Art therapy prompts artists could choose from:

I'm a human that's been around the sun for over 4 decades. I've always found art to be calming and helpful for my mental and physical health. I used oil pastels for my block which were great for creating such a stark contrast. I tend to make art like I'm using an Etch-a-sketch. Continuous lines that form interwoven rectangular shapes. Creating my tiles's design tells me that life has many intersecting pieces to it. This experience was great in that it allowed me to take time to create something new and to have an opportunity to talk with people with whom I seldom get to sit and talk. Thank you, Hannah, for this wonderful opportunity.

Artist: Eamon Keenan

Reflection on the journey of life and self-discovery. It captures the essence of personal growth and the various stages of companionship—starting from solitude, moving through self-acceptance, and then sharing experiences with others. Each phase contributes to a deeper understanding of oneself and the world. Your thoughts highlight the importance of embracing each stage, whether it’s solitude or companionship, and finding joy, love and connection in both. It’s a reminder that every experience, even the lonely ones, shape us and prepare us to appreciate the beauty around us, like the butterflies, colors and the sunrise.

Artist: Rahfa Zerikly 

I’ve been doing art and using it as an outlet for many years, primarily using pencils as well as digital methods. For this piece I decided to step outside of my comfort zone a bit and use paints entirely to help fulfill my vision. I wanted to use some elements of color theory to convey emotions of both calm and intense emotions, whether positive or negative. I think that in using contrasting colors, while still blending them together, I’ve tried to show how different emotions can stand apart from others. For me it was a way of manifesting my own mental health through art, and I hope that others who look at this piece can see their experiences reflected in it as well, no matter what those may be. Using this time to do art, while sitting at a table with friends who were also just doing art was very fun, relaxing, and felt stabilizing to me. I think this is an experience that more people should get the chance to participate in throughout their lives, and something that should be organized more often.

I was inspired by Piet Mondrian for this piece. I followed one of his most popular pieces and put a twist on it. I have OCD and I wanted to convey how that feels. I often feel the need for everything to be perfect and “in the lines,” and if things are not, I often feel mentally and physically unwell. This piece shows some colors going outside of the lines and the frustration and discomfort that comes with things not being exact.

Artist: Grace Carmellini

I'm 14 years old and my pronouns are He/They. Sketching characters and making jewelry are artistic hobbies I usually do, but I usually stay away from painting due to not finding myself to be very good at it. This experience surprised me, as I only used paint for my tile, and it felt surprisingly good. My first tile felt like a practice round, just using whatever my mind told me and creating chaos. But my second tile had more of a theme, one that's an event both in the world and in my life that I feel affects me. The first tile I didn't feel too proud about, but the second one I definitely did and felt refreshed after. It was a fun and calming experience, and I definitely felt good for the rest of the day. It definitely opened me up to painting again, to retry it as a hobby.

My name is Teddy, and I don’t have a painting or drawing artistic background, but I do have a musical artistic background! I chose to do this because I thought it would be a lot of fun, and it was! My tiles used various colors of paint, the first one was multi color, using a majority of the palette, and my other utilized colors around pink, but mainly pink! I didn’t have a lot of inspiration for my first one, I mainly painted what I thought looked good! For the second one, my main inspiration was to use the color pink for the tile, and I often described it as “Think Pink” while painting. I’m very happy with my finished products, as I think they look really good, and taking this hour out of my day to paint, was fun, and became something else to focus on! Of course there were moments where I thought my art didn’t look good, but it still ended up looking good, and I felt good about what I did! :]  Thank you to Hannah for letting me paint two tiles!

Artist: Teddy Brennan 

Although I have chosen a career as an educator, I have always appreciated how teaching lends itself to creativity.

The shape of the tile that I chose was the inspiration for painting a rising sun with its rays emanating out. I love the warmth of the sun and especially crave it after a long winter in Maine. The sun represents life, energy, growth, vibrancy, and connection.

The process of creating art with other people was relaxing and helped me build connections with people that I see everyday at school but don’t always have the chance to talk with. I was surprised by how engrossed I got in the project and it made me realize how important it is to make time and space for creative projects in our lives AND especially within a community of people.

