Treasure Box

At The Art Experience in Pontiac:
Tuesday I spent the afternoon painting a treasure box along side two wonderfully interesting and inspiring women.  I told you about the woman who paints birds last week.  This week I also met a woman who is a retired school teacher and has had a stroke.  Judy (one of the founding art therapists) talked about her last night during her presentation.  This woman brought in a finished project she had started a couple years ago.  I can't remember what they called it but she had gone to a workshop with Judy where they had started these books. You start with a regular childrens book but then you reinterpret and personalize the pages with your own pictures, momentos, poems, etc. Her book was very beautiful and elaborate.  It was a book of her mother's life.  I think this was theraputic in many ways for this woman.  She was able to share her mother's story and preserve it for future generations in such a creative and inviting way. It gives her now an external object to use to share her memories with others. 

This woman reminded me a great deal of my grandmother who has also suffered a stroke and like this woman has trouble forming the words for the thoughts in her head.  It was quite clear to me however that this book and the paintings she was working on were important to her and gave her a motivation to work at communicating.  In addition, Judy explained how her paintings originally were only on the right side of the page and now are on the whole page.  I observed how Judy took time and admired the book and then worked with her on her paintings, giving her direction on different nuances of the pieces.  What an affirming and welcoming environment to be in!  Very healing on many levels.