Creative Leanings: 2013

Friday, 20 December 2013

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Monday, 2 December 2013

Crunching up charcoal, making rough forms, painting back over and rubbing out has become part of my process. Figures emerge as shadows of people who have left their mark. I am reminded of patients on the ward; intensely present for only short periods of time. Some figures take shape as 'the image' others fall to the background; struggling to claim space to be seen, to hold my attention. Impermanence and pain are captured in the entwined lines and shapes invoking my realisation and feelings of grief about the tragic inevitability; for many patients I have been working with, repeat admissions to the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit will punctuate the rest of their lives.

saskianeary@yahoo.com

Friday, 21 June 2013

and finally... difficult to bare

While making this figure I had in mind the painful experience of giving birth. Training to be an art psychotherapist has been a difficult labour and at times seemed too much to bare. Babies pour fourth as overwhelming feelings and anxieties - my own and those of clients. Unexpressed thoughts and intensely private experiences become at once public. Not all can be nurtured - there are far too many. The struggle to hold and let go, to speak and remain silent is ongoing. Developing compassion towards myself and others brings to the fore the importance of taking care of myself as an art therapist in order to sustain my practice into the future.

My final placement was in a hospital for 'sick children' where I offered art therapy to children and their families. Chronic illness evokes deep fears and psychological distress which cannot be hidden. Raw vulnerability and fear of exposure have been wrapped into the body of this little figure. Finding the courage to express and share these anxieties has only been possible with support from many others.