One week into the course and feeling really thankful for getting into Roehampton and being on the Art Psychotherapy programme. Attention now turns to familiarising my self with the curriculum and how it’s applicable to me as a part time student. Understandably I’m still a little worried about how I’m going to strike a balance between work and study however having voiced these concerns during the induction week it’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one.
One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about the week thus far has been the studio practice component of the MA programme. Studio practice provides an opportunity for students to experience the ‘Open Studio Model’ of Art Therapy, as promoted by art therapy pioneer Edward Adamson. It’s been fantastic in the way it’s freed me up to be more experimental and play with materials outside my usual practice. Subsequently the impetus on students to continue developing their identity as artists throughout the MA has really helped to dispel assumptions I’d made about the course prior to starting. Even during this week my involvement in the workshops and process groups has really helped bring my ideas along, I feel as though there are certain motifs and themes that are recurring in a lot of this work. Most notably journeys and walking in circles. Though retrospectively I’ve also struggled at times with the enormity of being back in academia and not entirely knowing what’s expected of me. It’s interesting to note that I like having rules and boundaries to work within and invariably these ideals have been at the forefront of my art making through themes of order and disorder. Evidently others in the studio practice group commented that I work in a very systematic and considered way. Perhaps this is in response to my anxieties about the course and wanting to make sense of everything.
