by redclay | Aug 7, 2022 | Poetry
If “Take me as I am” was the first line of a poem and your challenge was to complete it, what would you say? Alli and Fran and our other Friends of Guest House clients left it all on the court! As always, they were honest and vulnerable and completely fearless in sharing what was on their souls. And they began reading their poems aloud to the rest of the class, unprompted by our Heard spoken word artist
C. Thomas. “You WILL NOT tell me poetry doesn’t help to find your voice,” C. wrote on Facebook. So right you are, C.!
“Everything said during the class left a huge impact on my heart. I heard so many things today that we said so perfectly. I want this class more,” wrote one of our students in a class evaluation.
Yes, we promise more. Many more.
by redclay | Jul 21, 2022 | Visual Arts
July 20 – 2022: Another win for our artist Alison McHugh today – scrapbooking with the residents of Friends of Guest House! Alison is a scrapbooking and paper craft fiend, and she was determined that our Friends of Guest House friends were as well! And success! As you can see from these happy faces (even the masked ones), everyone had a fabulous time. “SO MUCH FUN” Alison told me later. See what bringing creativity, self expression, and joy to people does? Does it get better? We don’t think so!
by redclay | Jul 14, 2022 | Visual Arts
July 13, 2022 – Our artist Alison McHugh’s “I Am” boxes were such a hit at Casa Chirilagua that she brought it to Friends of Guest House yesterday. So many things to love about this paper craft, especially the very different ways the women express their secret selves – only they can see what’s inside the box unless they choose to share it (and we’re so glad they did)!
by redclay | Jul 7, 2022 | Visual Arts
July 6, 2022 – One of the best things about summer is that Alison teaches for us – her day job is as an art therapist with Fairfax County Public Schools. Today she led eight Friends of Guest House residents through making their personal, motivational easel cards. Imagine one of these on your dresser, encouraging you every morning! Wouldn’t you fee motivated every single day?
And our Friends of Guest House friends? They LOVED them! Some shared their quotes and art with the group, and they all are looking forward to Alison’s class next week! What do you think she will do?
by redclay | Jul 3, 2022 | Visual Arts
June 29, 2022: There’s nothing with paper that our art teacher and paper crafter fan Alison McHugh can’t do, so we knew when we sent her off to
Casa Chirilagua for an afternoon with their kids, it would be amazing. It’s a double win when our Heard art teachers have as much fun as the people we work with! Alison sure had fun at Casa Chirilagua on Wednesday, and so did the kids. And isn’t the “I Am” box a great idea?
Afterwards Alison wrote to us: “These kids were amazing and we had SO MUCH fun! We made ‘I Am’ boxes, where they wrote/drew about all of the great things they are on the inside. I practiced my budding Spanish speaking skills and we drew and colored and laughed. So fun. Thank you!”
Recent Comments