Story Spheres

May 27, 2015 Natasha Shapiro, ATR-BC, LCATLeave a comment

I love these images. Read more to find out about participating in The Big Draw!!!

SketchBetter Story Sphere - 003 Radioactive

Welcome to Story Spheres, a project by SketchBetter to mindfully draw real life emotions and human experiences into a small circle.

Story Spheres will be exhibited as part of the world’s largest drawing festival, The Big Draw in October 2015. Every Drawing Tells a Story.

How to Contribute:
1. Draw a circle in pencil, 95mm in diameter
2. Take a minute to focus on your breathing
3. Grab a black fine liner (0.1mm is good) and doodle your story sphere.(Tip: Consider what’s going on in your life right now and how you are feeling… right now? There’s no right or wrong here)

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Only In Art Therapy: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly… First story: Saudi Arabia

May 14, 2015May 14, 2015 Natasha Shapiro, ATR-BC, LCATLeave a comment

If you’re reading this and you are a patient of an art therapist or have been or if you are an art therapist, and have a story of an incident, please let me know and I will post it here.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, whats’ that?: Basically there is great news and exciting things going on in the field of art therapy, like an article in National Geographic about art therapy with veterans with PTSD and photos of their masks, and bad and “ugly” things, like annoying portrayals of art therapists in current Tv shows and movies, as well as a lot of misconceptions about what the scope of what we can do is and whom we work with. I will use the pronoun “they” when talking about patients to further protect identities.

With the not so great news stories, I will follow with the question: So what can we do to change this NOW? because we’re in a better place today than ever before with respect for the profession, but not enough…
I’m not satisfied!

I will start this series off with a great story I found on Facebook linked to an article about art therapy in Saudi Arabia: Using Art Therapy with Former Jihadists, turns out it is a very effective modality for lots of reasons:

http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/using-art-therapy-to-open-the-minds-of-jihadists

The Flying Elephant, a Poem

May 8, 2015 Natasha Shapiro, ATR-BC, LCATLeave a comment

A flying elephant
can fly anytime
she want to.
Far away from the
evil poachers
out for blood and tusks.
An elephant with a trunk
and feathers
could take a shit
in the sky, aiming it
at a murder machine
down below,
so he’d be buried in
elephant shit.
A fitting grave for him.

5.7.15

What’s Your Art Story?

May 7, 2015 Natasha Shapiro, ATR-BC, LCATLeave a comment

Interesting Idea!

creativity in motion

This semester’s Art Therapy Studio class I’m teaching again for Ursuline College’s Art Therapy and Counseling Program is quickly winding down. Our time together over the last few months has been another series of artful Saturday morning gatherings! It’s a pleasure seeing students take time to create their own art and strengthen the important role of personal creative practice as artists and soon to be art therapists.

One of the requirements of the class, even before I started teaching the course has included students telling their “Art Story” through the media of digital storytelling (DST). This assignment provides students an opportunity to use (and learn!) digital video making and create a creative piece of work reflective of their identity as an artist.

According to Lasica, (2006) “Digital storytelling is a craft that uses the tools of digital technology to tell stories about our lives…. and can be a powerful, evocative…

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Some Favourite Colouring Pages

May 6, 2015 Natasha Shapiro, ATR-BC, LCATLeave a comment

Great post!

Wildersoul Colouring Book

Tuatara with the spiky hairdo!

This reminds me of a sunflower! How about you?

I quite liked Quentin Blake’s illustrations, and this one brings him to mind. Fly free!

Some might like a theme of colouring pictures, and there are some themes available from the menu at the top of the blog. This here is an eclectic collection, as I randomly select some favourites from my Media Library to share all over again!