PORTFOLIO STATEMENT
POSTGRADUATE APPLICATION FOR ART PSYCHOTHERAPY
Artmaking has always been a therapeutic tool in my life. Creative play and crafts were my sanctuary as a child. As a young adult supporting myself, I relieved stress with collage and crochet. I studied art at university, and it was during a difficult time at the California College of the Arts that I had my first experience of talk therapy. Since then, I have continued to learn about and tend to my mental health through psychotherapy alongside my ever-changing art practice. These tools have helped me through life-altering events and have led to my decision to pursue a career as an art psychotherapist. I’ve gained many insights about my art through an understanding of my own psychology, and vice versa.
A decade after university, as I began to establish some success as a painter, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgeries and treatments interrupted my artwork, draining my energy and focus. As I recovered I began making patchwork quilts. Fabric is an ideal medium through which to process emotions around comfort, healing, and community. A quilt can wrap around the body like a warm embrace. Traditionally, quilts were made by the women of a community as a gift to one of its members, demonstrating care and belonging. The meditative repetition of hand-stitching and the act of putting pieces together are powerful symbolic processes. My involvement with the modern quilting community via guilds and teaching has continued ever since. Fabric remains my medium of choice, though my style and subject matter continue evolving.
In 2019 I emigrated from the United States to Amsterdam, Netherlands for my husband’s work. I struggled to find friends, consistent work, and a sense of belonging. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues, and my sewn fabric compositions resembled fragments of cracked ice as the world felt more uncertain and social norms appeared to break down. These pieces, lacking warmth, are not quilted but are instead tightly stretched on wooden frames.
While living in the Netherlands, I benefitted tremendously as a patient of clinical art psychotherapy. Connecting intuitively and physically with art materials, and allowing myself uncensored expression, I learned to better trust and accept my emotions. Because art objects are inherently physical, creativity involves the body and its senses. I made large drawings with an oil pastel in each hand, making sweeping movements with both arms simultaneously, engaging both sides of the brain. I also sewed cloth dolls representing psychological archetypes, giving them names and physical forms. This was a valuable exercise, and I plan to continue making more of them, perhaps teaching others to do so in the future.
I currently enjoy the traditional hand-stitching arts of Japanese sashiko and Korean bojagi. I focus on practicing rather than mastering, meditating on the repetitive motion of stitching. Resisting the temptation to undo imperfect stitches is an opportunity for self-acceptance. If I continue, the quality of the stitches is guaranteed to change, providing visible proof of progress.
A decade after university, as I began to establish some success as a painter, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgeries and treatments interrupted my artwork, draining my energy and focus. As I recovered I began making patchwork quilts. Fabric is an ideal medium through which to process emotions around comfort, healing, and community. A quilt can wrap around the body like a warm embrace. Traditionally, quilts were made by the women of a community as a gift to one of its members, demonstrating care and belonging. The meditative repetition of hand-stitching and the act of putting pieces together are powerful symbolic processes. My involvement with the modern quilting community via guilds and teaching has continued ever since. Fabric remains my medium of choice, though my style and subject matter continue evolving.
In 2019 I emigrated from the United States to Amsterdam, Netherlands for my husband’s work. I struggled to find friends, consistent work, and a sense of belonging. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues, and my sewn fabric compositions resembled fragments of cracked ice as the world felt more uncertain and social norms appeared to break down. These pieces, lacking warmth, are not quilted but are instead tightly stretched on wooden frames.
While living in the Netherlands, I benefitted tremendously as a patient of clinical art psychotherapy. Connecting intuitively and physically with art materials, and allowing myself uncensored expression, I learned to better trust and accept my emotions. Because art objects are inherently physical, creativity involves the body and its senses. I made large drawings with an oil pastel in each hand, making sweeping movements with both arms simultaneously, engaging both sides of the brain. I also sewed cloth dolls representing psychological archetypes, giving them names and physical forms. This was a valuable exercise, and I plan to continue making more of them, perhaps teaching others to do so in the future.
I currently enjoy the traditional hand-stitching arts of Japanese sashiko and Korean bojagi. I focus on practicing rather than mastering, meditating on the repetitive motion of stitching. Resisting the temptation to undo imperfect stitches is an opportunity for self-acceptance. If I continue, the quality of the stitches is guaranteed to change, providing visible proof of progress.