We had a lot of wonderful art situations happening at common art last Wednesday. The knitting table is still going strong. We had a member’s work get veryyyyy tangled. Spreading out across the room with our sections of the yarn, about 5 of us helped untangle the ball of yarn. This funny moment was also a good moment of teamwork! Continue reading
Tag Archives: community building
Playing Uno
Hello, folks! We’ve had a good week here at common art and Boston Warm, so let me catch you up!
The card game Uno has been a big hit on Fridays at Boston Warm. For several Fridays in a row, we’ve had two large groups playing during the entire program time . Now, you might be thinking, “Alex, aren’t you an art-therapy intern? Why are you updating us on card games that are getting played?”
Happy New Year!
It’s my second week back at common art and Boston Warm, and it has been a really warm welcome back into the community. These first two weeks have been filled with sweet art-making time, lots of laughter, and friendly competition over games of Uno. Continue reading
Gratitude, Reciprocity & Generosity
Happy Thanksgiving week!
We had another good week here at common art and boston warm. The first rehearsal of Richie’s play went swimmingly! The cast members were game to put on their “theater caps” and brought energy and laughter to our first read-through, playing with putting on funny character voices and creating background noises where the script called for it. It seemed to me that having the rehearsal filmed was really fun for the group and helped us remind us all that the rehearsal time was important and meaningful. Continue reading
Quilting
We had a great Halloween here at common art and Boston Warm. We were fortunate that Halloween fell on Friday this year, which meant that we got to have a Halloween party of sorts during Boston Warm! We watched “Nightmare before Christmas”, played some board games, and ate some candy, cookies, and popcorn! Continue reading
Talent Show
I am feeling excited for common cathedral‘s talent show this week, although a bit nervous to see how it goes, since there are many unknowns: whether or not everyone who signed up will show up, how big the audience will be, if the tech that people need for their acts will work or malfunction, and any other number of things I can’t predict. I am trying to practice flexibility and trust myself to respond to whatever comes. Continue reading
Trading Cards
This week I really felt my growth as a facilitator. Over this past year I have worked on building my confidence and my ability to identify what art activities will be well received by the community. While I can come up with many ideas of art to make, not all of them are going to be of interest to the artists. So, in order to lead a successful art-making idea I need to have built my own confidence as well as an understanding of what the community enjoys. I also need to know what small challenges could be embraced.
Biblical Marriage
Epiphany 2C, 16 January 2022. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Isaiah 62:1-5 . For the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married….So shall your God rejoice in you.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Now there are varieties of gifts…of services…of activities…for the common good.
John 2:1-11. The first of his signs…revealed his glory…his disciples believed in him.
O God of Justice, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
The readings appointed for the second Sunday after the Epiphany in the third year of our lectionary cycle always provoke a rant inside my head that threatens to come out in the pulpit in an Andy Rooney style of commentary (for those of you of a certain age). But it’s not a rant about the lectionary (this time). This time it’s a rant about biblical marriage. Now if I asked random people walking up Newbury Street what the definition of biblical marriage is, I feel confident that, no matter what their religious background, most would respond with some version of one man and one woman. They probably wouldn’t know that marriage descriptions in biblical times, which span more than 1,000 years, differ widely (and even wildly) in terms of expectations: of polygamy or monogamy; parent-arranged or husband-initiated; endogamy or exogamy (that is, within one’s clan or outside of it); the obligation for a man to marry his brother’s widow; not to mention the estimations of perceived time until the end of the world. There are also major considerations and differences in the Bible when it comes to property, procreation, strategic political alliance, and divorce. A man “taking” a wife literally means procuring, buying, and the acquisition is called betrothal. And Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried.” Continue reading
Farewell, Amanda!
This week at common art we had another staff member leave us. This was Executive Director Amanda Grant-Rose’s last week. On Wednesday at a big celebration in her honor many of our community members gave speeches and goodbyes. It was wonderful to hear everybody share stories about what an impact Amanda had on their lives over the seven years she worked here. This experience made me think more deeply about how we can influence each other’s lives and my own role here at common art. Two weeks prior we had lost our barista. I spoke a little bit in my previous blog post about the effect this loss has on the community. Both he and Amanda played big rolls in the lives of our community for the years they were here.
Spring forward!
Over the last few weeks, the changes in the weather as we usher in spring have felt in line with exciting changes at common art. While there have been some difficult transitions, many of these changes have been welcomed as we continue to evolve common art with current Covid-19 guidance. Community leaders have begun discussing ways that we can safely begin to reintroduce some of the art materials like the beloved acrylic paints or beads into the rotation. Additionally, we are once again evaluating the number of community members allowed in groups at a time and the safe distance between our seating arrangements. It’s been quite exciting to imagine the possibilities and see the collaborative process unfold between common art staff, community leaders, and interns to find creative solutions to keep evolving the programming. Additionally, more community members continue to receive their first and second doses of the vaccine.