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Want a sneak peek?

We will debut our presentation for the AATA conference alongside our classmates:

Monday,  October 18th
in Dana (Paramita Campus, Naropa University)
5:45-6:45 pm Carry Me with You: Art Therapy & Families Facing Military Deployment
7:00-8:00 pm Laptops & Twitter & Blogs, Oh My!

Presentation summaries:

Carry Me With You: Art Therapy and Families Facing Military Deployment
By: Annice Johnson, Beth Fisher, & Chelsea O’Neil
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have brought about unprecedented cycles of deployment. The increasing frequency of these cycles has resulted in raised stress levels for military families. This presentation will identify the implications of military deployment on the psychological development and mental health of children within military families.

Laptops & Twitters & Blogs, Oh my!
By: Donica Snyder & Chelsea O’Neil
Can we responsibly integrate technology into the practice of art therapy without jeopardizing the therapeutic alliance? We think so. An overview of both sides of the technology debate will be presented as well as specific examples of iMovie, blogs, digital photography and more as used to build relationship in therapy and within a larger community context.

Is social media a fad...or a revolution?

Whether you like it or not, the way that the human race communicates is rapidly changing.  Check out this quick video on the the "social network revolution."  We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!

Social Networking for the Therapist!

Technology has not only expanded the opportunity for resources and community for clients - but for the therapist as well! With little to no cost meet people who are advancing our field through social networking.

A social network service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social realtions among people who share interests and/or activities. Try the following:

1. Delicious

Save and share all your bookmarks online, and see what other Art Therapists are bookmarking Large search engines can be scary and yield mechanical results. This is a way to share what we find interesting, useful, and meaningful as a community.

2. Linked In

Discover inside connections when you’re looking for a job or new business opportunity. Your network is full of industry experts willing to share advice. It's like having a consistent rotating job fair in your backyard!

Netiquette

Internet Etiquette!  

The following is taken from Maria Georgiou. 

Her kids guide puts it in plain language!

Here are some things to remember anytime you are online:
 
  Do unto others, as you'd have others do unto you. Be polite and courteous at all times. Remember that you're not communicating with a computer screen, but with a human being who has thoughts and feelings just like you. So, always think of the person on the receiving end of your messages.

  Do not TYPE ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING. If you need to emphasize a word, use asterisks, like *this* or lines, like _this_.

Get Involved!

Online Collaborative Art is a way for you or your client to participate with a community of artists in a creative project. For example:


The Next Chapter! 
The Next Chapter is an online book club where participants read and share experiences togeher. Jaime Ridler offered "Wreck This Journal" where we ... wrecked a journal!

 

http://www.wreckthisjournal.com/

One Million Giraffes!

One man asked the world to contribute artsy giraffes. His goal: one million. And he achieved it! Check out the abundance of the long spotted animal!

Here are some current collabortive art projects that you could join now:

a list is coming soon!

A Hero's Journey becomes Stop-Animaton

The King and the Indian is an example of how a magic story can become real and sharable.

This client wore the hat of filmmaker; he made the characters and the props, selected the sound effects, and added the narrative with only a little bit of 3rd hand assistance! Anyone can do it with a camera, picnik, and iMovie. 

1. Have a story? Create the characters and the setting! Toys, dolls, clay figures, curtains, drawings and anything you or you client can think of will work!

2. Act the story out and capture the frames. The more frames you have, the smoother the transitions will appear. AKA - take lots of pictures!

3. Edit images using Picnik if desired. The dragon's fire breath was a digital sticker!

3. Place your images into iMovie in the order of the story

4. Edit the film. Add sounds, visual effects, determine how long each frame stays on screen, and record voices.  New to iMovie?  Let Apple help:

Get to know iMovie

5. Happily Ever After. Make a disc for the client to take home using iDVD.

Blogging! Spread your message.

Blogs are a great way to share information, news, art work, video, pose questions, start dialogue, and promote events.  Art Therapy is not limited to the confines of the client/therapist session.  Check out a great example of an art therapy blog by watching videos, reading posts and browsing pictures of art interventions here:

Organization:
Naropa University Community Art Studio & Boulder Youth Body Alliance

Group:
Project Girl @ Naropa University

Blog Address:
http://projectgirlboulder.blogspot.com

"Project Girl is BYBA’s after-school program that combines art and media literacy into a unique educational program aimed at encouraging adolescent girls to become more critical consumers of contemporary media advertising and entertainment.

The program gives girls the tools to look at media with smarter eyes, create awesome artwork, hang out with other girls and put what they lean into action! Girls become literate in all media forms so that they control the interpretation of what they see or hear rather than letting the interpretation control them.

Partnering with art therapy students from Naropa University, college, high school and middle school girls all come together to form a rich and powerful community. By bringing the Project Girl curriculum by Kelly Parks Snider into an Open Studio Model, the program becomes a form of art as social action and the creative process of making art becomes a tool for self-expression and activism." - excerpt from the BYBA website

Want to start a blog for your practice, agency, group, or client?

Here are 3 things you need before you begin...
1. A blogging account (wordpress and blogger are great places to start)
2. Media releases and consent forms for any photos or video you might use
3. A message you want to share

Now go for it!

Tweet! Tweet!

Do you tweet?  Are you interested in learning more about art therapy through links, articles, videos, images, and stories shared by others online?  Pop on over to Twitter and follow these great folks...

