6 Degrees of Creativity

In conjuction with the The Art Therapy Alliance,  6 Degrees of Creativity  is an on-line workshop that I started a few days ago.  It is "a community dedicated to art-making & themes exploring transformation, social change, and using art for interactive creative goodness." There are 6 different workshops led by instructors from the art therapy community. You can find out more about 6 Degrees of Creativity here.

The first workshop I am doing is the Stitch Therapy: Fiber Art Painting workshop. So far, I have gathered and purchased some materials for my project. The workshop explores by using fiber art as a method for personal awareness and healing. We are asked to use new and recycled materials to create order from chaos and put together scraps and bits of everyday life. The workshop will explore themes of repairing & layering – slowing down, enjoying to relax and engaging in a meditative process to feel the materials and hear them as we pierce the fabric with a needle and pull thread through.

As I began assembling my materials, I did a few different things.  First I found an old tshirt that I have been saving for years, fully worn and almost thread bare.  I began cutting it for a different designer tshirt look and then decided to cut out the memorable part of the shirt for some future project -thinking I might do that with all the tshirts I won't wear.

Then I found a variety of Rosary Beads from my parents home and my Central/South America travels and think I might make a Catholic piece in honor of my parents.  I am no longer a practicing Catholic, but I took the beads that were hanging over my parents bed and have had them near my bed for over 6 years.  Along with the Rosary Beads, I also had my old Red Scapular which I received for confirmation in 1958.  I decided to add it to my project.

In the meantime, I did a bunch of research about the scapular (not even remembering its name) and found out this one is a red 5-fold scapular "The Lord promised that whoever wore his Scapular he would grant a great increase of faith, hope and charity every Friday."

I don't begin to understand this, but I have saved it for a very long time and now here it is. These are the pieces I plan to use but since this is a stitch therapy workshop, I will want to incorporate the stitches into the project which could end up being 2 related projects!