Thank you, Hannah, for this wonderful opportunity! 🌞

Artist: Emily Davison

I love art and I use journaling as a way to process my emotions often. I love collaging and just doodling whatever I feel like that day. In my tile, I used a mix of colors and I pasted on images that reminded me of home. I took inspiration from my brain and what I thought would look intriguing on a tile. This hour out of my day helped me positively because I was able to relax and focus on one thing. 

Artist: Meghan Tennyson

My name is Matilda, I am in seventh grade, and I have been doing art all my life. For my tile I used acrylic paint and crayons. I tried to paint what I miss the most about my life, or what I want it to be like. Not just the sun, but not being weighed down by things that happen as I grow up. I loved making this piece, it was nice painting freely and was super relaxing.

Artist: Matilda Connolly

I am an educator with a multicultural background who values all forms of art. However, I have no artistic background.

I used paint and small brush. My inspirations were two parts: my current state of mind and life experience.

a) a never ending spiraling caused by juggling so many things at the same time

b) the circle of life in which it starts with a seed that grows and gets bigger and allows you to expand and grow through a series of events that shape the person you become.

I think art allows you to express yourself in a different way. It adds another dimension to your ability to communicate with others your feelings and your state of mind. It feels therapeutic and even cathartic.

My name is Lauren and I am a teacher here at the high school. I do not consider myself much of a visual artist. For my tile, I used paint, paper, and Mod Podge. As I was designing my tile, I had a lot on my mind. I had gotten very little sleep the night before and was exhausted and stressed out. I was thinking about some challenging things I've been dealing with at home, and I was also thinking a lot about my mom, as the three year anniversary of her death was the next day, and this week in April is always a difficult one for me. As I was painting, I let my feelings go through me. I didn't have a clear end in sight. My tile is chaotic and a bit messy, and this feels about right for where my head was at as I was designing it. I found so many things about creating the tile to be therapeutic--the painting itself, but also the community aspect of it. It's such a powerful thing to sit in a roomful of people who are all making art together. 

Artist: Lauren Tarantino

I enjoy and appreciate art, but I am only an occasional artist. I used paint and paintbrushes. I was inspired by the grain of the wood. I wanted that to show through, even though I was covering the board entirely, so I painted the grain with different colors that spoke to me. To me, this symbolizes an essential fact of life: that we are dealt a hand that we do not control, but we do what we do with it. The grain of the wood was not up to me, but I chose the colors and the technique for painting over it. The grain shows through and inspires the rest, but the finished product is so much more than just the grain; it's the texture, it's the brush strokes. I loved doing art together as a group and found it to be a really lovely experience! 

I typically paint abstract seascapes. I used some of the paints provided and I brought some of my own. My project represents the interconnectivity of youth and age. 

I'm Celeste, a 10 year old student at Pond Cove.

I used paint markers to design my tile.

Each color represents a different day in my life.

My finished peice shows a lot of my different emotions. Red is mad, yellow is happy etc...

Creating this artwork, I was calmer and more collected.

Artist: Celeste Yaker

I used pens to map out the rough lines of my tile. Five colors of paint mixed with increasingly large amounts of white for each section. And then black and white posca markers to outline each chunk. It wasn’t really inspired by anything, but it represents the variety of colors in everyone’s head. I found it amazingly peaceful to just relax and work on painting for a while.

I spend a lot of time doing crafts when I’m stressed. I find it is a wonderful stress reliever. I used paint of a variety of colors to decorate my tile. I wanted my tile to represent the happiness and excitement I feel about the future, but also the sadness and stress I feel about the large changes happening in my life. The shooting stars on the tile remind me of the beauty that can be found in new experiences. Overall doing this allowed me to center myself and become less stressed

Art Therapy Prompt: 5

I love to draw. I used Poska markers. It positively affects me to draw and give me some time to relax. 

Art Therapy Prompt: 4

I used oil pastels and used the shape of my tile to shape my design. I got "in the zone" and creating the art helped me relax and I also enjoyed being with other people and talking and laughing. It made me feel centered, connected, joyful and creative. Thank you!

Artist: Sarah Coombs

I am a therapist, mother, and learning to be an artist.

I used paint primarily for this tile and a little bit of ripped magazine art.

Really just the colors inspired me in this piece in the way that the colors is blended and elevation of adding gold, and the metaphor of spiderwebs as things that are created from the wisdom of nature and also can be a trap.

I finished product means something about joy and danger. The joy is in the colors, and the danger is in the stickiness of the web.

