Counseling Center "Expressive Arts" (Academic Enrichment): Learning to Heal From Within (3 points)

     

    On September 19, I went to the "Expressive Arts" workshop hosted by the Counseling Center in Macvicar Hall. A few times a month, they try to provide spaces for students to creatively express themselves and learn how to understand who they are internally. The session I attended had painting as the medium. The counselor explained how painting can allow a person to capture emotion and metaphorical ideas. However, those same pieces can sometimes reveal certain memories and events that the painter themselves would otherwise keep hidden from the rest of the world. That is why she chose this medium. The activity was intended to challenge us in what we hide from others and what we refuse to face as human beings. Although the counselor emphasized that it was a calm space for people to create and reflect, the goal was to essentially gain a better understand of ourselves and what certain things mean to us throughout our lives.

    I allowed my body to do the creating, while my mind just relaxed, listened to the music being play in the background, and enjoyed the environment. After about 10 to 15 minutes, the counselor asked me to explain my piece, telling her what I felt, what my inspiration was, and why I chose to paint that particular image. To be honest, I turned my brain off so that I could allow my body to be free and take my creativity wherever it wanted to go. So, I ended up painting an abstract piece, with purple, yellow, blue, and red X'ed confetti. In the middle, however, was a black hole. It wasn't big enough to fill the page but enough for people to be instantly drawn towards it. Looking at what I created made me wonder about the way I present myself to others. In public, I'm a very open book and continue to be as honest as possible when it comes to my feelings, goals, emotions, and boundaries. However, there are some emotions that I either keep to or keep from myself. I've never done well in hiding how I felt about certain things, but over time I guaranteed a way to isolate so that those feelings don't arise or provoke me. This is where the Habit of Mind, Curated Inwardness, comes into play. The space gave me an opportunity to artistically understand how I operate in life. The confetti is a symbol of the happiness, freedom, and raw emotions that I display to everyone else, while the black hole represents everything I try to keep away from the world, making sure it's deep enough so only I can reach whatever's hidden in the darkness. I hung it in my room as a reminder of who I am and the potential for me to grow in the emotional areas of my life. It not only serves as a representation of me, but it's a symbol of hope for shrinking that black hole until it's nonexistent. 

by Caitlyn Hickman '29