About this event
‘Altered books’ are a great starting point for utilising creativity in the therapeutic space, providing a joyful and disruptive experience that offers a progressive process for co-creation and self-knowledge. Inspired by the Dada movement and New Materialism, the practice of altering found objects for self-expression and meaning making can be extended to the therapeutic encounter in productive ways.
Merging personal expression with synergies and the words on the page, ‘Altered books’ invite experiences that are born of resonances and memories; becoming art pieces made by changing the role and appearance of existing books into vessels for new and unexpected ideas. Experience adopting a variety of simple techniques, such as covering, folding, painting, or collage, to create and explore a process of self-discovery that is ‘bound’, using the live moment to transform and respond to the page and its evocative power.
Essential materials: An unwanted book (you can buy a book that you are happy to re-purpose at a flea market/second-hand store/charity shop or from a community book-swap). Pens, pencils, oil pastels, markers, glue stick (or tape), magazine/newspaper cut-outs. And any other materials you can easily access.
Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event
- The session will offer a live experiential activity for you to experience the possibility of utilising found objects as accessible creative vessels for self-expression. Clients can adopt this process as a rhythmic tool each time you meet.
- Learn to integrate arts-based and play methods to evoke self-discovery and healing, and generate new ways of thinking through synergies, populating a tangible repository of experiences over time.
- Employ a process of intra-action (Barad) to engage self-expression, joy and healing.
Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?
- Therapists, coaches and socially-engaged practitioners working with individuals, couples, groups and colleagues in the helping professions. Especially if you have a desire to reengage your own creative potential.
How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?
- This workshop offers an evocative experience and a tool for transformation (tangible and processual), creative play and self-discovery that are generative and can be ‘held’ in material form.
- Expand your therapeutic offer by adopting an accessible creative outlet for co-creation and self-expression, transcending and extending word-based interactions. Especially helpful when working with clients who speak English as a second or additional language.
RECORDING
This event will be recorded and you can use the ticket function to pre-purchase the recording before the event. This will be useful for colleagues who are not able to attend the event live and also for those who attend the event live and want to watch it again.
ZOOM
This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.
SELF-SELECT FEE
The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.
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At Onlinevents, we and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a way that aligns with the ethical codes and frameworks of our respective professional organisations. We expect all colleagues attending our events to uphold the ethical principles of their professional membership.
If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.
By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.
Dr. Francesca Bernardi (CATA, FRSA)
I am an independent researcher, MA supervisor, dis/ability advocate, coach and community artist. I have previously worked in education and outreach as a teacher and artist-in-residence, with children and adults, in schools, alternative provision, further education, museums and public spaces (TATE Teachers & TATE Education). I trained in Art & Design Education, Arts Administration and Arts Therapies. I work internationally, co-creating arts-informed practices with marginalised communities and for those working in the helping professions, setting up environments for non-hierarchical critical participatory work that nourishes creativity, civic and personal agency. I have published my work on autism, arts-informed methodologies, childhood and children’s rights in books and journals (Bloomsbury, Routledge, Taylor and Francis). My most recent collaborations include activities with the William Temple Foundation & Spaces of Hope; Queen’s University Belfast (COVIDUnder19 – Global Children’s Consultation); and the University of Surrey with Leverhulme Trust (Queering Shelter). I am Founding Chair of the Antonio Gramsci Society UK, Editorial board member of Disability & Society, board member of the Disability Without Abuse Project – Los Angeles, councillor and fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and Associate Member of CATA (the Canadian Art Therapy Association).
