Antioch Art Therapy Students Collect Children's "Wish to the World"

Antioch graduate art therapy students Charin Hedstrom, Leanne Perez and Sharon Marianetti participated in DSHS's 2007 Children's Justice Conference for their Master's Art Therapy Project. They collected sixty paintings from children (ages 5-18) around the Puget Sound area and put them on display at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle on March 26th and 27th (the dates of the conference). The children were asked to paint their "wish for the world." The outcomes were amazing - extremely imaginative and colorful. The paintings are currently on display at Antioch University (second floor, outside psychology offices). They will be donated to DSHS sometime in June 2007.

In addition to the children's paintings, Charin, Sharon and Leanne engaged conference attendees in an Art Studio where participants were invited to "Make a Wish-box" using various 2-D and 3-D materials and plenty of Modge-Podge! The Art Studio was their way of engaging attendees in a tactile art experience as well as heightening awareness of the field of art therapy. Thematically, they tried to tie in the children's paintings of a "wish for the world" with the adults' "wish-boxes." It was a huge success and the feedback they received was extremely helpful and gratifying.

In addition to the paintings and the studio experience, there was a display set up on the stages of children's drawings, a table full of books and handouts on art therapy, and a showing of Judith Rubin's video "The Many Faces of Art Therapy." All of the information was well-received and their presence was much appreciated by the attendees.

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