Taking an hour out of my day to do art in a community setting made me feel happy and connected to other people.

I think this is an amazing community project and I’m so happy that Hannah created it and offered us the opportunity to be a part of it!

Artist: Rachel Weinstein

My name is Meilan Martinez. I love drawing, painting, I’ve been making art since I was born. My favorite thing to draw is people! They show so much emotion and unsaid feeling through a simple form. I used a colored pencil to sketch an underlay drawing and then built up the colors using acrylic paint. I wanted to draw a nose that looked like my own to pay homage to my indigenous American ancestors, other than that I was inspired as I went along. My finished product isn’t finished to me! I never feel done with any art project but it can always be improved on later. I love when I get time to make art, it’s rare with my schedule but it was good to make myself come in and paint a tile.

Artist: Meilan Martinez

My name is Matilda and I used to draw a lot but I mostly just doodle now, using art to create silly characters when I'm bored. I was inspired by flowers in springtime and used paint to create my vision. My final piece can be interpreted in many ways, but I think it looks like fallen cherry blossoms in the water, like a collection of my memories. Some of the blossoms are bigger, more memorable, while others are smaller, and none of them are exactly the same. Spending time focussing on creating my piece was calming and I'm glad I took the time to do this opportunity!

Artist: Matilda Gustafson 

Art Therapy Prompt: 4

My Name is Moriah and ever since I can remember art as been a huge part of my life. I take pride in being an artist and I have come to develop my own style and recognition among the community. I love what I do and the things I create. The art supplies used: Pencil for sketch, POSCA Pens, Acrylic Paint, and Mod Podge for the clear coat finish. I did my tile based off of my main emotions—Happiness, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust—overlapping each other depending on which emotion I feel most (foreground) to least (background) commonly and strongly. Each emotion symbolizes how I have been feeling in the past year. It’s cool seeing all of the emotions overlapping each other while still co-existing with each other at the same time. Doing art always improves my mood in some way (even when I get frustrated with it). It is relaxing, exiting, challenging, and it makes me problem solve and think creatively and I love it! Thank you for working so hard to make this a reality. Some of the best kind of art is only possible through a community!

Artist: Moriah Doody

Hey gang I’m Geo Lobozzo. I started really getting into art in 8th grade and since then it’s been a really fun hobby for me to do in my free time. I mainly used scraps from a The New Yorker magazine and copious amounts of black paint. I also used some POSCA pens. Nothing explicitly inspired my design if I’m being honest, maybe Basquiat. To me my finished product almost feels like an act of rebellion. Anything that goes against what it’s supposed to be is cool, so yeah.This definitely positively impacted my mental health, however, it wasn’t necessarily the art that impacted it. It was mostly getting to spend time with cool people who also like to do art.

Artist: Geo Lobozzo

I'm a math teacher with no artistic background - I used paint - mostly yellow - my favorite color because I think it's cheerful - and painted some circles that are like bubbles that can hold positive energy in or flow away and dispel any negative energy. I loved sitting at communal tables with all ages of people and sharing supplies, interacting and encouraging each other. The event was a great community builder with such positive energy. I loved walking around and seeing what everyone else was creating. Kudos for imagining this entire concept and bringing it to fruition. ( I didn't take a photo, because I didn't have my phone) 

Art Therapy Prompt: 6

My name is Amelia Welborn, and I've been around art my whole life. My parents are artists and have encouraged my creativity from a young age. I used only paint for this tile. I was inspired by the painting Starry Night and the tones and feelings that the painting creates. That warmth that it brings, and also the inspiration and contemplation. I also wanted to express what I envisioned my mind to look like. The finished project makes me happy. The colors I choose make me feel at home, and the little details make me proud of what I've made. This activity improved my mental health for that day at least, it made me happy. I hadn't gotten to paint like that in a while. I found that it helped release a lot of stress I'd been holding onto. Overall, this was a great experience and very therapeutic. 

