Prompt Two - ISR for Kay

Prompt 2

Sometimes being alone and isolated is when inspiration is really heightened.  As this developed I became excited at the possibilities and there was no judgement. There was a freedom and something fluid about the image.  I am keen to see where the next prompt takes me on this journey.

Prompt Two - ISR for Janice

Maybe the ocean will tell...

Listening

Listening to the still voice....passing through frustration and lack of faith. Or is it just too long waiting and trusting, then giving up! Wondering if something will happen...connection and accepting, washing the past and allowing. Could I photograph the sox and not scream....how can I find this place that calls for even more...even more time, even more energy, even more commitment.
Maybe the ocean will tell......the answer lies around the next wave. Be in stillness.
Take the journey....

what now....all this energy and colour but

inspiration, creativity

Prompt Two - ISR for Cath

making meaning making special

My first response to this prompt was - "finding inspiration in the isolation.... that's easy!"  It is difficult to feel uninspired or isolated in the midst of the Castlemaine Festival!  I reflected on the things that I had seen that inspired me, that I felt a sense of resonance with -  I felt it in my chest, in my breath, in my heart.  Little houses made by kindergarten children, creative conversations, adolescent power, light falling on faces, sadness, joy, beauty, movement, boxing kangaroos on a sea of light and pink....  Art creates connections - in viewing the work I feel heard, I am listening. I am very very lucky.  I made some wee notes and wee sketches:
 
My second visit to this prompt inspired a different response... "but I don't feel isolated."  I reflected on how lucky I am to know plenty of practising and qualified arts therapists.  I feel that my work is respected among peers from other disciplines, I live among many many creative people, my obsession with creativity is respected and shared.  Its the arts that is central to all of this, because throughout my life and my work art creates connections.  It helps me to truly listen to my clients, to reduce their interpersonal isolation.  I reflected on the times I have felt isolated: being stuck at home with young children, stuck with the drudgery of running a full house of people, having to focus on trauma and case notes rather than arts therapy research and practises...And in all of these environments I realised that it is my creativity that has saved me, it has connected me with others, it has made sense of my work, it has bought me joy:  Taking photos of my kids socks in all the stupid places I find them rather than continuing to yell at them, showing my new boss the therapy room after a child has 'trashed it" and saying "this is what I do and it is meaningful and creative and important, this is what trauma looks like - got it?" and of course he got it because it was the child's voice he was viewing, choosing to have an arts based focus to every aspect of my work, choosing to meet creatively with friends.  So I reflected that the source of inspiration in the isolation is me and my creativity and what my use of it and openness to it brings to my connectedness with others.  Given this, I chose to make a self portrait.  This is a tactile self portrait - eyes closed, feeling my face as I drew it.  The big surprise for me is that it was a breath thing, a feeling thing.  Its was a very very powerful experience.  It was deeply intimate.  I listened, I heard.  So, as it turns out, art doesn't just connect me with others, it connects me with me!

Prompt Two - ISR for Katie

Big spaces, small communities

Above is what I created in response to the prompt, below is the back and following page, which was as much of a surprise as what ended up coming out above. While the below images we more accidental, they seemed important to include.

Prompt Two - ISR for Natalya

Inside outside
Outside inside

Prompt 2 - Finding Inspiration in the Isolation

I chose the site to begin responding to this prompt as the room I use for consultations at work.

I ask myself "do I feel isolated?" No, I don't feel isolated anymore...I feel supported...Or do I? Am I isolated as a CAT because this "title" is still not recognised the way I feel it should be? Or perhaps it is misunderstood? I don't feel isolated in my workplace. I feel supported. I am not sure how this prompt feels for me so I stop thinking I allow the materials to guide me. As I inquire further, new knowings emerge and threads start to from...taking me somewhere unexpected

"Creating a safe space for myself as practitioner and those I companion - 

both inside our office, the consultation room and outside in the world"

"Establishing parameters, boundaries, transparency 

and accountability within my practice"

"Continuing to be inspired and utilising creativity to assist 

self /others to explore the matters of the heart and soul"

"Those I companion are geographically, physically 

and emotionally isolated"

"They lack support and services to assist them in 

navigating their trauma and experiences"

"The system that tries to assist them often further isolates them"

Prompt Two

Finding inspiration in the isolation

Intersubjective Responding

When companioning an other using the MIECAT form of inquiry, one of the procedures often used within the session is called intersubjective responding (I.S.R.).

