I am very lucky to have the access to, and the privilege of, working in clay on an almost daily basis. Clay is what brought me back to art after a very long hiatus from creative parts of myself, and it holds such value in my life. Clay media is something that I had logically wanted to bring into my own practice as an Art Therapist, but I feel like talk of this was met with much resistance when discussed in the past. I traditionally interact with clay in a way that produces functional pottery, but for the purposes of this exploration I chose a different approach. Initially I was inspired by the “Clay Field” from the Elbrecht and Antcliff (2015) reading. It is hard for me to push myself outside of making with clay for purposes of function and utility so I thought this approach might be a stretch. I instead chose to create slabs of clay which I in turn formed into individual tiles. The process of throwing out the slab was extremely kinesthetic, and it engaged a lot of my physical energy. From there, forming the tiles and being able to decorate them engaged higher and more expressive levels of the ETC such as affective and symbolic. However, the carving or cutting that was added seemed to re-engage lower levels like sensory and kinesthetic again, which did have a cathartic as well as regressive effect on my experience.
Considering working in clay with a specific population, I had a few thoughts. Ultimately, I decided to consider the idea of working with children with neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically ADHD. I was prompted by the material interaction article from Pénzes et al. (2015), considering how different materials might elicit different responses or experiences, leading to different outcomes. I then began to consider the idea of tile making, as I had done, with this specific population. It engages various levels of the ETC, provides a multi-step process which requires attention but is physically engaging enough to allow for kinesthetic release if necessary. Clay is also a very forgiving media in its formation, so starting over with a “clean slate” so to speak would be a relatively easy process. I also like the freedom that tile making provides, as this would allow clients to make any shapes they like in addition to a variety of surface decoration techniques to engage with.
References
Elbrecht, C., & Antcliff, L. (2015). Being in Touch: Healing Developmental and Attachment Trauma at the Clay Field. Children Australia, 40(3), 209-220. doi:10.1017/cha.2015.30
Pénzes, I., Hooren, S. V., Dokter, D., Smeijsters, H., & Hutschemaekers, G. (2015). Material interaction and art product in art therapy assessment in adult mental health. Arts & Health, 8(3), 213-228. doi:10.1080/17533015.2015.1088557
