Project Girl: Media Literacy & Empowerment

Several Naropa art therapy students fulfilled their 2009-2010 practicum experience or civic engagement requirement in the Community Art Studio in conjunction with the Boulder Youth Body Alliance.  Boulder Youth Body Alliance (BYBA) empowers youth to reclaim a positive body image. Through a variety of grassroots projects and activities, teens take action, reclaim their voices, and make a positive difference in their communities. BYBA peer educators and activists learn how to stop trying to change their bodies and work to change the world instead.

A variation of a national program called Project Girl was offered to middle school and high school girls in Boulder County.  Project Girl (PG) is an after-school program that combines art and media literacy into a unique educational program aimed at encouraging adolescent girls to become more critical consumers of contemporary media advertising and entertainment. The purpose of PG is to help girls become literate in all media forms—TV, internet, movies, magazines, newspapers, billboards, books, product labels, and music—so that they control the interpretation of what they see or hear rather than letting the interpretation control them.

To read all about the hard work of Naropa students and Project Girl

check out the blog: projectgirlboulder.blogspot.com 

or watch the video below created by PG practicum student Chelsea O'Neil

Photos from the Project Girl Exhibition on the Naropa campus:

Art by Ft. Carson Soldiers on Display

photo source

A new exhibit called 'Conflict|Resolution', will run through June 20 at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (just a car ride away from Boulder).  The display features artwork produced by soldiers in an 11 week art therapy Creative Expressions workshop.  To read more about the program and the current exhibition visit this article or visit http://www.csfineartscenter.org/

For more great information about ways that art therapy is helping to support combat veterans, check out these wonderful resources:

Combat Paper Makers

They Drew Fire

Exposure Therapy for Soldiers

International Art Therapy Association

Semblance of Self

2nd Year Art Therapy students revealed their student exhibition: Semblance of Self on April 30th.  The collection is a culmination of a semester of work in the Art Therapy Studio: Process and Materials course.

Course Description for PSYT624 
Art Therapy Studio: Process and Materials
Contemplative practice is carefully integrated with the investigation of various art processes and materials throughout the semester. The open studio model is followed, allowing for students to practice mindfulness through process painting, drawing and sculpture projects. Commitment to personal and transpersonal imagery is encouraged as an essential part of understanding one's identity as an artist, the purpose of the therapeutic community and contemplative models for practicing art therapy.