the Queen of Blobbage (pronounced in the French way).
Lateral Grieving.
Lateral Grieving
for the Queen of Blobbage
Sally Swain © original art
Who’s heard of it?
Not you. Not me before now, because
Lateral Grieving for
Category Archives: Art as therapy
Art and Soulstice
To share or not to share my shadow side?
To show or not to show
the art that is darker, grizzlier, more sombre?
It’s a true dilemma that niggles at my artist (and social media) self.
I trace the dilemma back at least 28 years, to the success of my first book, ‘Great Housewives of Art’.
Great Housewives of Art
cover of very first edition
Grafton HarperCollins
1988.
Sorry about slightly crooked photo. I have a slightly crooked relationship with this creation.
This book blessed and
Extreme sport for me is stepping onto an escalator in a shopping mall
I said there’d be more about my Aotearoa NZ sojourn. And lo.
Kiaora!
Sally Swain’s mini artelogue journal
Smiley face snow-streaked mountain on a hot summer’s day. Can you spot the friendly mountain appearing in journal page above?
A Smiley Face Snow-Streaked Mountain
watched over the place I fell in love with,
Swoosh, Trickle, Sputsput, Ebb, Flow
OK folks. I’m gonna get all formal on you. Well – a bit more – how to put it? Staid? than our usual chatty approach.
Can you cope?
I’m sharing with you a piece I wrote for the Australian and New Zealand Arts Therapy Association newsletter. I hope you gain something of value from reading it.
SAATflower
It’s all about the ecotone.
The what?
The ecotone. A place full of life, bubble and vibrancy.
Read on if you feel inclined…
Swoosh, trickle, sputsput, ebb, flow.
Where the Sand Meets the SeaWritten with gratitude for Lynn Kapitan’s ‘Arts Therapies in the Ecotone: Contact, Collaboration and Creative Entanglement’ ANZATA conference keynote address
Swoosh, trickle, sputsput, ebb, flow.
What happens where sand and sea meet? Do they decide they don’t like each other, only to end this encounter? Does the sand lose its sense of self as the sea rushes in? Does the sea sacrifice its watery essence? I’m no scientist, but it seems the constant contact leads to elemental connection, interdependence, change and aliveness. Sand and sea affect each other, yet
One breath, one brushstroke, one paper towel at a time
Awash
Sally Swain © original art
Aged care. Hand-washing paraphernalia and paper towel dispensers are everywhere.
Use the paper towel in art, I say.
I attend the inaugural Creative Ageing Conference. Afterwards, I am awash with ideas and tears.
There’s the macro:
Windows fling open to the wide open sky of amazing creative ageing projects around the globe.
And there’s
Red Girl Paves the Way
Art and Soulie Spot #3
stories from the creative path
Friends, creators, Art and Soulies, you have Sarah Gibson’s Red Girl to thank for the existence of one-on-one Creativity Coaching sessions.
The amazing Sarah came to one of my groups back in 1998. Her partner had recently died. She kept asking if I would sit with her while she painted. I wasn’t sure. I’d been running groups for several years, but was unconfident, shaky, shy and couldn’t
The Joyful Art of Grieving
Joy? Grief? Huh? How do these fit together?
Let’s look at Hiromi Tango’s work.
Nature/Nurture (Green) 2015
Hiromi Tango
neon and mixed media
This wondrous, brave artist threads together
loss, wool and plastic
to create vivid sculptural installations.
Her current Sydney exhibition, Fluorescence, encapsulates Tango’s grief for her
Art and Soul Space 