Late last summer, II was invited to participate in a pilot project between the Salem Art Association and Salem Hospital Cancer Institute. I did a session on creating art dolls last December, and this month I offered three sessions of visual journaling.
I provided all the materials for the ladies to make a simple journal and each week they jumped in fearlessly. Many of the women were undergoing chemo and they shared that for the hour and a half they forgot about their treatment and just had fun.
Their pages were beautiful, some completed, most just backgrounds waiting for words and images to be added.
And many vowed to continue working on their journals at home. One woman confided she planned to add pockets and was going to insert the messages she received from friends as she went through chemo.
One of the participants wrote me the sweetest note after the last class and with her permission I’ll share it here as it sums up so beautifully what the experience was like for her:
My observation was that this offering certainly has a healing place in the lives of – well anyone who needs healing. It is in the process – not necessarily the art and certainly not the finished product, but the individual elements in combination – side by side with people sharing a bit of their life even through illness and disease.
It has purpose, and I suppose gives us permission to ‘let go, and treat ourselves’ as the time flew by without a thought other than what color to use, where to put it.
The open format you offered covered many art forms and medium – a great introduction, or experience for all levels to both find comfort and step out of that familiar place.
I have begun a journal project at home using felt, and fine paper. It feels more like I am in control – so I can introduce – at a slower pace – all of the delicious things that I tried to put onto one page…
