Art teachers emphasize process-based, expressive arts experiences to help students develop mindfulness and present-moment awareness. Young students create observational paintings of peace while immersing themselves in nature; elementary students participate in a series of multisensory mark-making activities; middle-school students collaborate on a mural inspired by a symbol of interconnectedness; high-school students express gratitude through traditional and digital printmaking; and more.
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Both mindfulness and art cultivate present-moment awareness of the breath, the body, thoughts, emotions, and creative impulses. The aim of this issue is to provide purposeful experiences to enhance self-awareness by participating in mindful making without judgment to strengthen imagination and enhance the creative process. We hope you find inspiration in the lessons and insights shared in this issue!
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I wanted to come up with a way to contextualize mindful strategies so students could practice self-regulation while talking through an uncomfortable feeling with a friend or listening to another person without jumping to conclusions. The solution was surprisingly simple. I would give students a collaborative assignment with no obvious solution, and we would mindfully work through the difficulties we encountered with painting and conversation.
I showed students figurative sculptures and asked them to mimic the poses with their bodies. They enjoyed it so much that I continued doing it throughout the year. I scoured art books, searched art museums’ digital collections, and visited the Cummer Museum in Jacksonville, which happened to be showing the famous sculpture Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja). I put in the time to do research and find figurative sculptures that would provide students with an enjoyable challenge, such as the sculpted heads Jun Kaneko exhibited at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in 2015. Ending with a seated figure for the last pose became a natural way to get students into their seats and ready for their art lessons.
Welcome to our art lab. Take a seat and close your eyes. Breathe in through your mouth. Let the air go through your throat, chest, and stomach. Expand your stomach with air so it becomes as big as it can get. Now, reverse the steps, pushing air out of your stomach, chest, and throat. Join us as we gather together to learn, understand, and create. Today, we will discover what it feels like to be mindful in and through drawing class. We’ll participate in a series of activities that incorporate physical manipulation of materials, visual thinking and storytelling, mark-making on paper, sculpture, creative movement, and body-breath work.
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Finding moments of calm and mindfulness in a classroom setting can be difficult. As art teachers, we have the ability to bring serenity into our classrooms and guide students to embrace their creativity while practicing mindfulness. Welcome to the Garden of Joy—an inspiring lesson that encourages students to embark on a mindful adventure while using their senses to create art amidst the beauty of nature.
The Flower of Life is a symbolic representation of life and the interconnectedness of all things. It is associated with the Sacred Geometry school of thought, an ancient science that studies the spiritual significance of shapes and proportions and how they reflect the universe. The circles that make up the flower symbol can be arranged in an infinite number of ways, each creating a new and unique pattern. This reminds us that we are all capable of creating anything we can imagine and that our potential is limitless.
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What do you think of when you hear the word mindfulness? For me, it means finding peace through being in the moment. When you think about it, that’s just what a photographer does—observe and focus in on the visual importance of a moment, preserving an experience to share or revisit in the future. Some photography will transport viewers to another place through imagery that prompts them to remember sounds, smells, favorite foods, and past visual experiences. It is this aspect of photography that I recently found to be most helpful in reaching my students and encouraging them to slow down.
The best mindfulness projects are the ones that impact the culture in a meaningful way; the Gratitude Project is one such project. A few years ago, my school district implemented a social-emotional learning program that had a direct influence on my teaching. One aspect of the program focused on the importance of gratitude and how being in touch with what and who we are grateful for keeps us in a positive mindset, concentrating on affirmations rather than anxieties. I wanted to bring this learning into my classroom, so I instituted what became known as the Gratitude Project.
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The 5-4-3-2-1 technique calls for students to pay attention, look around the classroom, and find five things they can see, four things they can touch, three things they can hear, two things they can smell, and one thing they can taste. By focusing on their senses, students can shift their attention from distraction and stress and cultivate present-moment awareness. This activity offers a fun and engaging way for students to experience calm as they notice their environment with greater awareness.
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Morel Doucet’s art is a record of his journey as a Haitian immigrant, often using the human figure as a metaphor. He considers his work to be narratives of a “self-mythology.” This mythology references climate change and sea-level rise in his home of Miami, Florida; environmental destruction; and the displacement between descendants of the African diaspora and their original physical environments. Doucet’s works, whether they are created in porcelain, earthenware, or paint, start with a grounding in the beauty of nature, highlighting the flora, fauna, and people of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.
