Inner Child Artist: The How’s and Why’s

These are my drawings in response to the cards in my Inner Child Artist deck. It’s hard to say which I prefer: the initial imagery or the elicited imagery…

Inner Child Artist was created over the many YEARS I spent teaching elementary art. Much of the imagery is from art projects that I facilitated and my students created in class. Some of it is from the exemplars I created in order to teach. But it is all artwork created in response to children, by children, for children, and with children. And something about it transcends space and time. It just doesn’t matter how old you are; it’s magical. It really is.

The Process:

• Shuffle the deck and pull a card.
• Think about the card from the perspective of your inner child, allowing all responses. (There is no right or wrong way to do this.)
• Create a drawing of the card in your own way, with your non~dominant hand.
• Journal your response to the image and prompt on the card by using your non-dominant hand.
• Remember it. Embrace it. Forgive it. Do whatever you feel needs to be done to find peace. (Even if that means seeking guidance from a therapist. This deck will help you remember and move through much of the small stuff, but it cannot guide you through an extremely traumatic past experience- only a licensed therapist can do that!)

MY TRUE LOVE

“My true love is my dog! I thought it was Waylon, this boy in my class. But he doesn’t even know who I am! I wear my cutest dresses to school and he doesn’t even notice me. Lots of girls like him, too, so he can have his pick. Why would he ever choose the lanky girl with knocky knees and a bony butt, buck teeth and freckles? He’ll probably want the most popular girls, like Missy or Kissy. Or he’ll probably want a girl who would kiss him. That’s not me. I have to wait to do that stuff for when I get married. I think I’ll just stick to my dog!”

But why would you want to transcend time and space? Why get in touch with the child within?

Well, without really thinking too deeply and scientifically about it, I can tell you some of the benefits that I have experienced-

• Activate your memories. So many things seem to be forgotten, mostly not by choice. Who or what do you want to remember? Who or what would you like to forget?
• Recall your vision. Life gets us down. It’s not easy to be an adult. As life goes by, we tend to get swept away in drudgery and forget to dream our little dreams. What dreams have you forgotten?
• Make peace. There are so many traumas from our past that we carry with us, long after the damage is done. But carrying extra baggage around tends to get impossibly heavy after awhile. Do you need to keep carrying it with you? What baggage can you put down?
• Rekindle your imagination. Growing up is for the birds! It’s all formulas and finite answers- all work and no play. Do you remember the day you decided you were too old to go outside and play? What happened to your imagination on that day?
• Remember who you are. It’s easy to forget who you are in the scheme of things while balancing the shuffle and bustle of daily life. Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately? Are you still recognizable?
• Redefine what is important to you. Is that new car the most important thing? Or is it that corporate title? Or is it time? Love or money? What makes you tick, and why? Is it what you thought it would be?
• Check your compass. Are you heading in the direction you wanted? Are you on the right path?

Although it is hard to visit my childhood because of how much I miss my dad, and although I understand that I can never have that part of me back, I love the memories that this deck floods me with! I love the opportunity to check in with myself, all parts of me, in order to see the whole picture. I think it is priceless.