The nest
“Would a bird build its nest if it did not have its instinct for confidence in the world?”
The Poetics of Space
What is your studio?
Is it a nest? A drawer?
What would you like it to be?
The studio is the vessel that contains and expresses the therapist’s understanding of her profession and facilitates her work. It is a thoughtful physical extension of her philosophy of life, bound to reality and possibilities. Since she carefully organized this holding environment, it reflects her and enables her to be in contact with her own liveliness and abilities. The organization of the space reflects the experiencing and comprehending of what lies between the inner world and outer reality, mediating our motherly tasks as artists, educators, and therapists. The good-enough studio takes care of me as she facilitates the healing of others.
The studio becomes a metaphorical poetic nutshell of the world—a world within a world.
The studio is a place for contemplation and going on being. It is a place where the capacity to be alone and reverie are permitted and respected. It is a place where the creator is being held if she regresses into deep emotions; it is a place to experiment and invent in a going-on-being state of mind. It is a place to create an inner world, and perhaps to recognize and cherish it. The creators will feel permission to be themselves as they are allowed to quest for “something,” even if that something is vague. The spiritual blueprint will most likely flourish as transformation and healing take place.
1978, thread box, curtain tiebacks from my grandmother’s home that I took after she passed away.
The text is an extract from my new book:
The Good Enough Studio, Art Therapy Through the Prism of Space, Matter, and Action