hero’s Journey.
Artists: Danni Moresi, Alexandra Helfenbein, Marcella Sykora, Lauren Sherwood
Space Whale
This process started as an art experience about our individual journeys at Southwestern College and New Earth Institute. We brought three key elements of our pieces together to create the final mural. There was an easy and natural, flowy cohesion to our working process. We transformed our individual experiences into the collective whole. We have titled this masterpiece “Space Whale” after our hearts, love and collaboration.
Artists: Briar Wren, Brittany Davis, Angela Kehm
Somewhere in Between
All four of us had varying experiences while at SWC. Together however, the elements within ourselves came together and complemented our journey into this piece. The expansive growth we all share cannot be defined but lands somewhere in the unexpected.
Artists: Alyssa Hansen, Alicia Blankenship, Bianca Ovalle, Eliza Delaney
Intergalactic Super Fantastic Mothership of Love
Self love yo
Love yoself
Illuminated, transcendent
Diamond light
Portal-inner wisdom
Step out of yourself
Finding self love through our time here
Luminescent love. . .
Open your heart
Receive the mothership
Artists: Danna Herbach, Melissa Love, Shawn McIntyre, Shannon O’Neill
RISE
Our mural depicts a female form emerging from nature with a Phoenix rising behind her. We feel this expresses the individual transformation we experienced during our time at Southwestern College. As a group we found a lot of ease and enjoyment by listening to each other. Our mural is a result of us listening to one another and making decisions collectively.
Artists: Alexandria Bishop, Lou Lodigensky, Sara Johnson
Sun-sparkle Moon-magic
When creating this mural, all three of us agreed that animal imagery and a connection to nature were important aspects of our lives and experiences in Southwester’s Art Therapy/Counseling program. The archetypes seen in this mural represent a deepening connection to heritage and an invitation to ancestral healing experienced at Southwestern. The stag is a maternal symbol, with a gentle nature, patient courage, and who gathers wisdom and perspective from its keen observation of the present. The raven speaks to the spiritual healing that comes with such an introspective and transformative experience of education, a symbol of intelligence and integration, as well as a nod to the helping spirits of Hugin and Munnin, who brought knowledge and bird’s eye perspective to the Norse god Odin. Serpent is a potent image of transformation, rebirth, and instinct; a spiritual body living in the physical world. The rainbow arches across the backdrop of day and night; a symbol of the dichotomous view of “day” and “night” consciousness. Mountains are symbolic of the mystic pilgrimage, journeying, and ultimate accomplishments that have fruited from our time at Southwestern. We continue to be grateful for the guidance from the natural world which supports our journey as multifaceted, contradictory, creative beings, through this particular time and place.
Artists: Jesse Shreier Kennard, Jaqueline Goerig, Leigh Patton
Franny
Not one part of Franny is any single person; we each participated in every aspect of their creation. We collaborated within our group, which led to the collaboration of the two murals next to us leading to a beautiful triptych. We picked some of the meanings of the peacock that really stood out to us: clarity, acceptance, boldness and advocacy. The clarity of who I am as a therapist; the acceptance of myself and those around me; the ability and boldness to make myself known, and the courage to advocate for art therapy and stand my ground.
Artists: Stephanie Condit, Star Smith, Anna Harland, Sarah Gladney
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