Conference Success!

I recently got back from the 2011 American Art Therapy Association conference and what a great and successful conference experience!  The picture is of my table at the craft fair that I shared with someone from my program (I'm on the left with my pottery).  It was a pretty successful craft fair for me, and I made enough money to pay for almost half of a replacement camera off of selling my pottery alone.

Selling my pottery was really motivating for me - I charged more than I thought I should, and people seemed to think these were reasonable prices.  It was great because I think I would otherwise very much under-charge for my pieces.  Four bowls broke - four great bowls - so that was money lost, but I brought home the shards to use in my garden, so at least it doesn't completely go to waste.  Also some people took shards for their own art work.

I also presented my thesis again.  I actually had a decent crowd even though I was scheduled during the lunch hour and across from the Town Hall meeting.  People asked really nice and supportive questions, no heckling (which can happen, even from a crowd full of therapists, it's surprising).  My thesis (and a handout summarizing my presentation) will be up on my website soon so that people can access it and cite me in their work.  In general it was great to get my feet wet in national presentations, and I've got two proposals in the works for next year.

(What am I thinking?? I'm also planning to take the ATR-BC exam at the conference next year?? Clearly I am insane.)

Professional Nerdiness (I love charts)

Because all of my hours are volunteering, sometimes I feel kind of low.  I keep a very detailed chart of my progress but tonight I made a graphic to show myself getting closer to my goal as a way to stay motivated.  I also calculated the percentage of the hours I've completed towards my two licenses - I am almost finished with 30% of the hours I need for my state license, and have finished more than 50% of the hours I need for my national registration!

Luckily, I married an engineer.  Everyone ASSUMES he is the nerdy one.  But I am an ARTEEST.  Obviously that makes me cool automatically, right?  Coolness came when I bought my first canvas?  Or pastels?  Right?

This chart is so awesome, and it just keeps getting more awesome.  You can get so much information quickly and easily (well, YOU can't, because you can't see the headers).

The graph just makes the info look pretty, like at a fundraiser, I can see the totals rising.  I hated the color schemes so I put awesome retro wood paneling on it.

NOW YOU KNOW HOW COOL I AM.

Coming soon... art?  Maybe?  Sorry for the intermission of art making, I am going a little nuts.

A presenter is me

I've just been accepted to present my thesis at the 2011 American Art Therapy Association Conference!  How exciting!

The presentation is mostly going to be the same as my thesis workshop (minus the workshop part), but I might add a few slides to include questions/considerations that were brought up the first time I presented.  It's a 30 minute presentation, so not a full length "paper" presentation but rather a digital poster.  I was a little intimidated to do a full hour by myself, so this is the right amount of time and probably the right size crowd for my first solo professional presentation!

This, along with a presentation I'm doing next month with my supervisor and other intern at my site will help flesh out the "PRESENTATIONS" part of my resume - which is currently not there because I've only done the one.

This year's conference I'm planning to be all over the place.  I'll be selling my pottery in the marketplace, displaying work in the digital gallery, presenting, and will maybe even submit a 60 second film to the short film festival.  That along with going to presentations, the art studio, and maybe a workshop.  Because it's not too far I'll be there the whole time, instead of showing up Thursday afternoon like the last conference (Thursday morning seems to be the best day for presentations).  And I'll be throwing business cards all over the place because hopefully I will be looking for a job either in December or January once I finish my license.

Excited!

"Defining Home" directive

I'm on the prowl for some good magazine subscriptions. Even though I read a ton of blogs, having a physical magazine to read, cut out, and share is exciting. Before my trip to this past weekend I stopped into a bookstore and picked up a few magazines.

One of the magazines I picked up was the Somerset Apprentice, which has some great ideas for projects and descriptions of new techniques. How exciting!

This directive, "Defining Home," was taken from their autumn 2010 issue. I scanned in the images from the magazine, but full credit goes to them and the artist who submitted the project, Bethany Kartcher. Visit her blog at creativeruminations.blogspot.com!

This project is perfect for an art therapy group, especially during Found Object Art Month, which starts next Monday! Today I prepped some cardboard pieces for my group. I love this project because it combined book making (which I love) with a three dimensional element (which many of the clients love). It's kind of like Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables, in that its form directly relates to its content. I hope it will be a hit.




I like what she wrote about how she came up with this piece:

"There is a definite spiritual component that is sometimes lost in the hustle-and-bustle of every day living. I created my Home Album to celebrate, and perhaps more importantly, define this intangible feeling." (p75)

Check out the Autumn 2010 issue of this magazine to see more pictures of her finished piece and to learn about the techniques that she used. I'll post pictures of my creations when they're finished!

New business cards!

I got new business cards from moo.com! I think they are so awesome. I got to choose up to 99 pictures to put on the back but I only used 13 because I couldn't really decide. Carrying them around is like carrying a mini portfolio with me. I also got a little holder that's on a keychain so I can keep them with me JUST IN CASE.

I'm also going to be changing my spiffywafer dot com logo to the exploding head artichoke thing that you see on the front side of the business card. I currently use a fun print I did of a vegetable still life, which is still one of my favorite prints but I don't know if it makes sense anymore. In class last semester everyone was making jokes like, "what is spiffywafer? a produce company?" The exploding head kind of looks like a self-portrait, so I think it's a good choice.

However, I'm not changing my domain name - I briefly thought about it but realized that my namesake domain name was taken already, and "artbyrobin.com" was also taken, and I thought to myself, do I want to be a ridiculous domain like lookattheprettyartworkbyrobin.com or robinmakesartforhealing.com, or should I just stick with spiffywafer? So I'm sticking with it, and when people ask I will just say I've had it for 9 years and I kind of love it. I've put this name on the backs of cards, signed it on collaborative works, and it's on my etsy page. I think it's interesting and unique, maybe not "professional" but what is professional for an art therapist, anyway?

Proposal Submitted!!!

I have just submitted a proposal to present at a conference in New York this November!

I've proposed to do the same workshop I did as my thesis presentation back in May. The workshop went really well and I got a lot of great feedback, so I am excited to have the opportunity to do it again (and make it even better). Plus maybe I will get more time - the biggest complaint was that an hour and a half was not enough time.

Also, it should be noted that I submitted this proposal during the second night of my move to New York. Yes, it is taking three days and two nights to get to New York. We are in a hotel room right now with the animals. It is a hectic time for us all.

In honor of leaving Chicago, here is a picture I took with JewishGuy's iPhone last summer when we ate at the restaurant in the Hancock Building.