Women’s Hearth was founded in Spokane in 1991 and serves as a temporary safe haven for women of diverse backgrounds who are living on the streets. They have not only grown over the years in the amount of people they cater to, but have grown in the kind of care they provide for these women in need. The organization promotes growth of the body, mind, and spirit by offering aid and encouragement to reinforce health and well being. The staff at Women’s Hearth works diligently to “foster nurturing relationships, encourage self-determination, and advocate for change in systems that oppress women” (http://www.help4women.org/16/). The center provides an atmosphere of warmth and comfort by making showers, food, and hygiene products available to the women. There are also classes and activities that are easily accessible including 12 step programs and various events and speakers that encourage and support the women through their daily struggles. We came as guest artists to lead a workshop on Creative Expression. The women created journals that reflected their identity through collage, painting and mixed media.
Overall, we felt our project was successful. However, as with all community projects, we were presented with variables that were ultimately easy to resolve. For example, we had a hard time finding the building, so we arrived a few minutes late and felt rushed at first. In addition, the area we were going to use was initially covered with puzzles, so we had to find a way to move these while respecting the women’s’ space. After resolving these minor issues, the project ran smoothly. Even though we started out with one participant, about 10 women came throughout the morning. Once they were settled and we had given them instruction, we were able to sit with them at different tables and actually make our own journal beside them. There was a feeling of strong community and empathy among the women, and they welcomed us as friends immediately. I think that we were successful in being sensitive to the women’s needs. It was really encouraging to physically see how art can aid in bringing individuals together and letting them express their experiences.
Participant's Work in Progress
Participant's Final Work
2 comments:
I admire the mission of the Woman's Hearth and how they help women get back on their feet. I think this project was a very good selection for this group. It gaves them the opportunity to be reflective about themselves and to be creative.
The similarities between your shared art project and ours (at Centrepoint)are interesting to me. We both needed to exercise a certain level of sensitivity in choosing and executing our projects, we too were welcomed immediately by most of the group. And while we did have issues about participation, we had the opposite problem--way more people than expected. While we expected about 15, we ended up having about 40. I probably would have preferred your issue... :P
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