Start Simple

In a meeting with Art Therapy Capstone students last night, we took some time to write down some kind self care goals. We also talked about the benefit of checking off checklists! It is such a difficult time to be in graduate school; part of my role is to make space for art-making and balance as I support their final projects.

I added my self care checklist to a page inspired by a meeting earlier that same day. It was a big planning meeting for a very large project. The reminder to start simple and grow helped us move forward without overwhelm over all the things to be done!

“What can you do to take care of yourself this week?
How can you “start simple” on something big?
What seeds are you planting for the future?”

Purpose

I am headed home today from the 53rd annual conference of the American Art Therapy Association. I had the opportunity to present a workshop on defining purpose. Attendees shared their art and their thoughts about this hard-to-define but IMPORTANT word! Fo me, it was the perfect week to reconnect with this line of inquiry I began pre-pandemic. I am excited to see how it continues to evolve.

It was so wonderful to be in person with my colleagues engaging in deep conversations about the work of art therapy, making art together, laughing, crying, and being in community. Flying back to the studio & all the birds filled with ideas & inspiration!

Pop!

This weekend, I had the great fun of being the ‘featured local maker’ at Hollie’s Homegrown in Lafayette, CA.

The shop is filled with local honey, salts, oils, body care, items for the table, and art along with teas and wines for tasting and taking home.

The aesthetics of my work fit perfectly with the amber honey, hibiscus tea, and green plants.

My favorite part of the first day was watching someone select a painting and know exactly where she wanted to put it in her home. Later in the day I received a text message from her with a photo of the painting in its new spot!

I also loved talking about growing things—both businesses and plants—with Hollie!

Fo me, making art in my studio is also about community—the community we can create by sharing art and our own experiences with each other.

In other news, little watercolor kits & ephemera packages I created will be available in the shop soon!

PRESENT p r e s e n t PRESENTING

If you had told the shy, quiet little girl that I was that one day I would enjoy being filmed or enjoy giving presentations to large groups of people I don’t know that I would have believed you!

Today, I am reflecting on how much I enjoy sharing information and resources through presentations and trainings and courses—how much it makes me feel ALIVE.

I am preparing to give a ‘lunch and learn’ talk to my colleagues at Elder Care Alliance about the beautiful work that my students did about art therapy with older adults. And I’m also preparing for my sessions at the Expressive Therapies Summit next month.

For me, it’s not about being on stage or performing. It is about sharing ideas and resources and being in intellectual and creative community.

What connects you to others? How do you feel about giving talks or presentations?

Graphic Medicine & Art Therapy

First slide in the presentation: Image is a white background filled with various black and grey ink marks, comic and written symbols, and a few painted elements. The title of the presentation is enclosed within inky, scribbled ovals: “Graphic Medicine + Art Therapy” The text below reads: “NorCATA Summer 2021; Erin Partridge, PhD, ATR-BC; @2littlewings”

First slide in the presentation: Image is a white background filled with various black and grey ink marks, comic and written symbols, and a few painted elements. The title of the presentation is enclosed within inky, scribbled ovals: “Graphic Medicine + Art Therapy” The text below reads: “NorCATA Summer 2021; Erin Partridge, PhD, ATR-BC; @2littlewings”

Today I facilitated a CE course with Northern California Chapter of the American Art Therapy Association.

As we went through a lot of information we also engaged in some comic making ourselves. I’ll share the prompts and my responses below:

Prompt: On a small piece of paper, create a speech, thought, exclamation, or other comic bubble to represent how you are right now. 

Prompt: On a small piece of paper, create a speech, thought, exclamation, or other comic bubble to represent how you are right now. 

Prompt: Create a four panel comic with the following four ideas: I  “feel” I “sense” (see/hear/touch/smell/taste) I experience    I “know”

Prompt: Create a four panel comic with the following four ideas:

I  “feel”
I “sense” (see/hear/touch/smell/taste)
I experience   
I “know”

Prompt: “When you imagine speaking the origin of the field, what kind of mouth speaks the words? Do you use words, or is it better expressed in line/shape/color? Create a mouth, speaking YOUR origin story entry into your professional field.”

Prompt: “When you imagine speaking the origin of the field, what kind of mouth speaks the words? Do you use words, or is it better expressed in line/shape/color? Create a mouth, speaking YOUR origin story entry into your professional field.”

Prompt: Create an image showing two characters having a non-verbal conversation. You are invited to use any media. 

Prompt: Create an image showing two characters having a non-verbal conversation. You are invited to use any media. 

Prompt: What would you do next, if you were the therapist? (In response to two panels from Phillipa Perry’s work. Perry, P. (2010). Couch fiction: A graphic tale of psychotherapy. Palgrave Macmillan.)

Prompt: What would you do next, if you were the therapist?
(In response to two panels from Phillipa Perry’s work. Perry, P. (2010). Couch fiction: A graphic tale of psychotherapy. Palgrave Macmillan.)

Prompt: Create a two-panel comic using ANYTHING but pencil, pen or ink

Prompt: Create a two-panel comic using ANYTHING but pencil, pen or ink

Prompt: On a small piece of paper, create a speech, thought, exclamation, or other comic bubble to represent how you are right now. 

Prompt: On a small piece of paper, create a speech, thought, exclamation, or other comic bubble to represent how you are right now. 

Interested in more information? Check out:

Graphic Medicine & #GraphicMedicine

Woven Life

Image shows several pieces of watercolor paper, painted using salt technique and wet on dry. The red and pink paper has been woven into a piece with rich browns and blues.

Image shows several pieces of watercolor paper, painted using salt technique and wet on dry. The red and pink paper has been woven into a piece with rich browns and blues.

Today, I had the opportunity to join Brian Leonard (the filmmaker who created “I See You” a film about the art therapy work I do with older adults) in a guest-lecture session in Sky Bergman’s class in the Art & Design department at Cal Poly, SLO.

As we were answering student questions, and talking about our work, I was thinking about how much I love the interwoven nature of our lives.

Some of the warp and weft that showed up today:

  • I deeply resonated with Sabrina Ward Harrison’s book Spilling Open when I was in High School. And my prized book to this day is about Candy Jernigan’s work: Evidence.

  • I graduated from Cal Poly.

  • Sky and I reconnected when I started working with older adults and she was working on her film. Later, I’d get to see her at a screening of the film in SF.

  • Brian and I met through a volunteer project his daughter was part of. They continued to volunteer, and the family spent most Saturdays with me, doing art therapy with older adults at Mercy.

  • Brian proposed, filmed, and created I See You.

  • Sky encountered the description of the film and realized it included me, her former student.

  • We all spoke together today with her students, answering questions that overlapped, interplayed and inspired. As I shared, I recommended the two books above.

  • I clicked out of Zoom, so inspired.

  • And then I remembered, that just the day before, I had been guiding a live session about weaving with watercolor for ArtSnacks.

Weaving.

What is woven in your life?

Photograph shows a white woman’s hand holding a small, roughly cut heart made of watercolor paper with a salt treatment. The woman has several rings on her third and fourth fingers. The background shows several strips of woven watercolor paper in bl…

Photograph shows a white woman’s hand holding a small, roughly cut heart made of watercolor paper with a salt treatment. The woman has several rings on her third and fourth fingers. The background shows several strips of woven watercolor paper in blue, green, and red. The watercolors were created using salt and plastic wrap.