the cocoon })i({

"so i went to class a few minutes late... (rush hour... grrrr) and just as i was walking in my instructor (who i had met the day b4) was talking about me, she remembered my name correctly (bonus points for her!) and so i was set in the midst of them and she proceeded to teach them how to plaster cast a face (my face :O) )
it began with her smothering my face and bordering hair with Vaseline... she sang a bit of the ditty, "getting to know you, getting to know all about you..." as she did this... her voice and the experience all together lulled me into a pleasant place... it was oddly comforting to be behind the coolness and closeness of the mask... it fit my face perfectly... i could feel her pressing the cool plaster strips along all the nuances of my face.... i coulda' actually fallen asleep!

i think that having taken two instructional courses on Art Therapy has made me more in tune with the inner connections i make with so many differing parts of my life, most esp art... and the plaster casting reminded me of the hidden nature of the cocoon... one of the steps in the 'butterfly' symbology i have chosen to illustrate my own journey. my professor also mentioned the butterfly today in reference to the plaster setting once and only once; much to think on about that... so in that "cocoon" i felt safe and she was so gentle and the plaster was so inviting... it felt kinda like i had been safely tucked into that cocoon... and then she said... "...while we wait for coral to emerge again".... this was such an amazing connection for me... kind of a physical expression of my healing journey i have been on."

shadow, my new puppet

this is shadow, my puppet. I made her using a black and a grey handkerchief, the black was wrapped around wadded (in a ball) plastic shopping bags and secured with a tied bow.then i 'dressed her with the grey handkerchief. her white hair is a mini feather boa i secured with hot glue. i used sticky craft foam sheeting to make her hands that are connected to rods for puppetry and she has a rod into her head from underneath also. I hung two items under her clothes; one is a heart shaped chalk board that i wrote "i am afraid of the dark" as shadow's secret (this secret can be changed as needed), and she has a clear little bucket to keep other's secrets in. I created shadow for my art tx course but i wanted to make a puppet i could use someday in my counseling practice. Shadow is a very good secret keeper.

i hope you like her

lovingly, coral

W is for web

can you believe i hate spiders?

but some how doing this page made me feel control over my fears...

i included all the creepiest characteristics that i hate the most!

so DID something today about national child abuse awareness month

so last night i took the chance and e-mailed the dean in charge of approving the posters put up on Chatham's 75 bulletin boards... i edited the poster i made to say 'WE' instead of 'YOU' and i sent it to her with the request to have these posters posted across campus.

this morning i got an e-mail saying to drop them by in the office... so i had them printed (in color :O) ) and i dropped them off... they should be up wednesday and i am so happy it will be!

i am attaching the altered poster in case you want it... and if any of you have posted one i would love a picture of it in use :O)

take care... more art pictures to be posted soon.

BTW i got accepted into grad school today! i am psyched! exhausted but psyched!!

reconstructed book: I is for illusion

so i made interactive pieces... every other strip of the black and white

design slide up to spell out illusion and to demonstrate how our eyes can fool us even while we watch it happening! and the card on the left has been recycled to spin the disks.

(i made a movie of the action but i can't download it)