Media Process: Clay
Population: Children
Disorder: Anxiety Disorders
I am pretty comfortable working with clay, as it is something that I have explored many times in my own artistic practice. However, due to limited access to materials, this was my first time creating my own clay. I made my clay with cornstarch, baking soda, and water. I am usually very excited by DIY opportunities, but I had a difficult time with my homemade clay. While I enjoyed the sensory qualities when I was playing with the clay, I really struggled with the sensory feeling of the clay residue on my hands. When I was actually manipulating the clay I did not have an issue, but anytime I needed to break away from shaping and molding the clay I was immediately taken out of a state of enjoyment. I ended up creating a simple pinch pot, which was a sensory experience while also being product-driven and allowed me to work towards a goal. Unfortunately, my clay creation did not hold its shape during the time it took to dry. I ended up using glue and dried out gesso to spackle it back together which was a frustrating but interesting experience. I was not able to add all of the pieces back together, so it left my pot with an interesting shape at the bottom, which looked like an eye to me. I decided to embellish my pot with paint and beads, and the process of putting it back together and transform the pot turned the experience away from sensory and into a more cognitive experience, which I was not expecting. When considering a population to use clay with, I was pulling from my initial experience with the clay. I thought that it would be interesting to use clay when working with children with anxiety disorders. Utilizing clay with children is shown to reduce the symptoms of anxiety among children (Rahmani & Moheb, 2010). I would be interested to try making pinch pots (with a clay that can withstand that form), as a way to reduce anxiety by promoting mind-body awareness while also promoting grounding and a presence in the here and now. This can be achieved in the way that clay is a medium that assists in raising somatic consciousness, and create positive psychological effects, such as mindfulness (Leone, 2020). I like the idea of having it be a product as well, and would be interested to continue the use of the pinch pot in future work with this population by creating a ‘worry bowl’. In this way the children would benefit from the sensory engagement with clay in reducing anxiety symptoms, and also promote age-appropriate cognitive discussions surrounding their experience of anxiety.
Leone, L. (Ed.). (2020). Craft in Art Therapy: Diverse Approaches to the Transformative Power of Craft Materials and Methods. Routledge.
Rahmani, P. & Moheb, N. (2010). The effectiveness of clay therapy and narrative therapy on anxiety of pre-school children: a comparative study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5, 23-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.07.044