We keep trying to get our workshops up and running and when we do…BAM … Omicron arrives. So for now we are still not holding in studio workshops. Our CEO, Eileen Wallach will however work with your organization/ family/ or self to offer on site workshops that follow the guidelines of safety during this time. Masking, enough space for people to sit 6 feet apart while creating, no sharing supplies, and valid proof that your are FULLY vaccinated that includes your booster shot or a negative test result 24 hours prior to the class you are attending.
WHILE ART STUDIO WAS CLOSED………………. 1. We were featured in the Belle Meade Living Magazine in the month of November. 2. We received our Gold seal of approval from GuideStar. 3. We volunteered and held 4 art workshops at Abe’s Garden Community 4. We created 7000 “Hope Kits” for the TSPN Mid- Cumberland region which were given out our numerous college events 5. We attended a the AFSP Out of the Darkness walk and created a “Hope Note Tree” for the participants to add their words of HOPE too. 6. We created a Hope Note tree for Volunteer Behavioral Health in Cookville,TN which is an open art instillation that clients add to everyday. 7. We provided 11 private workshops for families who lost a loved one to suicide.
Please check back often in 2022 to see what workshops are being offered or reach out to us at any time on how we can help you hold a workshop customized to meet your needs.
As many of you know the 2020 was quite a challenge. Your Heart on Art had to close it art studio and all of its workshops that were given in private homes and assisted living facilities. Our mission basically came to an end for 12 months. But in March of 2020 right before we started the lock down YHOA and Jewish Family Services was able to hold our yearly Helping Hands Art Show held at the Gorden Jewish Community Center. It was beautiful evening full of art, music and food.
Also during the year YHOA and its Presenting Sponsor TSPN would have created the 2020 traveling art project for Suicide Awareness Month in September. Well can’t say we didn’t try. Following all the CDC guidelines we opened the art studio up to 5 people at a time, spaced everyone 10 feet apart with mandatory mask wearing. We choose a theme “A light in the window” and bought the supplies and hoped we could make a go of it. Well 5 people total out of 6 workshop dates came. They did get to create their lights but Covid still held us back from getting them on display.
We comprised this year in 2021 and the traveling art project “The Hope Note Tree” will be created at two major events hosted September 8 and 9th by TSPN and in October by AFSP at their Out of the Darkness Walk. The olive trees will have notes of hope attached to them, hanging words of hope and wisdom by those that have been touched by suicide. Homes have already been found to house the trees permanently. We will announce where they will be going after they are completed with pictures so stay tuned. You will always be able to add a note to the trees.
Now for current news…….We are slowly opening our doors again. Most of our workshops will be held in facilities outside of the YHOA art studio. We are open for business and would love to hear from you. Keep an eye on the website as we will be adding new workshops in the coming months. Or call us if you would like us to design a workshop for you and your participants.
YHOA has joined forces with Alleviant Health Center of Brentwood,TN to offer free healing art workshops to the community at large. YHOA does the workshops and Allevaint supplies the facility and the marketing of the workshops. We were honored to be asked to share our unique approach in using healing arts. The idea was all theirs. “Alleviant Health Center is a full-service mental health clinic helping people heal depression and chronic pain with a combination of traditional therapies and innovative, holistic modalities. Our unique therapy approach rapidly alleviates depression, relieves pain, erases suicidal thoughts, and provides an opportunity for full emotional healing. We believe in integrated holistic psychiatry and use treatment techniques for healing the whole person. Utilizing the newest groundbreaking healing modalities, we help you reduce medication use, take control of your life, and employ holistic treatment options.” The workshops are offered for Free. Call Allevaint 615-846-4558 #2 and find out what day and time the workshops are held and how you can join a workshop. Workshops are limited to 6 people and are on a first come first serve basis.
Participants in the JFS Helping Hands through Art program had their artwork proudly on display during the month of October 2018 at the Gordon Jewish Community Center .
Helping Hands through Art is a partnership with JFS of Nashville and OMA ( Opening Minds Through Art) run by YHOA. OMA is an award-winning inter-generational art making program for people neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
During the opening night reception of the show, several artists attended along with their family members and discussed the artwork with community members who also attended the show.
JFS’s Anna Sir, who manages the program, remarked that ” the art show felt like an important culmination of the first 2 years of this new program, as well as honoring each of Eileen’s visits with our clients, who were incredibly proud to share their work.” JFS began the art program in 2016 with a New Initiative Grant enabling JFS to continue their tradition of providing one on one services and activities for the community’s seniors.
Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is an award-winning, evidence-based, intergenerational art-making program for people with dementia. Developed in 2007 at Miami University’s Scripps Gerontology Center in Oxford, Ohio, the program is grounded in person-centered care principles. The OMA art-making process involves carefully structured steps aimed at maximizing the possibility of creative expression. Participants are provided with manageable choices and failure-free activities that allow them to become active agents in their own creative process.The one-to-one ratio during art-making sessions builds the confidence and promotes the growth of close relationships between people with dementia and their partner. The research shows that OMA helps to change how others view, interact with, and care for people with dementia.
