Author Archives: Matt Griffing

Finding my groove?

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Boston Warm Collage

Collaborative collage created by BostonWarm participants to commemorate the program’s five-year anniversary

It was tough for me to figure out what to write about for this week. It’s not that nothing happened, that’s for sure—there’s always plenty going on at BostonWarm and common art—rather, there was no singular topic or moment I could think to focus on. I was starting to ask fewer questions of my (incredibly patient) supervisors and starting to learn better how to initiate things on my own. Was it possible that I was starting to find my “groove” here at my internship?
Of course, now I realize that I did indeed have a noteworthy moment at BostonWarm—I led my first art project!

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Mistakes

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There’s a lemon in life that I’ve been trying to turn into lemonade for quite some time now: mistakes. Logically I understand that mistakes are a part of life and a key element to learning. Some of the world’s greatest inventions, from potato chips to penicillin, were discovered or created accidentally. If I were talking to a friend or a student, I would encourage them to try different things, make mistakes, and learn something new—but me make a mistake in my internship? Surely this would be the end of me, my career over before it started.

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A Suspiciously Good Day

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My initial description after my first day at common art was that I’d had a “suspiciously” good day. That is, I had such an interesting and fun time, it seemed a bit too good to be true for my first day at an internship. Wasn’t I supposed to be filling papers or organizing supplies? Instead I was instantly immersed in a community of interesting individuals, all of which with a unique perspective and many of which eager to share their art with me. Time flew by as I connected with members of the clergy, staff, and community; admittedly, I had a difficult time pulling myself out of any one conversation. I returned to Emmanuel Church three more times, once for common art and twice for BostonWarm and I’m happy to report my suspicions have disappeared; I am thankful to be at an internship that is both “too good” and true.

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Introducing Amanda Ludeking

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This year, Emmanuel is pleased to welcome Amanda Ludeking. Here’s what she has to say by way of introduction.

My first experience with theater and the arts was in the fifth grade, when a theater company came to my school to help us put on a play about recycling. I don’t remember the show’s title or even my role, but I plainly remember the excitement that came with rehearsing, the friendly cooperation when painting the set, and the exhilaration of performing alongside my friends. Nearly twenty years later, upon realizing that all of the aspects I loved so much about such performances could be utilized as a form of therapy, I was nothing short of thrilled: here was a concrete way in which my animated demeanor and flair for the dramatics could actually help others. I decided to pursue my M.A. in mental health counseling (more specifically, drama therapy—a form of art therapy) at Lesley University, a program which gave me the opportunity to intern with the BostonWarm and common art programs at Emmanuel Church.

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Holding Space

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While reflecting on the past three weeks working with common art, Café Emmanuel and the Art and Spirituality group at the Suffolk county corrections facility I noticed that I have been doing a lot of listening. Holding space is something we talk about often in my courses at Lesley. We talk about holding space in a therapeutic context yet I feel it is applicable in everyday life. For me holding space means engaging on a body level, using my posture to communicate attentiveness and support, and bringing myself into a group and participating cognitively through listening and responding when appropriate. I find that when I am holding space I am receiving so much from others who are given an opportunity to be and express themselves in an authentic way. Continue reading →

The Still, Small Voice of One Girl: Learning to Listen in Uganda

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Hearing Bach’s cantatas at Emmanuel Church each week has encouraged me to listen in a whole new way. I carried this evolving aural ability with me as I traveled to Uganda to learn about the health and wellbeing of women and children.

I set off with two other American women into a rural mountainous region near the Democratic Republic of Congo. A few days prior to our arrival, a massive flood had swept away entire villages in the Rwenzori Mountains, leaving a wide plain of mud and debris in the town of Kasese, where we were staying. Continue reading →

Light in the Darkness

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Greetings Emmanuelites and Happy 2014! I was sick for most of last week, so I missed both Common Art and Café Emmanuel. However, last Monday at the prison there were some new faces as well as some women who had not been present to make cards for their loved ones in a few weeks. It is always such a wonderful feeling when the women return to make art and engage in creating a community with us. I love to see their smiling faces and hear their greetings. Some of them have even felt comfortable enough to hug the volunteers hello and goodbye and I have noticed a much more talkative room these last few weeks. Continue reading →

Amanda

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Hi, my name is Amanda Rigatti, I am an art therapy intern here at Emmanuel  from Lesley University’s graduate expressive therapies program. Evey, Liz, and I all feel incredibly lucky to be a part of this community and I can’t even begin to express how thankful we all are for how kind everyone has been to us as we work our way through our first semester.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been three weeks since I began at Emmanuel. I feel like I have learned more in the past few weeks working with common art, Ethos, and women at the Suffolk county prison than I have in years of schooling. I have learned to expect the unexpected. Continue reading →