My Love Story (Immigrant Art Reflection)

Nosotros amamos a Dios porque él nos amó primero.

1 Juan 4:19

During a recent art session with immigrant women seeking asylum, they created a mixed media art piece of their love story. The guided meditation included four steps to guide the reflection and the art process.

First: Use a pen or pencil and write your love story. How do you feel or experience the love of God in your life? Who are the people in your life who have shown you love? Grandparents? Parents? Brothers and sisters? Children? Grandchildren? Aunts and uncles? Priest or minister? Teacher? Friend? What have you learned about love from these special people. How has their love given you encouragement, blessing, joy, or hope?

 Second: Choose 1-2 favorite colors of acrylic paint and 2-3 different stencils—symbols (shapes) of your love story. Use a blue plastic square to scrape paint over the background (cover the words) and then quickly place a stencil on top of the paint before it dries and use a baby wipe to rub off the paint in the stencil/hole ( “reverse stencil art technique”). Repeat with a second color of paint and a different stencil. Clean stencils with baby wipes.

Third: Use an oil pastel (like a crayon) to fill the page with hearts, start with a small heart and then make bigger and bigger hearts until the page is full and you have covered the stencils. Use a pen or pencil and write inside and around the heart shapes. You could write a prayer or a love letter to a special person in your life.

Four: Add stamped images, cut shapes, and pretty tape. Outline shapes with puffy paint. Write your name and date.

Simple Stamping for an Easy Background Layer

For an easy extra background layer, mix a bit of acrylic paint with white gesso (blend). Use a household sponge to dab the mixture onto a stamp and press into a background. It adds a subtle layer with a wee bit of texture. It's also an easy way to do art for no particular reason. 

Timeline Reflection inside an Immigrant Family Detention Center

It is very frustrating for women in a family detention center to wait and wait and wait, wondering and worrying if they will be released and allowed to continue on to family (already) waiting for them in the U.S. or if they will be summarily deported back to the horrors of their homeland.It is particularly frustrating for those waiting while a family comes and goes but they are still waiting. The art reflection project I developed for the women was created with this frustration in mind. For the timeline project, their goal was to see how short their time is in the detention center compared to the big picture of life.
They wrote their story on the bottom layer of the art about their experiences in the detention center: what activities they and their children did, what their living arrangements were like, classes they attended, school, etc. They are locked up and waiting, but there are many interesting and even fun activities to do for the others and the children. The point was to name the blessings amidst the waiting.

They then painted over the words with watercolors and added stencils of symbolic shapes for their life (past, present, or future) using tempura or acrylic paint. The timeline is a piece of pretty art tape and it was placed halfway to represent the medium or average experiences in life. I asked the women to estimate how long they thought they would live and to put that number on the far right of the timeline. Most said they expected to live to age 100; a few said age 80. The average age of the participants was 22-25, and the timeline helped give the perspective that there is much more of their live to live before them then what has already been lived. In the big picture of life, "now" at the detention center is very short.

They put dots above the taped middle line for events in their lives that were good, and dots below the taped line to indicate event that were unhappy. They could add words to explain those dots or they could leave them blank. A stencil or stamp of a mother and/or a child to symbolically added their family into the art. They could glue on the Serenity Prayer and a scripture verse of the "fruits of the Spirit" if they wanted. The final touch: write the "fruit of the Spirit" that you most need to help you through this time of waiting. PATIENCE was the popular choice!

Timeline: Mixed Media Reflection on the Big Picture of Life (Bilingual)

Primero: Utilice un bolígrafo o un lápiz y escribir cuente su historia de estar aquí. ¿Cuándo llegaste? ¿Cuántos días llevas aquí? ¿Cuándo se espera que salir? Lo que ha estado sucediendo han estado aquí? ¿A qué te dedicas? ¿Qué hacen tus hijos? ¿Qué es un día típico en esta lista? En el panorama general de la vida: ¿Cuánto tiempo has estado aquí en comparación con la cantidad de tiempo que pasará viviendo GRATIS tu vida? Escribe tanto o tan poco como desee. Luego pintar el fondo con acuarelas. Añadir 1 o 2 colores de acento.

First: Tell your story of being here. When you came? How many days have you been here? When do you expect to go? What has been happening have been here? What do you do here? What do your children do here? What is a typical day like here? In the big picture of life: How long have you been here compared to the amount of time you will live your whole life? Write as much or as little as you like. Then paint the background with watercolors. Add 1 or 2 accent colors.

Segundo: Elija una plantilla y usar pintura acrílica o tempura para cubrir el fondo. En la muestra, los árboles simbolizan la dificultad en ver (a través de los árboles) para el futuro. La misma plantilla se repitió cuatro veces. Limpie la plantilla con una toallita de bebé. Utilice el secador de pelo para secar la pintura.

Second: Choose one stencil and use acrylic or tempura paint to cover the background. In the sample, the trees symbolize the difficultly in seeing (through the trees) to the future. The same stencil was repeated four times. Clean the stencil with a baby wipe. Use the hair dryer to dry the paint.

Tercero: Use cinta bonita para poner una línea de medio campo por el centro. La línea representa la media. Por encima de la línea es buena; debajo de la línea es mala. Calcule cuánto tiempo esperas para vivir. (La muestra pone a luz en el extremo izquierdo y 80 años de edad en el extremo derecho.) Crear una línea de tiempo de los buenos y malos momentos en su vida desde la infancia hasta el presente. Utilice una pluma de tinta y escribir los buenos y malos momentos de su vida desde la infancia hasta la actualidad y luego conectar los puntos. Piense acerca de cómo Dios ha estado presente en su vida.