We strive to: 1 – Promote the social engagement, autonomy, and dignity of people with dementia by providing creative self-expression opportunities; 2 – Provide opportunities to build close relationships with people with dementia; 3 – Show the public the creative self-expression capacities of people with dementia through exhibitions of their artwork.
Visits are one on one and can be made at a home or assisted living facility. They are 1 hour in duration and can be scheduled for every two weeks or once a month and it is a requirement that a caregiver or family member be present during the workshop.
Please call 615-456-3777 or email us at [email protected] to discuss in more detail the process to schedule a visit(s).
It’s about the journey of self-discovery, not artistic techniques.
It’s also about painting to awaken our authentic selves, to get in touch with our true desires, to fully understand and accept ourselves. Every workshop participant is a “beginner” whether or not they’ve painted before.
When distressed, we find ourselves limited to words that don’t come easily or keep unpleasant feelings to ourselves. Using words to convey our feelings is one way, but talk therapy, or just talking about it, isn’t for everybody.
Expressing ourselves with art is an alternative way to communicate what we can’t say. Painting uninhibitedly, intuitively clears out the heavy emotions weighing us down.
The Your Heart on Art vision is to foster community healing by heightening understanding of how the arts can improve outcomes, and by providing compassionate, accommodating environments.
We’re building community online so join and follow with Facebook and Twitter. We always welcome suggestions about more ways to build community.
Your Heart on Art views fostering and expanding strategic, supplemental partnerships as a critical means to advancing its vision. Outreach programs that integrate arts and healing into the fabric of the Nashville community are also integral to that end. No matter our life experiences, we can improve both individually and as a community from self-exploration and creative expression.
Working as partners with community organizations, hospitals and schools, certified facilitators lead mobile workshops for children, teens, adults and families tailored specifically to their needs. You don’t even have to be in crisis to reap rewards from workshops. Your Heart on Art develops and conducts on-site group courses and workshops for local businesses. These custom-designed workshops are especially beneficial for staff team-building and stress reduction. Licensed mental health counselors from partner agencies will be also present at on-site workshops and respond to any psycho-social issues if necessary.
Healthcare experts continue to acknowledge the impact and success that art has had in the emotional recovery of not only adults, but also children.
Youngsters usually aren’t as capable or comfortable expressing themselves through words, and painting is less threatening.
Your Heart on Art offers workshops specially aimed at children, inspiring them to communicate creatively in a safe, welcoming space.
• Art has been reported to noticeably reduce anxiety and decrease pain perception in children.
• Children can’t always find adequate words to explain themselves and become frustrated when they’re not understood. It’s easier for them to discuss a painting that reflects their fear or anger about a cancer diagnosis, for example, or other traumatizing event.
• Research confirms that the arts are crucial to the healing of abused children, helping them deal with painful memories and thoughts.
• Art allows children to build trust with adults.
• Artistic expression helps children resolve inner-conflicts, manage behavior and handle life’s curve balls more positively.
Visual expression has been used for healing throughout history and embraced in many cultures.
• Neurophysiologists recognize that art, healing and prayer all have similar brainwave patterns. • Freud explored various ways to tap into the subconscious hoping to uncover what’s at the root of repressed feelings. Freud’s findings? The insights obtained from art were equal to and sometimes better than results gathered from scientific approaches. • Freud believed that creative expression could identify underlying emotional pain almost immediately, whereas a psychoanalytic method could take hours.
Expressive art is now considered by both medical and psychoanalytic communities to be one of the most significant, cost effective, self-healing tools available.
Scientific studies prove that art, like music, instantly affects every cell in the body, initiating changes in the autonomic nervous system, perception, attitude, hormonal balance, brain transmitters and pain perception. Painting, for instance, can shift a body’s physiology from stressed to serene. In fact, research confirms that the act of creating art is similar to being in a meditative-like state. This relaxed mood makes mind and body more receptive to healing.
Decide to feel better and experience the joy and healing potential of art.
Art is the technique, but Your Heart on Art is about the transformation.
Communicating with colors is like using a new language, and the blank canvas is another outlet for emotions. When we paint, we’re able to “see” the negative thoughts preventing us from feeling well and happy. We’re all familiar with the toll that stress can take on both physical and emotional health. But, did you know we can paint stress right out of the picture? Painting prompts reflection, which inspires relaxation and anxiety reduction. A sense of calm helps us gain clarity and opens our hearts and minds to healing. The comfortable, tranquil environment of our studio invites freedom of expression and exploration without judgment. Imagination, often stifled as we get older, is freed when we make art, so playing with color and paint is highly recommended in all Your Heart on Art workshop.