Artist: Amelia Welborn

Art Therapy Prompt: 10

My name is David. I grew up in Cape Elizabeth, and now I live and work here, serving both the town and the school department. I completed this project with my son, also named David, who is currently in kindergarten. It was a meaningful experience to create something together in the community that means so much to our family. We used acrylic paint and painter’s tape to create clean, defined sections. The structured design really reflects my son’s personality—he likes things to be neat and orderly, and the tape helped bring that out in the final piece. We didn’t have a specific plan when we started, but the bold, simple shapes and primary colors began to feel symbolic of childhood and growth. It represents energy, creativity, and the early stages of learning. There's also a sense of balance and movement that emerged as we worked. This piece means a lot to me because it captures a shared moment in time between my son and me. It’s both a memory of where he is now and a glimpse into the future—I look forward to seeing him walk through the high school one day, maybe even seeing this artwork hanging there. Taking time out of the day to sit and do art with my son was calming and refreshing. It gave us space to focus, connect, and be present. It had a very positive effect on my mental well-being and reminded me of the value in slowing down.

Artist: David Bagdasarian

Art Therapy Prompt: 4

Hi I’m Ashley, I have very little artistic background, such as painting or drawing, although I love to express myself through theater. To paint my piece I used plenty of brushes and lots of different colored paints. Honestly my piece was painted based off of my mood, caused by prior events in my life. The effects this event had on me were truly astonishing. It was so much fun to sit down with friends and paint, just focusing your mind on something. 

Artist: Ashley Dreyer

My name is Chris Lowenstein and I have been intrigued by art my whole life. I have been a photographer since childhood and a painter for about 5 years. I am an abstract, color form artist with paint and a documentarian with my camera and photography. I used paint for my tile, primarily gold and red. I tried to capture my mood at the time of painting, it is completely mood driven.

This project was inspirational and very calming. It was nice to be with others painting my mood at the time. 

Artist: Chris Lowenstein

Art Therapy Prompt: 6

I used a majority of paint with few pen details. I have a background of loving art in all forms and have practiced drawing and writing. I took inspiration from the feelings of social pressure that can crack you, and the light and happiness that reaches out. But though you’re cracked, you’re not broken, and life can grow from the cracks and mistakes you have and make. The opposition in the darkness and light can feel like two sides of a coin, but there is life and growth in the darkness.

Art Therapy Prompt: 1

Hello! My artistic background includes cooling, sewing, interior home, renovation, and digital art. This tile represents how I feel when I’m at the beach, watching the waves rolling in and out.

Artist: Rhianna Jones

For my tile, I used paint and brushes to create bright yellow polka dots on a white background. Inspired by the idea of spreading joy during difficult times, my tile represents hope, positivity, and finding small moments of happiness. 

Art Therapy Prompt: 4

I have been doing art for a very long time. Ever since I was very little. I’ve always enjoyed drawing, painting, etc because it brings a sense of calmness and creativity that allows me to be myself. I used newspaper/magazine and acrylic paint for my tile. I was feeling like painting very expressive paint strokes on top of the newspaper at the moment and I loved how it turned out. My finish product means a lot to me because it shows just how beautiful life can be, no matter how you’re feeling there will always be better days ahead. Doing art for a hour and more out of my day positively affected my mental health placing me in a more happy and calm environment. I enjoyed working with the community and spreading positivity through artwork. 

Art Therapy Prompt: 4

- Hello, my name is Shiloh. I have explored many different art media throughout my life, and I have taken art classes in school.

- The supplies I used were: white acrylic paint for the background, acrylic paint pens, and a Sharpie. 

- I made what my mind and body felt, I didn't plan ahead, I didn't think of what to do, I just did it. I let my body take over, and I created something from the heart. It also shows emotions like happiness, depression, whimsy, calm, bubbly, and love.

- It feels like my soul in some way, how it fits into my personality of exploding with joy, and keeping the negative emotions to the side. 

Artist: Shiloh Doody

Art Therapy Prompt: 4

I grew up in a family of artists. Canvases and sketch pads were alway lying around with paints, crayons, or markers ready to go. I received a Nikon camera for my birthday and started taking photos at a young age. In High School, I chose art electives because they are a nice mental break from my academic classes.

I used marker and paint to create art on my tile. I was inspired by a trip I took to Iceland last year. The landscape in Iceland is a contrast between black sand beaches, glacial ice, and volcanoes. It's know as "Land of Fire and Ice". I used this inspiration to represent when my emotions are hot and cold at the same time.

Doing art has always been a therapeutic outlet for me. I was happy to take part in this project and dedicate time to creating art. Both exercise and creating art always has a positive effect on my mental health.

