Final Creative Practice Blog

The final art piece I created is a reflective collage of my creative practice blogs for each class and my recent pastel landscape piece which is a culmination of my journey in the Graduate Certificate program. Blogging was brand new to me when I started my first class, Arts in Medicine in Practice. I quickly discovered that I enjoyed the creative practice blog assignments and began to create blogs reflective on the material I was studying and learning. The ceramic healing wall projects began during my creative practice blogging while I was learning about healing environments. I began creating the ceramic healing tiles for my blog which eventually led me to propose to the hospital, a ceramic healing wall project, Tiles of Compassion, for my practicum. During my practicum I was inspired to draw healing angels for my blogs which culminated into sculpting out of clay the healing angels during my Professional Seminar blog assignments. Creating my work on a consistent basis helped me to stay in a creative flow with my work, which became a means of self-care for me which in turn helped me maintain the creative flow in my practice during bedside art. I learned during blogging and discussions, reflection, which aided my writing and deeper sensitivity in my own work and arts in medicine practice. This week I am on a cruise in the Caribbean, while packing for the trip I realized I needed to pack art supplies so I could engage in creative activity during this time. My desire for creating art has increased. While in Labadee Haiti, I was sitting on the ship deck looking out at the landscape and the desire to engage in creative activity with the oil pastels and paper I brought, came upon me. This was very different for me because I usually create in 3 dimension with clay, but I have found a new freedom and release from what I have learned and experienced in my Graduate Certificate program. I realized that I could try this pastel drawing, because for me it was not about a great work of art, it was about engaging in creative activity, just like I do with my patients in bedside art. So I did it and what was really great was the whole time I was drawing, a group of local Haitians were drumming so I created to the rhythm of their culture, I loved it! I have only worked with pastels 3 times before so I was pleased with the time I spent creating and my result. I am finding a new found interest these past few days in creating landscape drawings with pastels, which flows with my arts in medicine practice. I plan to introduce landscape drawing at the patient’s bedside. I realized through this experience that I am excited to try new mediums of art for my own art and in my practice. I feel so liberated and new confidence in my practice which I realized has developed from all that I have learned and experienced in my practice from the Graduate Certificate program this past year. The program has been life changing for me. I have so many new creative ideas for my arts in medicine practice and my own art. Most of all I have learned in the Graduate Certificate Program is that I am determined with all my heart to pursue my calling as an Art in Health Practitioner so I can help to enhance others quality of life.

Professional Seminar - Creative Practice - 4

I have been sculpting/cleaning up “Angel of Serenity” for a couple weeks and I still have at least a week more of cleaning and sculpting on the water in particular, the leaf wings are fine, I have not needed to touch them.  This cleaning/sculpting process had been a time of patience, slowing down and reflecting. The water clay strips I feel have messy edges and small globs of clay all over from my finger prints when I first formed the water and the clay was sticky.   It does feel like the water to me because everywhere I look it needs cleaning, I just keep cleaning and cleaning, never ending like the ocean. I have not been in a hurry because I know in order to capture the expression of peace I have to encounter every inch of the creating experience. What has made this process challenging is that I left my pottery/sculpting tools at home in AZ while I am here in FL.  I literally have hundreds of these tools so my thought has been to get creative with other tools that I do have access to here.  At first after many hours and it still looked messy to me, I realized that I just needed to go buy the right tool so I could get it done quicker and correctly. However as I have been engaging in the process, I noticed that even though everywhere I looked it still needed to be cleaned, the angel was progressing to a more finished stage.  I also began to brainstorm on what tool to use to get it cleaned up how I wanted, and I decided to use a small dry semi stiff paintbrush to brush crumbs off, smooth the small globs and rough edges.  The paintbrush works well it adds softness yet cleans and because of its flexibility I am able to actually begin sculpting the edges and shapes within the clay strands.  I had a breakthrough in the sculpting aspect while using the paintbrush, I was reminded of what the waves look like when they peak and crash and I began to capture similar shapes and the feeling the waves have as they move within the ocean.  I am now seeing every nuance of the piece as I continue to go around smoothing and sculpting each shape of the water/body of the angel.  The angels character, expression is starting to come forth as I continue to mold and shape her.

Here are some creative pictures of the Angel of Serenity.  I also have included some pictures of a second angel I recently began and it’s process thus far. It is in its beginning rough awkward stage before it is shaped and leaves added.

Needing to be cleaned and shaped.

Top view of the back

Professional Seminar - Creative Practice - 3

“Angel of Serenity” has all its parts; water, leaves on wings and hair, so it is now time for me to sculpt. Basically I need to go around every part and sculpt it until it looks just right. Some reflections while I was adding the different parts were on how quickly the rings I made went on to the body of the angel to represent the water. However the small leaves that I cut out with a tiny leaf cookie cutter out of a thin slab were slow and tedious to make. While pounding the clay really thin to cut out the leaves I noticed how my hand marks made a natural impression on the clay that looked like the print on a real leaf. This reminded me of other times when I recognized how when creating with clay I catch a glimpse of how the actual object in nature was created.

I also noticed how I was in a hurry to try to make the leaves quickly so I could get them onto the wings and move onto sculpting. I was reminded that when real leaves were created that each one was slowly and carefully made just right. I could feel how I needed to slow down so I could embrace the creative process, not just for the leaves but for every aspect of the creation of the angel. So I slowed down and really began to embrace the process and began to bond with creating the angel of serenity. While in the flow of bedside patient art I realized how easy it is for me to embrace the creative process, but in my own creative experience, I was in hurry and rushing through the creative process trying to make the most of my time. The creative flow, embracing the process is just as important in my self-care as it is in my practice.

While embracing the process I started to place the leaves onto the body and onto the wings. It felt like I was placing a covering, clothing onto the angel. This reminded me of how leaves are a covering on trees, and how they were used to cover Adam and Eve for clothing in the Garden of Eden. I also reflected on how leaves and feathers look alike and are both coverings.

The pictures are of a test pinch pot I created out of the same clay the angel is created from. I plan to fire and glaze the angel in my own kiln using my underglazes that I am familiar with, so it was necessary to test the clay with my underglazes, glazes and fire in my own kiln. My shell pinch pot test turned out good, so now I know how to finish the angel. The other pictures are of the angel getting ready for its final sculpting, and then it will dry out and be fired and glazed.