It is a creative representation, produced by the arts therapist (companion) and is given in response to the art or content that has been produced by the client (inquirer) during the session. It connects with what is alive in the moment and the resonances felt (usually body felt) by the companion.

Whatever is created is given to the inquirer in uni-modal or multi-modal form (of the companions choosing) not specifically as a gift, but rather as an offering of what resonated with the companion.

I will be responding to your posts in this way and uploading them onto the blog in the days following your post.

Warm regards,
Jacinta

Prompt One - ISR for Katie

I really loved the addition of this description of the bower bird that I happened upon after I had created the ISR for Katie. It really felt important that I added it.

Threads

I created the right hand pages first, in response to the prompt.
Threads of curiosity, threads of connection. Space to grow and develop.
I had the bird image sitting on the left hand side while I created, as I liked it and thought maybe I would use it. When I thought I was finished, and moved it because I hadn't used it in my image, it didn't feel right anymore. The birds that come visit me do so without judgement, and something of this little bird watching without judgement, and the multitude of perspectives she can take, resonated.

Prompt One - ISR for Janice

Flow...in flow, out flow, up flow, down flow, flow.......meeting each challenge with flow.

Cutting through the entangles and getting in and under to meet what's inside. Allow to be taken.

Start the journey without knowing. What I am hoping is to be curious, open, playful and yet align with something more.....connect, share, grow and manifest. Produce creative space. Be present.

Prompt One - ISR for Cath

I wanted to capture some of the movement element of Cath's video and also the celebration of imperfection. Funnily enough, I made a spelling mistake in my typing and didn't notice until it was stuck onto the postcard - the ONLY thing I pasted down!

beauty

I made this video in response to a session at work a couple of days before my package arrived - I relished the opportunity to try a new art form and to process my experience of the session creatively.  I am writing this as I try to upload the video - its taking a long time...If it doesn't work I will post a number of stills instead....  I wrote the following while I was making the video:
"I am hoping.....
-to capture and celebrate some of the beauty and the generosity I experience every day living and working rurally
-for encouragement and support to increase my own arts practise
-to celebrate imperfection
-to continue to feel grateful for this opportunity"

Prompt One - ISR for Kay

 






Common threads, shared path...

I am also hoping..

I am conscious of my isolation as I sit with this and am very keen to be part of something that will re-connect me. I am very aware that we are all might be working in isolation and maybe this is just how it is. I am hoping this experience might bridge some of the spaces

Prompt One - ISR for Natalya

Immersed in art,
I have become
in focus, out of focus.

To start...
venture into uncertainty & unknowingness.

Holding this emergent process, weave art, connect art, share art.

Focus 'n opportunity, light got into our story.

Art, our transformation.

Prompt One - "I am hoping"

Hello All,

I am so excited to have received the welcome pack and have the opportunity to start the project! I have done some journalling and reflection on the process of starting and this lead to some representations using the collage materials Jacinta supplied.

When I scanned my journal pages light got into the sides of the scanner so some of the images appear to be washed out. Rather than try to rectify this, I decided to incorporate it. I have a felt sense of uncertainty and unknowingness as I venture into this collaborative project. Bit are in focus and bits are out of focus.

I have really enjoyed making the time and space to connect with art materials, especially as I have become immersed in practice and day-to-day life. I really appreciate focus and the incentive to reflect on what it is that I hope for in this project as a GRAT member, GRAT organiser and Creative Arts Therapist.

Also using the arts to start our project seems imperative to me as this project was born from presentations Jan Allen gave on "Arts based research" - the hurdles faced when doing it and the experience of being Creative Arts Therapists. 

Thank you Jacinta for holding this project for us and to you all for being committed to the emergent process.

Best wishes,

Natalya

Prompt One

I am hoping

Welcome!

Hi everyone and welcome to the regionalcats blog!

The packages are starting to arrive with you all, or are still in the post on their way to you... I hope you enjoy them as much as I did putting them all together!

The first prompt is included in the pack and as soon as you are ready (once you have your pack of goodies) please feel free to start uploading your artwork and refections. I can't wait to see them all...