Art Therapy Prompt: 5

I'm not a very artistic person. Because of this, I haven't participated in anything similar to this project before, but I found this to be refreshing and enjoyable. I don't have a ton of supplies so I used half-dead paint pens,  which was somewhat difficult but overall worked. My inspiration was the prompt provided, to paint different moods. I attempted to portray it by using various colors as an example of emotions and feelings and I made them in a wave-like design to show how nothing is permanent, mentally or physically. Taking time to do this project was stressful to me at first since I have so much school work currently but I was happily surprised to find that I enjoyed making my tile and I found it was relaxing. Finally, I'm proud of my finished tile and I'm excited to see it put together with everyone else's!

Art Therapy Prompts: 4 and 6

My name is Becky Paradis, and I have very limited experience with physical art such as drawing and painting. My arts of choice tend to involve photography and theatre. For this project, I used acrylic paint and a metallic sharpie for the outline, and I was inspired by my experience with theatre. I designed the tile to look like black ceramic that has been shattered to reveal bursts of neon color underneath. It represents how theatre has become an outlet for me to shatter any repressive societal masks and explore the more complex, colorful, and creative side of myself. I feel a freeing sense of belonging, magic, and humanity when I am involved in theatre, and that is what I wanted to express in this piece. The process of painting this tile and giving that feeling a visual representation was very cathartic, and it was also really cool to think about how my tile is going to be part of a larger piece that reflects the human experience. 

Artist: Becky Paradis

My name is Joanna Payne and I am a teacher at Cape Elizabeth Middle School. My artistic background consists of drawing on blue notebooks and grocery store bag bookcovers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Nowadays, I sketch in sketchbooks with pencils and sometimes use watercolors. My inspirtation is nature and whatever is going on in my head. My finished products don't have more importance than they reflect what I was thinking and feeling when I created them. I liked creating this tile. I thought alot about what I was going to do and the meaning behind it before I created it. Honestly, I felt pressed for time, which stressed me out a bit. But because I was skillful in planning ahead I knew it would all be okay.

Artist: Joanna Payne

I am a teacher, mother, wife, artist and friend. I have always enjoyed art in my life but have not taken the time to do art on a regular basis. I used acrylic paint and the sharpies. The ocean, lakes and streams were my inspiration. I have watched my son fish for many years and admired the scales on the fish. This was the inspiration of my art; my son Jed and Fish.

The finish product means a lot to me. It is a permanent piece of art that will be at the high school designed by a former student and holds meaning and value of mental health, social community connection and art. Taking the time to do the art made me feel happy, connected, relaxed and calm. 

I also took a tile to do with my students. I shared with them that one of my former 4th grade students- now a high schooler- is making a big impact with their community art project- and we are going to be part of the piece. These students will see it on display when they are at the high school one day. I am extremely proud of you Hannah and the gift you have given to our Cape Community with your passion and idea. 

Artist: Tara Bucci 

I am an educator at CEHS. I have been working here for the past 11 years and really love the community. I have no formal artistic background other than taking art classes in both high school and college. My mother taught high school art when I was growing up so I have always had art in my life. I enjoy making digital art in my personal time but also have experience making ceramics using both the pottery wheel and hand building.

I used acrylic paint to decorate my tile as well as brushes, masking tape and a jar as a stencil. I designed and painted my tile at home on the first really nice spring day of the year and I am sure that influenced my color choice and my mood while working. While painting, I tried to focus on my mood and make a visual representation of how I was feeling. The orange/yellow gradient as a base is supposed to show that I am a fairly happy and optimistic person in my natural state. The gray circles and white lines on top are meant to represent current obstacles in my life and the national climate as a whole that make it harder for my natural optimism to shine though.

I really enjoyed working on this project. It felt good to set aside time to work on a creative endeavor and force myself to slow down. I put on music while working any allowed myself to really focus on painting, which I think made me feel more grounded. 

Identity: I'm a special education teacher, theatre artist, and summer camp enthusiast. I spend all of my time creating safe spaces for people to feel comfortable and express themselves/find joy. Born and raised in Maui, Hawaii- we have a strong connection to storytelling/making art as part of our culture. I graduated from USM with a bachelor's in Theatre. Every opportunity I get, I'm working on a production. Theatre is my typical medium whether it be acting, designing, directing, etc. At my summer camp we spend an hour everyday experimenting with different art mediums/materials to connect with ourselves, others, and nature.

