Expressive Arts Carnival No. 1: Word Clouds
Welcome to the June 2010 inaugural edition of the Expressive Arts Carnival. Our new Carnival is meant to bring survivors together through expressive arts activities. This month's theme, see the announcement, was to "create a word cloud that captures the essence of a soothing activity in your life." For an introduction to using word clouds in healing, see my post Visual Words.
We have eight wonderful submissions for our first month. I will list each entry and, if the submission is hosted on another site, you can click on the entry name to be sent there. Of course, there is absolutely no requirement to have your own website or blog (or to post the activity to it if you have one) to participate in the Carnival. One of the motivations for the Carnival is to provide an opportunity for anyone to contribute.
So, here goes.
Entry 1: Jahda
Entry 2: Castorgirl from Scattered Pieces
Entry 3: Shen from Reunited Selves
Entry 4: Katie from Sharing Our Spaces
Entry 5: Clinically Clueless
Entry 6: Kerro from Kerro's Korner
Entry 7: Cornnut from Picture of Experience
Entry 8: Paul from Mind Parts
That's all folks! Thanks to all those who contributed. If you think this Carnival is worthwhile, then let others know about it and we can try to increase the submissions for future months.
The Carnival homepage can be found at Expressive Arts Carnival. There you can find links to all activity announcements and Carnival publications. Activities are posted on the first of every month and submissions are open for approximately 3 weeks. The Carnival will be posted shortly after submissions are closed.
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Hi Paul, thanks for hosting this - I've loved looking at everyone's entries. All different, but all wonderful. I found myself nodding and smiling at many of them. Thanks again.
thanks for doing all this, paul! for starting this project and for bringing it all together. it was really great being a part of this and seeing all the other things people created. i look forward to the next exercise :)
Oh what fun looking at everyone's submissions! Thank you so much for creating this carnival, Paul. I could stare at these for hours--each so unique and beautiful and inspiring--makes me want to go back and do another one and another one and another one...
(...thinking I could very easily get addicted to designing word clouds lol!)
I thoroughly enjoyed this process and like katie am really looking forward to the next exercise!
Thank you everyone. Next month's activity won't be word clouds. But, yes, they can be addictive. I'm sure we'll come back to word clouds some other time.
Just to comment on the submissions: What struck me is that everyones had some feeling words in them, except mine. I guess that is an indication of where I was at when I did it. I told you all I was on vacation for a while. I guess that's proof I really was!
Seeing the word clouds like this, highlights the different ways in which we express and see ourselves... The different fonts, colours, word size etc tell one aspect of the story; while the actual words tell another. Really interesting on many levels.
I admit, the only reason my word cloud had feeling words in it, was because I knew that was what was "expected". Not that I have perfectionist traits, was looking at this as being "marked" in some way, or anything like that... :)
Like the others, I thank you for hosting this and look forward to more activities in the future.
Take care,
CG
Castorgirl, thanks! You have so many judgments! I admit this is an issue I have trouble with too. But there are no expectations or will there ever be. Just a theme. So, if we were scoring based on what was "expected", I would clearly get the "F" grade for cutting out the feelings.
neat insight paul~ i hadn't noticed that. that's great that you're continuing to get something out of this exercise.
thanks again, to everyone. i loved being a part of this with you and reading about what helps each of you feel calm...such beautiful thoughts.
made me want to listen to music especially...
Thanks Katie. What's interesting, for me, is that music really is all about emotion. So, I'm not sure why I didn't include it. I know I did it as an intellectual exercise in my office at work. I know there wasn't much feeling going on inside at the time (at least that I had access to).
Hi Paul,
Yes, I judge myself harshly. But I try not to judge anyone else. I wouldn't consider that you deserved a failing grade on the criteria and standard that I impose on myself, but rather that you were expressing what was happening for you at the time. I'm not in any position to determine whether that was right or wrong.
Regards
CG
Yes, Castorgirl. I was joking about my getting an F. Maybe a D-. At least that's passing, right?
Thank you for creating this. It was wonderful looking at the wide variety of creations.
Very cool!!!!
I noticed yours is musical. I love music. Do you play an instrument?
Lothlorien
Lothlorien, thanks. Mine is musical, yes, as well as Kerro's. Yes I play piano. I also played trumpet for many years as a kid and just started picking it up again and mostly playing blues. If you click on the "Music" category in the right column, you will see some music recordings I've put up here.
I did mine but ended up sort of messed up in the head and didn't get it sent in. Sorry about that Paul. Mine is sitting in my art folder in My Documents. Argh!
Oh, so sorry Austin. Next time perhaps?
I really like the pieces. Thank you, Paul (and everyone who did them), for sharing them. I wanted to do something, but couldn't this time around. Too much going on.
Thank you OneSurvivor. We will have a new activity every month. And we'd be happy to have you be a participant when things settle down for you.