announcing . . .
Colorado Center
for Divorce Mediation™’s
Kids’
Divorce Art
Gallery: Expressive Imagery of Children's Experience of
Divorce
 As with folks of all ages, art can assist
children to identify and express their feelings.
Encouraging
children to paint and draw about their parents' divorce or
separation validates
their experience and emotions. Such art acknowledges the
impact of divorce on their life and that of their family.
We're
fortunate to have collaborated with gifted Boulder, Colorado
art therapist, Sue Wallingford, to design our gallery
displaying some really
great Colorado kids’ divorce art.
Sue shares her perspective, as an artist
and expressive therapist:
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For children,
like their parents, divorce is often a traumatic and
life-changing event. Unlike their parents, however,
children often lack the verbal skills or emotional
maturity adequately to process their feelings with
words.
Art-making is an
alternative that allows for the poignant
communication of feelings. Art may portray inner thoughts and wishes
of children
that they can not otherwise easily access or express.
The difficult
emotions that often accompany divorce take form in
line, shape and color! As a result, children are
able to make sense of what is happening in the
changing landscape of their family and indeed, their
world. Painting, drawing or other creating of art
affords children a way literally to express, see and
work through their experience of divorce.
The images presented
in this gallery tell children’s stories of divorce. Please listen with your hearts.
— Sue Wallingford, MA, LPC, ATR
Registered Art Therapist, Boulder, Colorado
more about
art therapy & Sue's work |
 And
so, together with co-sponsor,
Divorce in Denver Magazine ,
we share
our Colorado Kids' Divorce Art Gallery.
So, we invite your submissions! Help us
share what kids’ art tells us about children’s experience of their
parents’ divorce or separation.
But, first, what is kids’ divorce art?
Who can join in?
Divorce Art Gallery
Basics
To be featured in our
Gallery, your art (or your
kid’s art, if you’re a grownup) must be:
-
drawings or sketches or paintings
or colorings (flat type art) or photos of 3 dimensional
works (clay, paper mache) . . . but you knew that,
right?
-
about your family or a part of
your family (mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad, sister, brother,
stepsister, stepbrother, grandmother, grandfather, even your
dog or cat!) and how you feel or have felt when things
changed . . . when your parents separated or divorced.
(Or, if you are fortunate and have your parents together,
you can submit art of how you imagine it would be if your
parents separated or divorced!)
Only some ideas for your divorce art:
-
Maybe your divorce art shows
your new family situation, such as your new home or homes;
-
Perhaps, your art reveals your feelings
(sometimes sadness? or confusion? or anger? or joy – to be
with your mom or dad or other family member after not seeing
them for a while?);
-
Your divorce art might just be about how your mom or dad act with
each other, or act with you, at least some of the time; or
-
It could describe a dream about your
family in the
past, or perhaps even a wish for the future!
These are just some possibilities, but
okay, you get the picture (ouch!).
Divorce Art Gallery
Exhibitions - By Artist Age
To keep things
a bit organized – when we receive enough submissions – your work will be displayed in our gallery with the entries of other kids of your age, in
three groups of the following ages (your age, at the time of
your artwork's creation):
-
Six (6) years or younger; or
-
Seven (7) years – Eleven (11) years;
or
-
Twelve (12) years – Sixteen (16) years.
Sorry, at least as we begin, there's no
space for artwork of “kids” over 16!
How to Exhibit Your
Art in the
Gallery:
Submit by E-Mail or Regular Mail
You may forward your art to us by
electronic mail or regular mail.
- Send by electronic mail,
with the
artist information requested below, to
Art@ColoradoDivorceMediation.com
Have someone help
you scan your artwork and save it in jpg, or gif (standard
web-ready) format. (If your artwork is too large to
be scanned, perhaps you can use a digital camera to
photograph your artwork. Again, save it in one of these
formats.)
Don’t forget to attach the scanned or
photographed file to your
E-mail!
Colorado Kids’ Divorce Art Gallery
Colorado Center for Divorce
Mediation™
8704 Yates Drive, Suite 220
Westminster, CO 80031-3682
Please do not
bend your artwork, and you must include a self-addressed mailer /
folder / envelope with plenty of postage, if you wish your artwork returned!
All Art Gallery
Submissions Must Include
Include with all submissions (by E-mail or
regular mail), the following 6 items:
-
the artist’s first and last name
(although without your parent or guardian's advance written
consent, we will NOT include your last
name in any use of your art!);
-
the artist’s birthdate and age
at the time the artwork was completed;
-
the medium used (for example,
pastels, tempura paint, colored pencils, watercolor, cut
paper, etc.);
-
title of artwork (a description
of its subject in your own words would “rock,”
but is optional);
-
home address, phone number and
email address (if you have one) of a responsible party
(this information is used to confirm your parent or
guardian's consent, contact you regarding random drawing
awards and
other notices, and will NOT
be shared with anyone else for any purpose without written
permission); and
-
the signature of (or an affirmation
in the E-mail's text by) a parent or
guardian indicating their consent and approval to the
submission.
What You Promise Us!
By submitting your art to our Gallery, you and your
parent or guardian agree to all parts of the following statement:
-
I promise that I created these
materials at the age listed on my submission, and I have the
right to provide them to you for reproduction and display.
-
By submitting my artwork or other
materials to Divorce Resolutions®, LLC's Kids’ Divorce Art
Gallery, I acknowledge I
have the consent of my parent or guardian and understand my
entry becomes the property of your company. Additionally, if I choose to
submit my artwork by regular mail, I agree that your company
does not insure its safe return and that I bear the risk of
its loss or damage in the mail or otherwise.
-
I grant permission for these materials
to be reproduced and publicly displayed at any time by your company,
without compensation to me, in
any media for non-commercial and commercial purposes.
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