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| My posters - 2010 and 2013, and a wall full of other people's paintings |
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| Poster 2013 |
Posters
Oh, how I wish that I had had the forethought
to photograph all 78 of the posters on display at the World Congress. There
were so many interesting stories to read and not enough time to do so in
depth. Certainly not enough time for me to remember exactly what the posters
looked like despite having the abstracts in front of me now. If anyone wants to
send me a picture of their poster I would be really grateful and if you wish I
will publish it here on my blog.
Here is my poster –
Art resets dislocation
of development
However it seemed to
us as we were growing up, the rich learning experiences of our childhoods did
not just happen ‘naturally’. It takes adult society to frame and blend them,
add meaning, and transform us into people with love and lust for life.
For me there were
things like smelling flowers, finding a four-leaf clover, helping Dad to paper
the wall – and stepping into a bucket of paste – bringing Grandma wild flowers
and in exchange walking home with blancmange in beautiful red custard-cups, and
the unearthing of an ant’s nest — to be bombarded by swallows eating them for
their evening meal. For most of us, such things ‘just happen’ as life goes on –
part of growing up and living.
Conductive upbringing,
through conductive upbringers, makes sure that these things ‘happen’ for
children and adults with disability too. It ensures the essential learning that
creates that lust for life; it creates experiences that make sense of life and
stories that can be told about it. All of this helps to motivate them, like the
rest of us, to go forth and make the most of our lives.
I am an
art teacher and art therapist as well as a conductor, and it goes without
question that my conductive work cannot be free from creative influences. As an
art therapist I consider the production of art first and foremost as a means of
communication. Images are produced through which conversations may take place,
questions asked and problems solved. Wearing my conductor’s hat the
problem-solving continues: art retains it role of mediator for communication
but develops an even more important presence in the context of my conductive
practice and, as well as a means of communication, it becomes a way of
developing many other skills. For twenty years I have used artistic projects in
my conductive work, in which time I have developed conductive activities in
numerous creative situations – indoors and out; sitting, standing, walking and
lying; on walls, canvas and paper, using paint, papier-mâché, clay, fabrics, pencils, brushes, dusters, mops,
fingers, hands and feet.
Activities
involving imagination, creativity and emotion are a productive and useful
means to create the upward learning spiral of success and satisfaction,
experience of which leads to development of the personality as a whole. For me,
as artist and art therapist, art and many other forms of creative activity are
vital means of achieving this cycle as an integral part of my conductive
practice. Conductors
need to bring their own joys into their work to unlock clients’ developmental
gridlock, to ‘reset the dislocation of development’ [1].Other
conductors bring their own personal contributions to their practice, IT, music,
story-telling, sport, cooking etc., the list is endless because it is the list
of human enthusiasms, and it is essential that conductors indentify their own special
enthusiasm as an essential part of their pedagogy.
[1]. L. S. Vygotskii (1993) Collected
Works, vol. 2, NY, Plenum
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