3 Day Art therapy seminar

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It was a lovely experience, with a great group of like minded people from different backgrounds.

We were a group of 8, of which I was the only male. Everyone participated, no one tried to be the center of attention, and it was facilitated very well.

Sessions started at 9:30 with theory, then a tea break followed by a case study or 3. We would break for lunch at 13:00 until 2:00, create art for an hour (a new peace every day) after which we go through each persons' peace. The person would share their work then the therapist would lead with questions for the artist and we would all discuss.

I felt drained yet energized after each day.

Day One

We chatted a bit about our names and how we got to this point in time and place. The theme was then presented as “Name and journey”.

Since we only had an hour to make our art, I decided to keep it simple and child like. As my surname is Castle I decided to draw one as a stand-in for the usual house in chalk pastels. I kept the draw bridge up with a mote around to represent my isolation. I then created 3 paths, The easy path that leads to the downfall into the Abyss, the average path and the narrow crooked path that leads up the mountain into the unknown.

I’ve been searching for a “higher power” for over 5years. I was busy researching the differences between Buddhism and the Taoism and stumbled upon the Dao (the way) which reminded me of the Abrahamic religions’ (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) view of the narrow crooked path that leads to righteousness. It also evoked ideas from the philosophies of Existentialism and Absurdism, of the struggle to become the Übermensch and Sisyphus rolling a rock up the mountain for eternity.

I thus portrayed the narrow path up the mountain to the unknown, as we are unsure of our future, but we can be certain that certain behaviors will lead us to our downfall. I also enjoy rock climbing as a means to challenge myself, which brings a more positive aspect to the “problem”.

My therapist was impressed with all the self aware meaning I put into a single drawing within the scope of an hour. Her one suggestion was to make the path a tad broader. I believe this is because I can be too hard on myself at times. So I found a brown crayon at home and widened the road less traveled.

Day Two
we spoke about materials, especially clay. No one was restricted to using it but a large portion of the class decided to get their hands dirty in this way. The theme was containers. I just knew I wanted to make a Clay Ox , a toy that the Boere (My ancestors) used to make, along with myself and nearby friends. We used to create them by the stream or vlei down the road. The cart was added afterward as a type of container whilst I started losing myself in the process.

Ox wagons used to be the containers of all your belongings as the Boere ventured over the treacherous Drakensberg.

I still had some time left and grabbed another 2 handfuls of clay. The lady next to me commented earlier that “The clay will show you the way”. I had no idea what to do for my second sculpture so I followed that advice. From that came the container of a shell and a tortoise then emerged.

Day Three
We made a list of recurring themes that were coming up in the class, but we were still allowed to do anything we wanted with any material that we wanted. I knew I wanted to create a Rorschach ink blot to resemble the idea of psychiatry and the collective consciousness. I wanted to make it colorful, from which the idea of Jung’s collective unconsciousness came about, along with the ideas and themes of our group sprang. I then realised that it was a work of gratitude, for myself, my group and the therapist and proceed with adding different mediums to represent this.