Painting a Sense of Self Control
The Sarasota Herald Tribune recently published an article featuring Charles Jursa, a participant in the Touch Drawing classes for Parkinsonians at Health South Rehabilitation Hospital of Sarasota, Florida. The article was written on the occasion of an exhibition of Charles Jursa’s Touch Drawings at the Expressive Arts Florida gallery. It is this moving story of how one man has found hope and inspiration through Touch Drawing. Read the article here.
Note: We published an article on this wonderful program in an earlier newsletter.. Susan Jackowitz is the liaison/coordinator for the program. You can contact her at semij@comcast.net
SoulCards in China
We have just completed the sixth reprint of SoulCards 1, which makes 61,000 of this deck now in print! We included a special edition of 1,100 decks for Steven Lam. He is director of the Institute for Clinical and Advanced Hypnosis in Hong Kong. He has been using SoulCards in his practice and teaching, and finds that the images assist people in his culture to access depth levels of their psyches. He believes so deeply in the power of SoulCards that he has moved ahead with this project even in this time of international economic insecurity. He has set up distribution arrangements for SoulCards in China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Macao. Steven came to the Touch Drawing Gathering last summer, and envisions introducing the process in China as well. Please join me in wishing him the best of blessings in this great cross-cultural exploration. If you have any helpful connections in the region, please contact Steven at
info@icah.hk or send people to his website,
www.icah.hk.
SoulCards Take Committee Retreat
at Johns Hopkins Hospital to a New Level
Cynda Rushton PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Professor of Nursing
Co-Chair Ethics Service
Johns Hopkins University and Hospital
Last year, at a retreat of the Ethics Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, I invited committee members to select a SoulCard that represented healing as they entered the space. After some initial resistance, members selected diverse images of healing from studying an array of SoulCards. Members of the Committee divided into dyads to share information about themselves, their work and the meaning of healing through an exploration of their chosen card.
Following this sharing, each person in the dyad introduced the other to the entire group. The introductions were deeply meaningful, going beyond the usual introductory data disclosed in professional settings. At the end of the retreat, members were asked to reflect on the impact of the day. Several people mentioned the impact of knowing each other differently and requested to keep their cards as a reminder of their work. The SoulCards helped to deepen the work of the retreat and to shift our interactions beyond mind to soul and heart.
Dr Rushton, an internationally known expert in bioethics and palliative care, shares her knowledge through teaching, clinical practice, research, consultation, and scholarship. She is an International Co-Director of the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health.
FAQ
I want to do Touch Drawing with a group, but don’t have much money to purchase art supplies. Are there any ways to save on materials?
• Join the new online community group called Economizing on Materials for Touch Drawing to share your ideas with others! http://touchdrawing.ning.com/group/economizingonmaterialsfortouchdrawing
• There are many ways to economize on paint. Read the FAQ on the website on for in-depth suggestions on this subject.
• One roller can be shared by 2-4 people if they share a table. This is easiest when you don’t have a lot of different colors.
• Instead of having drawing boards, participants can roll paint directly onto formica or other smooth tabletops. Then wash off the tables when done. It is best to use water mixable oils so you can wash the tables easily.
• Carpenters or cabinet makers often have scrap formica (the generic name is
plastic laminate) or other smooth surfaced boards that they might give you for free. It can save them dump fees and it’s ecological.
• Wrapping tissue in bulk packages is the least expensive paper you can buy and works wonderfully. It is available at paper supply stores or by mail order through us. But any paper will work for Touch Drawing. You might find a printer that is willing to give you paper that is leftover from printing jobs. Or check your local recycling center. They might have usable paper that has been brought for recycling. You never know where else you might find a stack of paper that no one wants. It could be interesting to do Touch Drawing on already printed paper like newspaper and incorporate the printed images and words into your drawing.
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• Take turns using the Touch Drawing materials. Set up an area in your meeting space with enough materials for a small group to do Touch Drawing. Set up other areas for additional creative processes like writing, movement or another visual art exercise. Divide participants into small groups. Introduce everyone to Touch Drawing and the other creative practices. Each group begins in one of the areas. After an appropriate amount of time, ring a bell or otherwise let them know it is time for their group to shift to the next activity. Keep the small groups rotating until everyone has experienced each art form. This can be a very rich ‘multi-modal expressive arts’ experience, where one art form enhances and deepens the other. As the facilitator, you hold the sacred space for all the groups simultaneously. It might be helpful to have more facilitators for this type of experience; one for each art form would be wonderful.
• If you have only one set of Touch Drawing materials and a small group who would like to experience it, give each person a few minutes to draw, while the rest of the group holds space for them. The group might meditate silently or drum or tone in support of each person while they draw. The support of the group for each individual could be a very powerful experience.
• You could also explore what it is like for two people to work on one drawing. This can be an interesting exploration of relationship.
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Since my last e-newsletter, so much has changed in the economic, political and emotional climate. I hope you have been navigating with a sense of alignment to your inner star. I have spent quite a bit of time this winter deep in the foundations of my home; transforming the basement office into a place of clarity and beauty. We have cut windows into the cement walls and now have daylight and a view of the cedar trees. Along with the physical changes, the underlying energetic patterns of the Center for Touch Drawing are transforming. It is a time to move from the core, yet be open to changing forms. This issue covers alot of ground; from SoulCards in China to Johns Hopkins Hospital; from silk banners to economizing on materials; from a man with Parkinsons exhibiting his Touch Drawings to members of our online community who draw during the full moon. And take note of the list of workshops to the left. I hope you draw inspiration from the creative energy that continues to flow.