Supplies: Paint, modge podge, tissue paper

Inspiration: Recently I've been trying to understand how my brain works. I ultimately came up with the metaphor my brain is like a wild garden. We have a garden at my school that is a bit all over the place but sparks joy.

Meaning/Purpose: My product is just like my mind- a garden that grows loudly and constantly changes. Some flowers bloom right the first time, others don't. I've got weeds that may come and go, or stay forever. There's are still ways I need my garden to grow, and that takes time.

Therapeutic Qualities: This was a very positive experience. All the time we talk about being mindful and taking time for ourselves. I finally felt like I had time to do that this week during this project. I've been trying to just sit and do something for my wellness- this allowed me to just express myself as is. I left feeling better than before I started doing this art today.

Every school should have something like this!

Artist: Juliet Tasker

Art Therapy Prompt: 10

This was a collaboration of our family, exploring the power of images, color, pattern, and design to cause an immediate effect on our mood. Using a collection of abstract images from magazines, three were chosen at random and placed in front of each child. They were asked to select the image that answered the question, "Which one brings you the most joy?" 

We were intentional not to select pictures of objects or specific environments, guiding the person choosing the image away from direct associations and instead towards the feeling it evoked purely based on colors, shapes, or design. It was very powerful to see that even though the final product features 20 separate images, the thematic cohesion is quite significant. It was also fascinating to witness how deliberate and immediate the decisions were when selecting an image, which spoke to the intuitive and powerful correlative between what we see and how we feel. 

During that time, there was nothing else in the world to think about: not the final outcome, not if it was the right answer, not if they would all fit together. The only right answer was the one that felt personally true in that moment.

Artists: The Pattersons

Art Therapy Prompt: 5 

I’m a Senior at Cape Elizabeth High School and I love painting. I used acrylic paint to experiment with how feelings feel like lights in a void of darkness. Taking an hour to paint helped me get away from regular stressors and enjoy a hobby of mine instead.

Artist: Henry Barraclough

Art Therapy Prompt: 6

I love painting and drawing but I haven't practiced much. I got inspiration for my tile from a painting in a museum of someone and their emotions scribbled for their head. For my tile I used a bit of everything besides moge podge. My product represents how I think. It made me happy, drawing and talking with others.

Art Therapy Prompt: 1

My name is Alex. I am an autistic person and have had my own personal struggles with mental health, my mom's an artist and art has always been a big part of my life. I used acrylic paint. I just wanted to show how emotions can be very powerful and mixed up together. The finished product to me just shows my own personal struggles with emotions and how mixed and swirled I have felt. Taking time to do this piece of art positively impacted my mental health it gave me an outlet and it helped me make sense of how mixed together my emotions are.

Artist: Alex Knauft

Art Therapy Prompt: 3

I'm a wife, mother, and teacher with no artistic background. I tend to like more realistic art and photographs, so creating an abstract piece was different for me. I only used acrylic paint to create my design. I tried to focus on different feelings I experience regularly in my life. There's evidence of a person in my painting as well as different colors and shapes that are blended together - just like feelings and moods can be. It was nice to take time over the last few days to do something new. I was focused on the project and not on all of the things going on in the world or on the work I need to get done at school and home. I was pleased with my final product and I can see why people use art as an outlet for their mental health.

Artist: Kim Huchel

Art Therapy Prompt: 8

Identity: I am a 30 year old person who often says I have little artistic background, but in reality I've been involved with something art-related since I was a child. 

Supplies: I used oil pastels

Inspiration and themes: My design was inspired by my past, present, and future and generally how those 3 time periods coexist. 

Meaning and purpose: My finished product means that I am still capable of thinking about the bad parts of the past, present, and future without forgetting the overwhelming good too.

My name is Chris Lowenstein and I have been intrigued by art my whole life. I have been a photographer since childhood and a painter for about 5 years. I am an abstract, color form artist with paint and a documentarian with my camera and photography. I used paint for my tile, primarily gold and red. I tried to capture my mood at the time of painting, it is completely mood driven.

This project was inspirational and very calming. It was nice to be with others painting my mood at the time. 

