Symbolic Projections

July for me meant conference, friends, colleagues, and another fold-out book. Early July, I prepared to attend the 46th Annual American Art Therapy Association Conference in Minneapolis, MN. As with last year I decided to create a multi-day activity that could be mirrored by my clients and we could discuss after my return. It needed to be something I could do while on the road. My clients were supposed to be simultaneously completing (I hoped) their own books as well. So here’s what we did. July 1 - 6, 2015 Who: My MBAT (mindfulness based art therapy) group and myself. Why: In July, due to the holiday, a semester break, and my conference, there was an extended period of time when group would not be able to meet. The activity’s purpose was to encourage daily creative engagement for distraction. Hopefully providing at least a several minutes of mindful art making each day. July 6 - 13, 2015 Where: Everyone was to create with whatever materials were available to th...

In 2013 I decided to create a mini fold-out book to document 13 days of travel (from the July 4th holiday through conference and back). The experience was fantastic (that was pre-blogging days) and so the following year I decided to repeat the project. In 2014 July/Travel Journal 2014 documenting the 2014 AATA Conference in San Antonio. So of course this year I had to do it again! New city (Minneapolis), new book. I’ve been swamped at every turn as of late so instead of making my own book I used one made/gifted to me by a very talented past intern. The book itself a work of art with hand-made pages, cloth pages, cardboard sections, pockets, the works. The book became my memory-saver. Lecture and workshop notes, contacts, keepsakes, it all went in there. It was the repository of stray thoughts and tasty eats, as well as sketches and future plans. See you at next years...