Journal

i'm not as brave, beautiful and patient as you are

Creating art to express, manage, and overcome symptoms of depression

Tuesday, August 12, 2014 - 17:02

If you suffer or have suffered from depression, you know that the most basic tasks can be unbearable and leave you feeling apathetic and drained of your will to go on. Even the most simple activities of daily life like getting out of bed, doing laundry, and playing with your kids or dog can be too much for you to deal with. For people living with depression, talk therapy and medications may be helpful, but they are not the only solutions to relieving the depression. Art Therapy has become an effective treatment for supporting, releasing, and integrating the symptoms of depression by supporting an individual in exploring depression through their senses. Although on the surface art therapy may look less conventional, it has been seen to be just as effective as talk therapy because it uses the whole body’s experience, and not just a person’s intellect.

Creating your way out of loss.

Thursday, August 7, 2014 - 13:13

Loss can take many forms. Some loss is more devastating than others. When our spouse tells us that he or she wants a divorce, when a close friend or family member dies, when we get laid off from a job or when we become disabled by illness or injury—our lives can be sent into a tailspin. Loss forces us to face several psychological challenges, but by incorporating the arts into our lives, these new challenges can be used as a tool for gaining momentum in the healing process.

Art Unleashed, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 13:37

I am excited to have several pieces in The University of the Arts annual benefit and exhibition Art Unleashed this year.

Celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2014, Art Unleashed has grown to be UArts' largest annual fundraising event. The exhibition and sale features artwork in all media from talented students, faculty and alumni and raises money to support the Sam S. McKeel Promising Young Artists Scholarship Fund. The annual Art Unleashed Preview Party has become one of the most popular arts and culture-related fundraising events in the Philadelphia region, with more than 700 in attendance in 2013.

Offering hundreds of pieces from a wide spectrum of disciplines, Art Unleashed provides a unique opportunity to collectors and art enthusiasts of all levels, allowing them to connect with top established artists and the next generation of creators and visionaries. This year's event will feature approximately 200 artists and 1,000 works of art.

Give Me Mine, Living lives of Disordered Love

Saturday, February 1, 2014 - 16:42

Give Me Mine, the second sermon in this series by Tim Keller, is the parable of the Prodigal Son. I have always been drawn to this parable taught by Jesus. Most people who have studied this parable believe that the crux of the parable lies in the relationship between the father and the younger son, but I look at it differently. I see this parable being less about the actions of the younger son, and more about the response of the older son to his father resolving his relationship with the younger son. In this sermon, Keller explained that the older son’s idolatry is even harder to spot than the younger son’s. It becomes apparent that just like his brother, his heart is set just as much on the “stuff” the father can give and not on loving the father himself. The focus that both of these men have on their father’s property and not on his love for them is tearing apart the community of the family.

Creatives & Cognitive Disinhibition

Friday, January 31, 2014 - 13:43

I often see things differently than the "non-creatives" around me. I can see potential in the seemingly mundane and the garbage around us. How about you? Check out this article on Fast Company that asserts that "weirdos" and creative people often live with Cognitive Disinhibition (or: "the failure to ignore information that is irrelevant to current goals or to survival." In other words, it's allowing for more info to come in than seems immediately beneficial.) which leads to more creative ideas.

It seems that the key to creative cognition is opening up the flood gates and letting in as much information as possible (Cognitive Disinhibition). Because you never know: sometimes the most bizarre associations can turn into the most productively creative ideas (ScientificAmerican.com).

(Image: Cristiano Del Riccio http://www.flickr.com/photos/26377221@N06)

#twitterartexhibit

Thursday, January 30, 2014 - 08:40

I will be participating in the 2014 #twitterartexhibit in Orlando.

"Through art we can change the world."

Extending grace in counseling

Saturday, January 25, 2014 - 11:40

In Luke 15, Jesus is welcoming sinners and taking a meal with them. This is, of course, an astonishing thing for a person to do during that time because of the social implications that came with interacting with people who were of lesser religious status than the elite religious groups who reigned supreme. When the Pharisees questioned Christ about why he would even consider interacting with sinners, he responded with a series of parables.

The first parable Jesus taught in Luke 15 was the parable of the lost sheep. This parable teaches, among other things, that Jesus’ community celebrates sinners saved by grace. As believers, grace gives us a joy that cannot make us feel superior to people outside of the community of Jesus-followers. Tim Keller explains that the joy that grace gives creates a bond unlike any other bond with the people in Christ’s community because we experience life and death by grace.