Art Heals
A wonderful offering came to my inbox from Radici Studios: an hour of community art making. I decided to check it out. It was donation based, with donations going to Everytown for Gun Safety.
Throughout the hour, Jennifer Bloomer led us through an activity. We would draw a circle, and we would create art that focused on one emotion we were feeling. At the end, folks had a series of circles that symbolized their feelings.
I modified the activity and created a bunch of drawings for different emotions in one circle. Pen and ink was where I was during the activity, even though I had markers and watercolors right by me. So I made little figures and sketches to represent different feelings: anxiety, fatigue, the feeling of not knowing what to do, heartbreak, fragile, sad, the feeling of “too much.”
As others were creating their last picture, I started putting my images into words. Making connections between the images. It reads:
bees in my stomach
make static electricity
lightning bolts in my brain
sparking a nuclear explosion
not enough tears to put it out
but a river of tears across
500 years
it’s too heavy
sleep isn’t rest enough
to mend the cracks
to mend the tears rips
but where the banks overflow
flowers grow
together we will grow flowers
I started crying while writing. Something I’d been wishing I could do for a bit, but the tears just didn’t come until then.
Closing out
There is so much heavy stuff right now. In the U.S. and around the world. I’m wishing everyone the time and space to truly take care of yourself, through art, journaling, therapy if you can get there, nature, community… Whatever you need to take care of you. And thank you to Jennifer with Radici Studios for her offering today.