The concept of this activity I partly came up with on my own and partly found on line. The concept is using clothes as a way of creating art. As I found online you can use the actual clothes themselves to create designs and faces that express emotions or the part that I came up with on my own was that you could paint your own designs on to articles of clothing that you could wear or just have has pieces of art. I think this would be a really unique way for people to express themselves especially if you are working in a nursing or group home where residents could be tired of the same old paint and paper activities. For painting on the actual clothes I thought this would be a great idea for people who have lost a loved one and are trying to move on. They can create a piece of art on one of their loved one's articles of clothing and keep it as a memory of them, but also turn it into something new symbolizing how they are moving on but keeping them close to their heart. Of course this would be done with people who are experiencing depression because of a lost loved one. Painting one's clothes could also be therapeutic for someone battling addiction since it would keep their mind off of their cravings or if they want to wear those clothes it could be a reminder of all the progress they've made if they are put into a situation where the cravings start to come back. As far as creating something out of the clothes themselves such as faces or a sculpture this could be used in group therapy with people who have bi polar disorder or are suffering from depression. It will allow them to express their feelings in a different non conventional way. Sometimes people may not want to discuss their feelings so openly and maybe creating a face through a sweater could be a fun and more relaxing way to do this. I think this would also be fun for children since children may respond to describing their emotions through play. Finally this would also be a great opportunity to give back to the community. For example if you have clients that have extra, old clothing they don't wear anymore you could have them bring these clothes in and after you have done an activity with them you can donate them to a Goodwill or a homeless shelter.
Considerations and Facilitation:
To facilitate this activity I would first take into consideration the population that I am working with. If it were children I would make sure that I have plenty of clean up supplies and have some examples of art work of the clothes pre made so they have some idea of what to do. I would also give them a demonstration of how to use the fabric paints with sponges or stamps since brushes might be a little difficult for them to use. If I were working with an adult population I would learn before hand how to make some of the folds and designs that are used to make the sculptures such as the ones pictured below so that I could have some idea of how to help them if they were struggling. I would also give them plenty of supplies such as fabric paint, regular acrylic paint, with a variety of different sized brushes. Before I would get the group together I would notify the people in my group to bring articles of clothing that they don't want anymore, or in the case of a lost loved one, a piece of their clothing that you want to transform to keep as a memory of them. I would also find some other articles of clothing in case anyone forgot. Finally I would come up with some debriefing questions to discuss with the group after we have completed the activity regarding how it made them feel, what they were trying to express through their creations, and if they learned anything about themselves through this activity.
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