Artist: Chris Lowenstein

Art Therapy Prompt: 1

I'm Danna Wiggins, a contemporary artist with two series of works on exhibition until May 2 at the USM Gorham campus gallery. I work in oils, acrylics and watercolor on canvas and paper. For your project Hannah, I chose acrylic medium for the tile with a theme of Equanimity. I chose this because of the dramatic times we are living in with our institutions courts and constitution being challenged lawlessly. By holding onto this word and remembering to breathe, I remind myself to keep my balance psychologically and not let my fears take over. The colors on the tile are the flow of my life and breath. The splats are the negative thoughts that bubble up when I listen to the news or TV. Taking time to paint my state of mind helped me understand that my brain was telling me to remember my flow while doing what I can to resist.

Artist: Danna Wiggins

Artist Prompts: 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9

My name is Frank Yaker.  I am a creative - a musician, audio engineer, inventor and visual artist.  I've been creating since I was born.

I used brush, acrylic paint and paint marker.

I've been going through a lot of changes in my life over the past few years.  The fungi in the middle of my painting represents my self - body and brain.  The positive changes that I've been going through are represented by the spores growing up and out of the fungi.  The negative struggles that I've been going through are represented by the moss-like growths hanging down and throughout. Some of the moss are behind, some on top and some are in front of the fungi, representing my past, present and future. The rainbow of colors represent the myriad of emotions that I feel and the complexities of these emotions.  Even though the moss are a negative covering, some are bright, with positive, life affirming colors. This shows the positive in the negative and the negative in the positive. The complexity of life's experiences.

I had been painting this past summer and then I stopped.  This was the first time that I've painted since then, and it felt like a wonderful and freeing release, to put my focus on something that expressed my feelings, abstractly, with no internal or external judgment.  I also enjoyed sitting with my daughter and other members of the community and sharing this experience.

Thank you for the opportunity!

Artist: Frank Yaker

For my tile I used my feelings on how I let others effect me. If you look you will see that there are many colors and shapes around what looks like a humans head and shoulders (that is me) that symbolizes how I put myself out to others. I constantly feel that I have to be happy and that I can't really express feeling sad or another emotions. Once I truly let people I trust get to know me I don't expect for them to hurt my feelings intentional or unintentional. When this happens I don't have a strong voice so I keep quiet and pretend that it doesn't effect me. This truly hurts me more than saying how I feel, I always bundle up these feelings and not knowing what to do with them just makes thing a lot worse.

I used acrylic paints and paint pens for my tile, I love to paint so while I was doing this peace I did a lot of reflecting on myself and how it makes me feel. Once I finished my tile it did bring me a lot of peace to mind to see how it turned out and how I could show through art, these feelings that I have been bundling for many years. 

Artist: Hazel Sea Bell

Hello! My name is Laura Fourre, a 41-year-old mother of 3. I have taken a few community classes on watercolors and color pencils. Mostly I just like to do detailed paint by numbers. As long as I can remember I have always found doodling, drawing, and/or using color helps to ease my mind and helps me relax. The supplies I used for this were pencil, painter's tape, and acrylic paint. I was inspired by the idea of thinking about what one's brain might look like. Upon reflection, I thought about how many different schedules, to-do lists, and other thoughts take up a lot of space. It can often feel like organized chaos. In my google calendar, have many different colors representing my children, my partner's, and my schedule. Putting these two things together, I decided on a free draw to begin, letting my pencil led, making swirls, left and right turns, and crossing over other lines. I then took strips of painter's tape and covered these lines, in order to keep unused space. I wanted this to show that there was still movement and space to make space for anything else in the future.  I then just began using a bunch of different colored acrylic paints, filling in shapes as I went. I wanted to use colors representing all the feelings and thoughts I have swirling around up there too, ranging from darker colors to light colors. As I went, I realized that I had sort of created a set of eyes that looked at you no matter which way you turned the piece of wood. I am really proud of how my piece turned out, and how it let me let some creativity flow. I liked that the piece looked mosaic-like, making the pieces work. Overall, I really loved doing this and appreciate the opportunity to be a part of something with other artists :)  

Artist: Laura Fourre

Art Therapy Prompt: 1

I have no real artistic background though my family is very art oriented. In this work I made a point of only using what was around me. This lead to stealing a lot of paint and magazines from others. That’s because I didn’t really have a plan on what I would make, I just built as I went along. Art like this is a form of catharsis I suppose. The finished product is only what it is physically and what hides beneath the paint. I had a great time with this and I definitely felt a lot better after this project.

