The Sense of Place Artistic Exercise. (Self-Led)

If you would prefer this process to be supported and guided, please feel free to email me for a session plan: AppleAniseedArts.Nisha@gmail.com

There is no right or wrong way to do this exercise. So feel free to adjust things to suit your inspired thoughts too.

1. Google search for your current place of residence.

It is up to you how far in or out you choose to set your map.

Using your imagination, move out to visually take in what lies around you.

Journal: “I feel at home here because I see/hear/smell/taste/touch…..”

And Journal: “I do not feel at home here because I see/hear/smell/taste/touch…..”

And “Observing these different things with my Senses makes me feel….”,

“And I start to wonder….”.

Print out this map to paper in black and white. A3 is best.

2. (Feel free to journal throughout your looking-listening process, or at the end).

Start to look at the lines on the page. Some may start to reach out to your eyes more than others.

Start to look at the natural spaces, the non-natural spaces.

Start to notice the water spaces and the land spaces.

Turn the paper around to look in each of the four directions.

Trust what shapes are becoming stronger and clearer for you.

Take a break and return to look again if you feel you need to stop.

3. Start to mark out some of the lines a little (whether they are roads, parks, waters or other forms. Use a light coloured soft pastel initially in case you need to make adjustments. Keep looking and marking out lines.

See what shapes are forming using whatever land marks and sites and separators you have on the page. There may be images or meanings forming in your perception of the shapes and lines.

4. Once you have marked out the lines that you feel are reaching out to you in some way, strengthen them further with a darker pastel colour.

Start to colour-in the shapes you are noticing. Whether they are abstract shapes or beings with faces, bring them some colour.

Self-reflection Questions:

Where does the form or forms that have appeared sit in relation to your you live on your map?

Is there a way that you can bring your place of residence into a shape or form that makes sense to you?

Without judgement, what kinds of feelings and thoughts moved through you in this process?

What questions do you carry now, in response to your map work, or your sense of place at this time?

What would happen if I allowed myself to perceive new forms on a different sized map of my home?

How did my thinking change between starting and completing this arts process, including allowing time for new views to settle?

For a guided process with me, please feel free to email me for an Art Therapy session.