Third: Use pretty tape to put a line halfway through the middle. The line represents average. Above the line is good; below the line is bad. Estimate how long you hope to live. (The sample places birth on the far left and age 80 at the far right.) Create a timeline of the good and bad moments in your life from childhood to the present. Use an ink pen and write down the good and bad moments of your life from childhood to the present then connect the dots. Think about how God has been present in your life.

Cuarta: escritura pegamento y / o la Oración de la Serenidad. Añadir plantillas o sellos para representar a usted ya sus hijos. ¿Qué fruto del Espíritu Santo que necesita para ayudarle? Escríbelo. Añadir sellos y figuras de papel cortado.

Fourth: Glue scripture and/or the Serenity Prayer. Add stencils or stamps to represent you and your children. Which fruit of the Holy Spirit do you need to help you? Write it down. Add stamps and cut paper shapes.

Connecting with (Immigrant) Kids through Art

Art is an excellent way to connect cross-culturally. It easily crosses any boundaries of language and becomes a language unto itself. I use art as a "guided meditation" to help children (and the mothers) to express their experiences and to name God present in their circumstances. As I often say to the women and children in my mediocre Spanish: I do not have enough words in Spanish to express my love and concern for you, but through art we can have a conversation that we all can understand. I provide basic steps and show a sample related to the project. Then everyone interprets and expresses as desired. I let them know that there are no rules when Pastor Helen does art. Have fun. Use any of the supplies that you would like. Express what is on your heart.

There are LOTS of options for art-making.

Punch tools in various shapes are popular with the kids.

Letters Home (from inside a family detention center for immigrants seeking asylum)

A young boy wrote about his journey.

Women and children wrote letters home to express the love and concern they have for people they had to leave behind when they began their journey to the United States to seek asylum from the violence in their homelands. It is important and healing to write the words even though the letters would not be mailed. The letters home then become the basis for the mixed media art reflection made by women and children inside a family detention center for immigrants seeking asylum.

Quien Soy? (Who am I?) Immigrant Art Examples of Completed Reflections

 Women and children inside a family detention center created these mixed media reflections on the theme: Who am I?

Art tools and supplies.

Instructions for continuing the work once the initial "dumping" has been done: Use your favorite colors that remind you of home to cover the page with watercolors. Chose 3-4 words that best describe your hopes and dreams and future and write these very bold across the middle of the page. Use the art supplies to tell the story of who you are. Choices include: a big choice of stencils in many different shapes and sizes, foam stamps in shapes and letters, rubbing plate to add texture, punch tools to cut out shapes from pretty paper to then glue on your page, and letters as stickers you can use to spell your name or where you are from. Put your name and today’s date on the front or on the back.

A woman read her story to friends before she added more art layers.

Reflection on the Theology in Genesis

An assignment for a university course I'm teaching this summer on the Old Testament includes the requirement to produce an AV that tells the story of the Old Testament in 5-7 minutes. I'm doing the project simultaneously with the class.

I've included symbols that tell key stories: elements of creation; an Apple on the tree of life and "choose" signifying free choice; ABC stenciling and the Tower of Babel; rainbow and God's promise to Noah not to flood the earth again; stars (upper right) for Gid's promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars; stenciled circles (bottom right) for the abundance of the offspring now living in Egypt. 

Watermark Resist (Stamping) Mixed Media Art

I was intrigued when I saw the technique to use watermark resist (project by Rangerink.com) to make "resists" using stamped images on paper. The trick is that the paper must have a shiny surface in order for the technique to work properly. Otherwise, you can use any type of foam or rubber stamp and a variety of dye type inks. We experimented with the technique as part of a "team night" while on a mission trip in Mexico. I brought basic supplies which included one watermark resist stamp pad, several small stamps, and mini ink pads to be used for the dye after the watermark stamp had been allowed to dry overnight. The only shiny paper I had on hand was a stack of tags which are generally used literally for pricing and tagging items. We used these tags as the basis for our experimenting.

First, stamp the plain shiny paper with a watermark resist. The samples here show multiple stamps of the same image on one small tag. Allow to dry overnight. Then use a cotton ball or tissue to apply ink; gently rub off. Add additional stamps of colored ink on top if desired. Mix colors of ink as desired. Add elements of collage (like washi tape) as desired. Experiment. Do whatever you like for no particular reason!

I made one tag for each day on the mission trip. I'm not sure exactly how I will continue with them, but they are in my journal.

Cabo Church Art Workshop Mixes Art with Theology

Integrating mixed media art in Christian education is an excellent way to help students of all ages embody the lesson through simple art techniques which are easily taught and require simple supplies. Art makes learning much more fun! There are almost unlimited projects you can create that use stencils and stamps. Once you have the basic tools (stencils and stamps), the art continues into infinity. An easy project is to talk about symbols and shapes and how they add meaning to people, places, and events. The art experience helps people to visually connect with the key themes of a particular (biblical) teaching.

Lynn creates layers of meaning with stencils, stamped images and crayon

Lynn working on layers.

Stamped images add interesting layers to art.

No fancy set-up required: art supplies scattered down the middle and GO.

Art of Tears inside a Detention Center for Immigrants Seeking Asylum

The prayer began by drawing around one hand, palm up symbolizing prayer.

The art images here express the tears and prayers of immigrant women seeking asylum in the USA from the violence in their Central American homelands. There are 500 women and children incarcerated about 90 minutes from where I am a pastor, and it is my privilege to do art as a ministry of presence with them as they await the painstaking process of seeking asylum. The examples here are from a guided prayer mixed media meditation. These images were created two days following the attempted suicide of a young woman who had just been denied asylum and was about to be deported. She and her 4-year-old son have experienced horrific violence there...and they have nothing to go "home" to. The guided meditation was intended to help the women express their fears and also to cling to hope and the love of God for them and for their children.

The supplies I brought for the women to use in creating their prayer reflection. The "Jane Girl" stencils were very popular.