I had a hard time getting started with this because usually when I begin making work with found objects it is because I am inspired by materials that I randomly find. This go around, I was forced to look for materials for this assignment so I was not driven in the same way. I sat at my desk cracking open pistachio shells when it dawned on me to use the shells as my materials. Perhaps the kinesthetic/sensory action of cracking open shells and eating the pistacio’s triggered this idea. Once I gathered enough shells, I began to paint them but quickly realized this was not going to work for me because paint was getting all over my fingertips which usually wouldn’t be a problem, except I need to be able to pick up Frankie when she cries and not be covered in paint. I put on gloves, in which the paint was sticking to the gloves, as were the pistachio shells. I had enough shells at this point so I stopped painting. As I was playing with the placement of the objects, I began to feel calm and focused on the moment. This became very quickly a mindfulness practice. Sometimes, I am stuck in the cognitive with school and internship, that I do forget to pay attention to my senses. When I was doing this, the shells were gliding around my desk, into place. I paid attention to the sound of them clicking around. If I moved the shells to quickly into place, the entire image would shift, so I had to be mindful of my hands. Further, I was eating the nuts which was igniting all 5 senses. I have only used found objects once in Art Therapy and the directive also incorporated natural materials that were found outside to address the change of seasons and the theme of transitioning and moving from one phase to the next.
I would use found objects when working with children with anxiety disorders also incorporating natural found objects. I think this would be beneficial because there is an exploration process and one could incorporate mindfulness and sensory components to ease anxiety. The children could be prompted to pay attention to the four out of the five senses when collecting materials, (not taste) but sight, hear, smell and touch. What do the materials look, smell, sound, and feel like? How can recognizing these senses be helpful when we are feeling anxious? Now that we know how our senses are activated what are some ways we can use this as a tool to calm ourselves when we are feeling anxious? I am thinking about the “identify 5 things you see, 4 things you hear, 3 things you smell, 2 things you feel, and 1 thing you taste” when feeling anxious. Once this discussion occurs, the children can then make a found object collage with whatever they found. This is incredibly different from how I would incorporate found objects as a teacher. I used to focus on the materials and textures and would probably talk about the environment. Making this distinction between teacher self and art therapist self is very encouraging being that I am easily able to turn something into an art directive addressing feelings and emotions as opposed to a product driven lesson plan.