 |
|
|
|
My Life, My Journey: a therapeutic arts program for people with vision loss My Life, My Journey, a new Iris Network workshop series, promotes the art of embracing life with vision loss. The program was designed to support people in adjusting to losses, including vision loss; to build self-esteem; and to develop participants’ sense of connection with others. This dynamic and highly personal arts experience was created in collaboration with SPIRAL Arts, Inc., and generously sponsored by Unum, the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust, and the Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund.
My Life, My Journey convened over eight Tuesdays this past May and June. Each meeting was organized around a theme that participants explored in their own unique ways through arts projects, including water-color boxes, papier maché animals, collages, wind-chimes, and mandalas. The water color box, for example, was used to explore the question, “Who influenced you?” with the names of the artist’s significant others painted and hidden in the inside layers of the box. To complement the arts projects, students also wrote a group poem, “What My Eyes Have Seen,” at the beginning and end of the process. The poems testify to the positive impact of the program. My eyes have “let me down, wept, found the velvet of petals for my fingers to touch,” participants wrote in week one. My eyes have “seen the joy of other people creating, shown me paths I may choose to wander or explore, met other eyes that understand, and gone from I can’t to I can,” they wrote with stronger spirits in week eight.
|
