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Healing Mosaics

A series of workshops, facilitated by The Center’s Art Therapist, Fran Englander, MA, ATR-BC, LPAT and held in multiple sessions over several months resulted in 5 completed mosaics. The project was meant to engage The Center’s clients, staff and volunteers in the creation of mosaics through the design process to creation and completion.  Funding was provided by the Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Art Meets Activism grant.

Mosaic can be a powerful symbol related to domestic and sexual violence.  Crisis can break a victim physically and emotionally similar to the broken pottery used in creating a mosaic.  As victims escape violence, seek help and become connected to a community, they begin to heal and become survivors.  Like the domestic or sexual violence survivor, the pieces of pottery in a mosaic do not fit back together the way they once did.  Instead, they become a new, beautiful creation. 

This project emphasized the healing process for those who are recovering from intimate partner abuse and sexual violence, and was intended to counter some of the secondary trauma impact on staff and volunteers who assist others in their recovery process. 

New Leaves for New Lives

Every day we witness victims of intimate partner violence leaving abuse behind and turning over new leaves to create new lives. As a way to honor and celebrate this, The Center for Women and Families, in conjunction with the University of Louisville, sponsored a community arts project titled New Leaves for New Lives this past spring.

The Center’s Art Therapist, Fran Englander, collected  nearly 60 altered books* created by artists, clients and Kentuckiana community members which address interpretations of the theme New Leaves for New Lives. The collection was displayed from March-May, 2010 in the UofL Ekstrom Library Kain Rare Books Gallery.

Click thumbnails below for larger images of altered books or click here to visit our Flickr photo set.

 

Hope Change Home

Hope / Change / Home was a program facilitated by artist Joyce Ogden in collaboration with Fran Englander, The Center’s Art Therapist. The two conducted a series of workshops with The Center’s clients and staff during which they created ceramic tiles evoking the spirit of hope, change and home. The finished tiles were installed in the Joan E. Thomas, M.D. Campus vestibule on a metal wall forged by artist Dana Andriot, providing an inspirational and moving entrance to the lobby.

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