I volunteered tonight from 6-30-9:00 at TAE. I discovered a few things. 

1. I promised "The Poet" I would bring some poems. The first thing he did was come over to me and inquire about them, while I was painting a treasure box. When I said I forgot them, he said "oh, I will let you get back to your painting." While I painted, I thought about the situation. I felt as if I had hurt his feelings. I thought perhaps he did not take me seriously. After a while I returned to him and struck up some conversation. We planned on writing a poem together and I will definitely not forget my poems next week. Here are some interesting questions this situation raised... What do you do if you disappoint a client? I am worried that my poetry might be to risky or offensive, what should I do? If I want to talk to this poet about his life, I am assuming it has walked some interesting roads, and if  he feels comfortable with sharing is it appropriate to ask hard questions?  What if he wants to know things about me that I am uncomfortable sharing? 

2. I am definitely more of an emphasis on therapy rather then art for therapy person. This is a hard realization since I have a fine art background and I love making art. I am not sure if this is because of the way that TAE is approaching their art for therapy or if it is because I am drawn more to the therapy part. Example 1 of 2: 

I had helped a young autistic fellow draw a moose last week and the other volunteer decided to paint over all of our portion. This makes sense, because I am not a trained painter and this volunteer is having an art show with the young fellow to show a progression representing his teaching and it's influence.  

Example 2 of 2:

The teacher for the day was drawing a clients drawing for him. I am not sure if he had the mental capacity to say how he was feeling about the situation. The only reason I thought it might have bothered him was he kept bringing it up as a "joke". 

I understand that art feels good to make and that the act of making art can be therapeutic. I am just more interested in helping people understand things about themselves through examining and discussing the images they create. At TAE, it seemed that the focus was more on creating a pretty picture than about the artist expressing themselves, or understanding the self from the art. 

I would like to come up with a project to do with some of the students, but from being in the open studio it is hard to gage what has been done and was successful in the past. 

Here are some images of the treasure box I created and then my final assignment of the evening was to undertake organizing magazine clippings. This was funny because it reminded me of the number 5 photo collage...hehe. However instead of 3 boxes of people, words, and animals there are folders and folders and folders in 3 drawers with labels like jewelry, household, cars, nascar, water....and I am so excited to make this mess make some sense. 

BEFORE

AFTER

INSIDE

Signs signs everywhere a sign

Today, I had my first day of volunteer work with The Art Experience. I had previously met with Lindsey to discuss what days would work for me, I received a tour but did not get to meet any of the artists. It was a bit of a rainy day today. My husband and my son where dressed in matching leather jackets as we pulled the Honda Civic out of the driveway. When we arrived, the first thing I did was hop out of the car and have my picture taken in front of the sign on their building. I felt as if it was my first day of school: only, instead of my mom taking the picture, it was my husband and instead of standing in front of the pine tree at my childhood house, I was standing in front of a brick building which stood strangely alone in Pontiac. My first task of the day was to use oil pastels to create a wicking layer for the outline and veins of fall leaves, then I painted water color on top of this. These leaves where to replace the flowers and bees inside of a glass case outside the door of The Art Experience. An older gentlemen, who loved drawing old Tigers players, was the inspiration for the decorations I was commissioned to create.  Just as I was changing summer to fall, I could feel the change within the building itself. On March 15th 2011, Katie Serewicz, a founding member of The Art Experience, had passed away. Her artwork danced around the space, alive and vibrant, while the mood in the room was more somber.


After I had finished this first project, I talked to the second artist who came in. He was the resident poet. Although, the first poem he let me read was a collaboration about angels, his second poem was hand-written on printer paper and was about love. There was a very beautiful line discussing drinking coffee out of your favorite mug; I adore that idea. I had decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt with the word love embroidered across it.


The next assignment I was given was a "treasure box," which is to be decorated and auctioned off. The box I chose was a small, metal, army green, lockable box. I plan to crochet some flowers to juxtapose the masculine feminine, perhaps I will use some buttons.


This is when I was asked to assist a young man with mild autism who was painting a moose. The time soon came to an end, but not before we had managed to paint the ripples in the water from where the moose stood and drank.


As I was leaving, a conversation with Marie sparked up about The Art Experience's signs. I suggested that I could turn their font into an illistrator file, and then we could rearrange it differently on a photo of the store front. Once a design is selected, I will find out if any sign companies are willing to donate supplies. I am very excited about starting this project. I had a beautiful time creating with a diverse group of people in the little town of Pontiac. I can say now that I am art experienced.