@artastherapy
@arttxalliance
@arttherapy
@ArtTherapyNet
@arttherapynews
@art2therapy

If you know about more interesting Art Therapy tweeters feel free to leave their @name in the comments!

And, don't forget to follow @arttherapytech!  We're now tweeting!

Free Presentations Online!

Image from: http://www.slideshare.net/

If you're interested in learning, particularly about art therapy, there are some great presentations online for free at http://www.slideshare.net/.  Just go to the site and search for whatever topic you're interested in.  PowerPoint Presentations have been uploaded by users and are accessible for free to the public.  You yourself can also create an account and upload your own presentations in order to promote your work or share what you've been up to with an online community.

Here are some examples of presentations you can view on art therapy:

Social Media and Art Therapy
Art Therapy as an Alternative Treatment
Art Therapy & Trauma: Art Helps Indigenous Women Heal
International Art Therapy Research
Healing Dolls as a Therapeutic Art Therapy Intervention
Bruce Perry's Impact: Considerations for Art Therapy & Children

Head over to slidshare.net and start a search of your own!

AT Tech Intervention: Picnik Photo Editing

Digital photography has allowed artists and creative individuals to manipulate, alter, and enhance their photos to fully capture a feeling, mood, or event.  Documenting the simple things suddenly becomes empowering, special and unique.  Manipulated photos can be printed instantly and used in mixed-media collage, art journals, and in other projects to help a client express themselves fully.

Here are a few great ways a simple photo can be altered 
using the free and simple effects at Picnik.com.

Original photo:

Photo by: Chelsea O'Neil

"Black & White" Effect and Higher Contrast

"Ortonish" Effect

"1960's" Effect

 "Heat Map" Effect

"Texture Effect" & "Cross Process" & "Film Grain" Effects

AT Tech Intervention: "Pencil Sketch" Application

Self Portraits can be a wonderful way for individuals to explore themes of self-image, body image, authentic expression, identity, empowerment...the list goes on!  Portraiture of others can also be a very powerful project for grief work, couple's counseling, and more.  One of the main barriers that comes up for most people around self portraits is the difficulty in wanting it to look a certain way.  For many, drawing is not a forte and that can be frustrating.  Today we're looking at creating a template for self portraits.

Our art therapy tech suggestion?  Picnik's "Pencil Sketch" Application!

Picnik is a free photo editing website that allows you to manipulate images, create collages, and more.  It's got some great applications for starting art projects and we will surely mention it on this blog time and time again.  Without further ado, here is our step-by-step tutorial for creating a self-portrait.

1.  Choose a digital image and upload it to Picnik.  This one was taken using the PhotoBooth application for MacBook.  It's good to choose an image that has relatively high contrast, although you can always edit that on Picnik as well.

2. Click on the "Create" tab on the top and locate the "Pencil Sketch" effect on the left side of the screen.

3. Play around with the "strength", "radius" and "fade" until the image is to your liking.  You can make the lines thick and dark or you can make them very light to go undetected under a pencil drawing or painting.

4.  Save your image and print it out!  You can use image transfer techniques to put this outline on fabric, canvas, or other surfaces.  You could also use it as a template and trace the image, or glue it directly onto the surface you're working on and simply color or paint over it.  There are lots of possibilities for creativity!

AT Tech Intervention: Dream Journal Blogs

Image from:  http://bit.ly/b3N2n3

Dream journaling is a wonderful way to document the scenarios, experiences, and personal reflections one has after a night of dreaming.  Traditionally dream journals are handmade or altered books, written in a notebook, or kept on a word processing program.

Our art therapy tech suggestion?  Blogging!

Blogging is a free and user friendly service that provides a platform for journaling online.  Using a blog as a dream journal allows you to have an anonymous and private journal online.  There are also lots of widgets, templates and designs online that allow bloggers to customize and create a personalized and unique blog.

Perks of blogging vs. hand written journals:

• It's safe.  No worries about who might find your journal - you can set the blog to private, password protect it and write on it anonymously.  If you want other's input or interpretations of dreams you can make it a public forum where people can offer suggestions or feedback.
• It's easy & accessible.  Computer access is free at many internet cafes, libraries, schools, etc. making it accessible for clients from all economic backgrounds.  It's also a great alternative for folks that may have disabilities that make writing by hand time consuming or difficult.  
• It's Organized.  You can label each dream with a title and there are fun functions like "Labels" which allow you to identify main themes of each dream so that they are easily organized and categorized making them easy to find.  The function recognizes which themes are used the most, so may start to recognize patterns that you hadn't noticed before.
• It's Quick & Multi-Faceted.  You can also include images, video, or other forms of documentation quickly and easily making it easy to include songs, art work, photos of people or places as references for elements of the dream.
• It's community building.  You can browse other people's blogs about dreams for ideas on interpretation, symbolism, methods for recording, etc. or you can leave comments and start conversations with other people who are having similar experiences.

The bottom line is:  if you're client is interested in a fast and easy way to record their dreams, a blog may be the best tool for them!  Always remember to listen to what meets your client's needs.

First post!

Welcome to our adventure in art therapy and technology!  "Laptops & Twitter & Blogs!  Oh My!"  is something we've been working on for a while and we are so thrilled to share our love and knowledge of technology with the art therapy community.

We will be presenting at the 2010 American Art Therapy Association Conference in Sacramento, CA this November.  This blog is a place for us to showcase all of the information that we will be sharing during that presentation (and much, much more).

Enjoy!
Chelsea & Donica