Art Therapy Prompt: 5

I’m more of a person who enjoys realistic art. I don’t take many art classes so I’ve kind of just taught myself how to draw realistically. Drawing abstract was a bit of a struggle for me. I split apart my tile into different sections. I picked a color and a mood for the sections, and then kind of pieced together my face in a less realistic way conveying the emotions of the colors. It’s kind of like a jigsaw of emotions. Not drawing realistically was hard at first but then I kind of just let my marker flow and I decided not to care too much about proportion, which was soothing in a way. I’m usually extremely tedious of facial proportions and I stress out if I mess it up, but for my tile I allowed myself to be creative and not conform to super realistic proportions as it is abstract. It helped me let my stress out because all I could think about was letting my markers flow wherever my hand wanted.

Artist: Cecilia Fremont

Art Therapy Prompt: 2

I am a professional artist. I approached this project by pushing myself to work outside my regular materials and imagery, trying to put myself into a looser, free mindset, focused on brushstrokes only, with each mark responding to the previous one. Made with India ink and masking fluid.  

Art Therapy Prompt: 1

Hi! I'm Wenshin, a sophomore at CEHS who enjoys art, but has trouble finding time to make it. I like to paint with acrylics, and am a big fan of ceramics. This time, I used collaging material, paint, and posca paint pens to construct my brain tile. It was inspired by my life, and all the jumbled together pieces that make me who I am.  Working on this tile was a chance for me to throw out all of the stress and pressure I have been feeling recently, and gave me a chance to relax. It was a calming and very enjoyable hour, and I had lots of fun along the way.

Artist: Wenshin Lu

This painting is meant to convey how lonliness and isolation feel. The colors swirling arond the person is all the overwhelming feelings and events that a person can go through. It also kind of resembles an eye of a hurricane.

I’m a Freshman at CEHS. I love all sorts of artistic hobbies like playing instruments, singing, painting/drawing, etc. I used paint, both ends of my paint brushes, a pink Posca pen, and a regular pen. Some of my inspirations included experiences with my friends, individuals in my life like my friends, family, and boyfriend, as well as my feelings and whatever felt right to me. Spending time on my tile was relaxing. I was sometimes frustrated because I couldn’t capture what I wanted to, but I quickly realized it’s my canvas and I can make it look however I want with time. 

Artist Prompt: 3

Since I was little, I’ve always enjoyed expressing myself through art, specifically painting. That’s why for my tile I used different colored paints. I responded to the prompt “My life is like-“, and drew inspiration from a reoccurring symbol I’ve noticed. In the same way that other people see certain numbers everywhere they go, I see swirls. I see them in the seashells I find on the beach, or the sunlight that shines on my bedroom walls. On random book covers or posters in the grocery store. I see them in everything, and when I saw this prompt I realized that the swirl was a pretty accurate depiction of my life. I used a darker color palette to give the appearance of a galaxy. The dark blue background represents the uncertainty my life holds, but the swirls and stars represent the wonder and opportunity I have. Decorating this tile was extremely calming and therapeutic. When it’s hard to express the complexity of life with words, you can use art as an outlet to do so. 

Through my tile I tried to represent the chaos of living in Cape Elizabeth while also portraying the happiness it brings me. I used the Cape Courier as the back round and I tried to get it to look chaotic and also fluid. The mouth and smile is for the joy and the words “Thank you” next to it is to everyone on this communities I owe one to. The hour it took me to create this was nice, I enjoyed trying to figure out what I wanted this to be.

Art Therapy Prompt: 9

I'm a Junior at CEHS with very little hands-on artistic experience (unless crocheting counts). I used magazine pages, modge podge, and paint markers. My tile was more intuition based than based on anything in my life, but I think the concentric 'circles' actually ended up representing something pretty close to my world view and how my brain works. The art was nice and calming, but I actually think the bigger benefit came from spending an hour doing something tactile with other people.

Hannah’s art project evoked a sense of calm and safety for me. I used a variety of prompts and drifted far into the project. I brought a folder of images with me and spread them on the table. An image of tree branches made me think of neuronal pathways and I used them to separate two different parts of my brain. The left side is busier, and representative of hopes, dreams, tasks, memories, etc. the other side is more calming and quiet and accessible when feeling protected. The project was a wonderful respite from a day of juggling various responsibilities.