transformative arts is a special brand of arts education that is process oriented, affected by how a space is held, allowing the individual engaging with the art materials to find their own wisdom that comes through the act of making. we learned our brand of transformative art from the teachers and students assembled at JFKU in the Berkeley Arts Annex. we're interested in sharing the magic.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Welcome
Woohoo! Thanks, Elizabeth. Next stop, what IS transformative arts??? :-)
Transformative art is an individual or group expression of the body, mind, soul and spirit as they transition through life. Transformative art connects the creative doer with the inner and outer worlds of the self and the other. It is through this expression and creativity that conscious awareness is opened, leading to deeper wisdom, health and balance.
Transformative Arts is a healing modality using art as a way into the participant's unconscious emotional traumas that in being brought to consciousness ultimately leads to healing to wholeness. Transformative Arts is also a means by which connection is made, through creative expression, both universally and individually to the presence of the Sacred.
For the story of how the transformative arts program changed my life, I invite you to find a copy of my thesis in the library and read it. I left the M.A. program convinced that I would be conducting art and healing workshops. I've done several amazing, strategic workshops for people, but they only tended to happen only once or twice a year. I moved into becoming more interested in the act and practice of art making itself. I found myself especially interested in studying the figure because I was trying to understand my own body. Figure drawing and painting was a way to study anatomy and human nature, and it tied into my work as a Feldenkrais teacher. I'm a lifelong learner and scavenge the community college schedules for art classes. Currently I'm taking a watercolor class Merritt College. I find the cross-training useful for my main interest of drawing and acrylic painting. I'm also taking a silk-screening class at Richmond Arts Center which I thoroughly enjoy. It got me back into working with fabric and sewing, something I did growing up. When I do my silkscreen projects every Friday from 10 to 4, I'm on my feet and working the whole time and feel like a "real artist." As my community service, I curate the Community Arts Gallery at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley. It currently features sculptures by alumna Lisa Aksen who makes vessels out of recycled plastic bags. This role brings me in contact with many Bay Area artists and is quite enjoyable.
I found the program at JFK extremely helpful. It's a chance to study your own motivations and values and learn what's truly important to you. It's a chance to change and transform. And you get to write about it all in your own thesis! So plunge in, enjoy the ride on the river of life. The currents may be rough at times but scenery is spectacular.
4 comments:
i got this response from ac-chat:
Transformative Arts focuses on the process of art making rather than the end product. - Deborah Hall
From Marlene Robbins: What is Transformative Art?
Transformative art is an individual or group expression of the body, mind, soul and spirit as they transition through life. Transformative art connects the creative doer with the inner and outer worlds of the self and the other. It is through this expression and creativity that conscious awareness is opened, leading to deeper wisdom, health and balance.
From Aysha: Here's a suggestion...
Transformative Arts is a healing modality using art as a way into the participant's unconscious emotional traumas that in being brought to consciousness ultimately leads to healing to wholeness. Transformative Arts is also a means by which connection is made, through creative expression, both universally and individually to the presence of the Sacred.
Aysha
from jane neilson, 2004
For the story of how the transformative arts program changed my life, I invite you to find a copy of my thesis in the library and read it. I left the M.A. program convinced that I would be conducting art and healing workshops. I've done several amazing, strategic workshops for people, but they only tended to happen only once or twice a year. I moved into becoming more interested in the act and practice of art making itself. I found myself especially interested in studying the figure because I was trying to understand my own body. Figure drawing and painting was a way to study anatomy and human nature, and it tied into my work as a Feldenkrais teacher. I'm a lifelong learner and scavenge the community college schedules for art classes. Currently I'm taking a watercolor class Merritt College. I find the cross-training useful for my main interest of drawing and acrylic painting. I'm also taking a silk-screening class at Richmond Arts Center which I thoroughly enjoy. It got me back into working with fabric and sewing, something I did growing up. When I do my silkscreen projects every Friday from 10 to 4, I'm on my feet and working the whole time and feel like a "real artist." As my community service, I curate the Community Arts Gallery at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley. It currently features sculptures by alumna Lisa Aksen who makes vessels out of recycled plastic bags. This role brings me in contact with many Bay Area artists and is quite enjoyable.
I found the program at JFK extremely helpful. It's a chance to study your own motivations and values and learn what's truly important to you. It's a chance to change and transform. And you get to write about it all in your own thesis! So plunge in, enjoy the ride on the river of life. The currents may be rough at times but scenery is spectacular.
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