Who is Renting your Head Space?

by | May 29, 2023 | Visual Arts

May 25, 2023: When Together We Bake requested an art class with Sharmila Karamchandani, we knew we’d have a winner! Sharmila’s art projects are always equal parts fun, insightful, and inspiring, and it has been several years since she had done a Heard project with them. And, it was even more magical that we had dared to hope!

Leading with the prompt “Who is renting your headspace?” Sharmila asked the 20 participants to think about the negative voices and positive voices inside our heads. How do we know if it is our voice, a cultural voice, a parental voice or the voice of peer pressure? How do we know what’s ours and what has been imposed on us?

Sharmila shared later (edited): “What an amazing expressive art session we had this morning!! [T]he participants dived deeper into their headspace and whatever no longer serves them good they were supposed to do a scan and throw all the bad renters out to make room for the good renters.

I applaud this group for their honesty, vulnerability and bravery when they shared what they had drawn. There were lot of triggers, a lot of tears were shed, some found that they were not alone who were facing similar trauma. There were some very personal stuff discussed. What I loved was the group was so nurturing and loving to each other. They really build each other up.”

Happy Mother’s Day!

by | May 15, 2023 | Visual Arts

May 12, 2023:  If you don’t follow our visual artist Sharmila Karamchandani on Facebook, you should! Aside from being a generous, beautiful human being, she writes the best Facebook posts about her work with us! They are so insightful and detailed that we admit to cut/pasting/minor-edit them here. Her Mother’s Day project with the Casa Chirilagua kids, done over the last two Fridays, was no exception and one of the sweetest posts out there:

“A very happy Mother’s Day to all mother angels around us. Our mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, teachers and friends who mother us. We made special wall art to honor our mothers. Kids created wall art with angels drawn on them to give to their moms. To begin with I showed them inspiration of two angels gifted to me by my sweet angel sister Marga Fripp who makes these wonderful angels. The kids were excited to see the collaged and painted angels made by her and made their own versions. Last but not the least endless gratitude and ever flowing love to my sweet Angel mom Anjana Khushlani.” A few of the 20+ super cute pics of the kids and their angel cards (the last one is for his departed doggie):

I Love Me!

by | May 8, 2023 | Poetry

May 3, 2023, Friends of Guest House: Two authors wrote some powerful prose today about how they love themselves. Meaningful, knowing their journeys, and it shows us once again that sometimes less is more:

I Love Me, Part 1

 Starks Twyla

I’m a recovering addict

That in life had some bad habits

Now I love me some me

And I’m proud to let everyone see,

That I can be whoever I want to be

I Love Me, Part 2

Lexi

Robot Helpers for Household Chores

by | May 1, 2023 | Visual Arts

April 28, 2023, Casa Chirilagua: Given a chance what kind of a robot would you want to help out with household chores?

Always weaving kindness, generosity, and even history into her art projects, Sharmila asked her 1st – 3rd graders to create a helper robot for someone in their family. They couldn’t make it for themselves. They had to think of someone else first. Since so many kids wanted to make a robot for themselves, Sharmila told them the first robot will have to be for someone else (mom, dad, grandma or some one in their family) and they could create a second robot for themselves if they had time. Here’s a few of the “helperbots” the kids came up with. Aren’t they just cute? And don’t you want want one to do the dishes?
1. (left) Her robot is for her baby brother so he could hug him and care for him when she is at school.
2. (center) He made a robot who resembles his dog who passed away. This robot, “Doj,” guards the house.
3. (right) Her robot does all the laundry and gives big hugs to her mom

Gratitude Amid Chaos

by | May 1, 2023 | Visual Arts

April 25, 2023, Arlington County Detention Facility (ACDF): Our art teacher Sharmila Karamchandani ran into some unplanned chaos today and yet she and the women in the general population of the ACDF still found plenty to be grateful for. Here’s a shortened version of Sharmila’s story:

In the middle of chaos can you still find some gratitude? Before we started the workshop there was an incident with one of the inmates and we got delayed in starting our workshop which, to begin with, we had very little time for art. Now in a matter of 40 minutes, I had to explain the project, hear what they had to say, and also it was the last day with this unit I also had to get their evaluations for the program.
The project I had prepared was for them to make a gratitude tree. Most of them were still anxious and a bit shaken up by the incident and one of them was unable to draw at first as they were still trembling and here I go telling them to be grateful. Trust me, I too wouldn’t be able to pull out much if I was in their shoes. But these ladies are super resilient, they took all the instructions in and finished the project, shared with a loving heart as if nothing had happened just half an hour ago, and found so many things to be grateful for.
I ask them how they felt after the project. One of them who previously was anxious and unable to draw, genuinely thanked me saying “Thank you your project really helped me calm down and I no longer feel any anxiety”. And that’s the power of Art!!

Super Superpowers!

by | Apr 24, 2023 | Visual Arts

April 18, 2023: We’re just happy to be back at the Arlington County Detention Facility after three years of virtual – or no – classes! We knew Sharmila and her gentle art would be the perfect way to segue in with the general population. She wrote that she “…tasked [them] to create an entity that had special powers that was much needed in our world today…I am always amazed at what people create for this particular project. It’s so thoughtful…We had some very interesting conversations.

Quiz: Match the description with the superpower:

  1. Healing fly, a butterfly who senses any suffering and ailments with her special antennas anywhere in the world and can heal the person of any ailments they may have.
  2. Mother Earth, our ultimate super hero. With her powers of endurance and creation the woman needs to be honored as she is the source of all that exists.
  3. Blossom, who makes flowers and people blossom and bloom with her special powers.
  4. Guppy, who loves to give group hugs. She likes peace, harmony and love to spread with her special hugs.
  5. Food Man, who feeds the hungry and the homeless. His never ending faucet will provide you with any liquids be it juices or sodas. His side kick furnace can whip up any dish from any country for any amount of people.
  6. Rainbot, who has shower powers. She can do her special robotic rain dance and make it rain wherever and whenever needed, and can bless you with prosthetic limbs if you don’t have them (the creator’s friend lost a limb because of diabetes, hence Rainbot).