Art therapy - share your work here

[Deleted member 41765]

This is lovely and so prescient! Thank you for sharing your creative journey and your words are inspiring...

I began writing seriously my senior year of high school. I went on to study literature in undergrad and went on to earn an MFA in Poetics. It was always an imperative to share my work in published form, as reading in person, no matter how supportive the venue or peer group, was akin to having needles shoved beneath my fingernails. Fast forward to a trauma. 13 years ago I essentially lost my "voice" (and many other things as well) and any desire to put pen to paper (yes, PAPER. I'm a purist, what can I say?). It is only now that I am attempting to begin again through an expressive arts therapy group. I'm three sessions in, the fourth is tonight, and despite how difficult it is I am surprised to realize I am somewhat hopeful.

 

[Deleted member 33052]

This is lovely and so prescient! Thank you for sharing your creative journey and your words are inspi...

Shiki, if you ever feel like sharing, I would LOVE to read anything you write. I'm glad you're feeling hopeful. I bet you will experience an explosion of creativity!

 

[Deleted member 33052]

Tear out our voices
Smother us, bind us in shame
Our spirits sing on.

 

[Teasel]

Our spirits sing on.

Love that <3

 

[Teasel]

No skill in painting but it expressed something for me. About the first time I'd ever tried painting emotions / something of how I felt.

 

[ChronoAngel]

Well, I am an artist. I was gonna share some of my art therapy pieces, but since I'm new, I have no idea how to. I even went to use imgur to upload so you could click the link, but it won't let me post that either. :(

 

[One step at a time]

Yep, creativity quietly sat down and died a while ago - too dangerously close to feeling and to self-expression. Staaaarting to revive in my willingness to doodle and to play with paint if nobody's watching. I like painting on my arms because parts (that are usually censored and silenced) get a say in what my body looks like for a little while.
I need to figure out how to do pictures.

 

[Teasel]

I need to figure out how to do pictures.

Me too, am pretty damned avoidant of it even tho I love it

 

[Deleted member 41765]

I like painting on my arms because parts (that are usually censored and silenced) get a say in what my body looks like for a little while.

This is beautiful!

 

[Deleted member 41765]

While I've many old more accomplished lines I could share, I'll take a deep breath and share this instead. When I met with the facilitator of my art therapy group, she put me on the spot and asked me to compose a fragment centered around what I hoped to gain. Although my anxiety in that moment went from baseline to 6,000 I managed to come out with this:

I hope to capture the ocean
in it's blue entirety
the waves, the sand
the buoyancy of floating-

 

[Deleted member 41765]

About the first time I'd ever tried painting emotions / something of how I felt.

A powerful image. I will hold this today. Thank you for sharing (also, um, I see skill!!!)

 

[Joan]

I did not discover my real artist side until post trauma. I too had never thought there was any talent or gift there. I had a brief stint at a facility in Arizona where I first met an art therapist and she started me in scribbling, getting things out, using color or shapes to express what I no longer had words for. I remember returning to my regular therapist and sharing some of this and the light bulb moments of her saying oh, I get it. From there it has propelled me into actually showing some pieces at galleries. Not all of what I create now is as personal or trauma focused....those pieces are definitely harder to show.
Love this thread, thanks for starting...looking forward to seeing other's art and sharing a bit of my own.