thin places: Notecards

Pope Francis Themed Notecards

Quotes on the back:

I ask you: How do you abide in the presence of the Lord?

In the Bible, the Lord says, I am like the flower of the almond. Why?

Because that is the first flower to blossom in the spring.

He is always the first! This is fundamental for us: God is always ahead of us!

The catechist is conscious of having received a gift, the gift of faith,

And he or she then gives that gift in turn to others. This is something

beautiful. We don't keep a percentage for ourselves!

Whatever we receive, we give!

This is not commerce! It is not a business!

This I ask you: be shepherds, with the "odor of sheep," make it real,

as shepherds among your flock, fishers of people.

The art of occupational therapy is the soul of its practice. –Peloquin

Visual images were one of the “signs” I found joyfully confirming my path to occupational therapy. On the websites of various schools' occupational therapy programs, headline banners depicted close-ups of a sunflower, paintbrushes, glue and paper snowflakes, a person standing on a seashore, bright colored balls, beads, hand-over-hand slicing a loaf of brown bread. To recap a bit of further research:

A) One-on-one work helping people

B) Working with people with developmental disabilities and/or older adults

C) Paper snowflakes

Which, together, prompted the thoughts:
A) It's a real job?
B) What is the name of that job?
C) Let me be it.

In my first semester of school for occupational therapy, I was inspired by a few quotes in our textbooks as well as some in other readings which I thought pertinent to the focus of the field. There is something intangible, unspoken and beautiful about the work of the occupational therapists I visited before beginning school. Their practice required patience, attentiveness and acute observation skills, which I also associate with the realm of an artist. These cards attempt to capture a bit of the unspoken essence of the field. Work with human beings is of course a much more challenging, delicate and ultimately meaningful art.

If you have come to help me, then you are wasting your time.

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,

Then let us work together.

-Lilla Watson

Linoleum blockprints are a rough medium that require some flexibility—carving an image backward, stamping it—and there is always a question as to how the positive image will present itself. However, after an initial stamping, I can adjust stamp’s positive space, to some degree, if needed. Just as with all art, or work, it requires some immediate problem-solving. The tangible aspects of the process are satisfying, and hopefully the hands-on process of occupational therapy will prove similarly so.

In our theory class this first semester, we learned about different theories that therapists use in practice. One model, the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance-Engagement, locates spirituality at the core of a person – that is, the meaningfulness, wholeness or purposefulness found as foundational within a human being. These cards represent some core components of meaning and guiding philosophies of occupational therapy, and they are complemented by another component of the Canadian model, social justice. The CMOP-E offers a vision of a person with individual power who is nonetheless interdependent with all others in society. This vision supports the construction of an inclusive society that demands caring, love and trust—a society that recognizes that individual action shapes and is shaped by environment. An outgrowth of this philosophy is that the therapist and client engage in a relationship that is essentially collaborative.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance

and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

–Martin Luther King, Jr.

...

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. –Nelson Mandela

In its 2-D medium, art involves some of the collaboration inherent in occupational therapy. Restricted by demands of the medium, I am yet equipped with a metal tool to carve and re-carve lines. The simplicity of the black and white clear-cut images raise a question in the viewer, what intricacies cannot be captured by this medium? What are these somewhat crude shapes incapable of representing? And if a simple print is limited in its capacities for detail, what intricacies are inherent in a client’s recovery process, in unseen though real processes of cognition or enthusiasm or strength, in a therapist-client relationship? Though the answers will be neither 2-D nor black and white, hopefully they will manifest some form of beauty.

The ethos of occupational therapy restores our clear-sightedness

so that we see what is essential:

We are pathfinders.

We enable occupations that heal.

We cocreate daily lives.

We reach for hearts as well as hands.

We are artists and scientists at once.

If we discern this in ourselves,

if we act on this understanding every day,

we will advance into the future embracing our ethos of engagement.

And we will have reclaimed our magnificent heart.

-Peloquin, 2005 Eleanor Clarke Slagle lecture

...

There is something about simple, effective work with the hands

that makes [humans]… kin with the great creative forces of the world.

From such a basis of dignity and simplicity anything is possible.

Many a poor starved nature becomes rich and full.

-Dr. Herbert Hall

...

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

Has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

But you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

And a person for work that is real.

-Marge Piercy, “To be of use”

Mother Teresa Notecards

reproduced from original linoleum blockprints

set of 6

The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.

...

Be faithful in the small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

...

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

Intense love does not measure -- it just gives.

...

Let us not make a mistake -- that the hunger is only for a piece of bread. The hunger of today is so much greater: for love -- to be wanted, to be loved, to be cared for, to be somebody.

Merry Christmas, 2011

Merry Christmas, Richmond! (10 assorted scenes): Jefferson Hotel, Agecroft Hall, Lewis Ginter Fest of Lights, Tacky House, Dooley Mansion, Monument Avenue, 17th St. Market band, The Fan, Nutcracker at Carpenter Theatre, Cary Street

Byrd Theatre in Carytown with "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in the marquee...a commissioned variation of the Richmond card scenes...and of course, with a few snow flakes!

Merry Christmas, 2010

I ordered a set of 4x5'' linoleum tiles, in hopes of creating some different sorts of images. After some suggestions from my aunt and a few youtube videos, I tried these. The right Mother Teresa image could use some more trimming around the outside to help define the figures in the center. With linoleum, you can always trim, but you can't add back! So, stay tuned on this front...

Mother Teresa is So Cool Series

This 8-card set was conceived primarily as a vehicle to use Mother Teresa's quotes--which uplift and inspire, as well as often challenge the reader. I decided this sample of quotes was note card-worthy because they captured some essential themes of Mother Teresa. There are many more quotes reflecting her life's work as a Missionary of Charity caring for the poor, sick, and dying, that are worthy of reading, but I didn't think they suited note cards as well.

I decided on an abstract design on the front to add visual interest, provide for a versatility of use, and also to provide a look that could be used as easily by a male or female. The original print was created out of a styrofoam container, punctured with pen lines, covered with black marker, and stamped. I was interested to see that because of the inability to identically reproduce a stamp, the Mother Teresa figure on the back of each card has a unique look about her.

Quotes: Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.

A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

Kindness is a language we all understand. Even the blind can see it and the deaf can hear it.

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.

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