As a first year art therapist student at Southwestern College for my multicultural perspectives class I created this semi multidimensional painting in response to the novel "Purple Hibiscus". The purple hibiscus signified beauty and freedom from white oppression briefly for one of the main characters in the book. However, this freedom was fleeting because of white systemic which is represented with the pillars signifying white power but with the white yarn spiraling downward with threads of red representing the pain that white oppression causes on people of color.

This painting is done in response to watching "No Mas Babies" in my Multi-Cultural class this past winter quarter at Southwestern. The circles in the background represent life with the center one containing the image of a baby. The square on the right represents the hospital where the doctors were performing tubal ligations on unsuspecting Mexican American women when they were having a c-section delivery.

Appreciating her current home, the bird looks with anticipation at the flight ahead. She loves the warm comforts of this place, but knows the time is coming when she'll need to find a new perch.

A man of color depicted in the format of the religious figure "Our Lady of Sorrows."

A woman pulling out her own eye as her face comes off.

This piece was inspired by my decision to move out west.

My hope and joy as I navigate through my day.

I ride the wave adapting my life to fit needs.

Feelings of uncertainty holding myself as I hold space for my clients living in uncertain times.

I've never had as much time for self-care and self-reflection as I've had during these past four months. I've also never had this much time to be with myself, by myself. On May 6th, I set an intention of spending two minutes drawing a self-portrait every day, to check in with myself and to reflect on and track my daily state of being.

These drawings serve as a record, a visual journal, of 29 days in "self-isolation". I didn't make a drawing every day, but through their non-existence, the missing drawings still speak about their respective days.

The images shown here reflect the ups and downs, distress and peace that I have experienced during recent months. Some people I've spoken with have shared a similar emotional experience.

By allowing myself to become vulnerable through sharing my internal experiences, I may open the door for others to do so. There is power in sharing; through it grows the ability to connect and to realize that we are not alone, that we are all humans here together, experiencing the emotional roller-coaster and unknowns of life on this planet.

I've never had as much time for self-care and self-reflection as I've had during these past four months. I've also never had this much time to be with myself, by myself. On May 6th, I set an intention of spending two minutes drawing a self-portrait every day, to check in with myself and to reflect on and track my daily state of being.

These drawings serve as a record, a visual journal, of 29 days in "self-isolation". I didn't make a drawing every day, but through their non-existence, the missing drawings still speak about their respective days.

The images shown here reflect the ups and downs, distress and peace that I have experienced during recent months. Some people I've spoken with have shared a similar emotional experience.

By allowing myself to become vulnerable through sharing my internal experiences, I may open the door for others to do so. There is power in sharing; through it grows the ability to connect and to realize that we are not alone, that we are all humans here together, experiencing the emotional roller-coaster and unknowns of life on this planet.

I've never had as much time for self-care and self-reflection as I've had during these past four months. I've also never had this much time to be with myself, by myself. On May 6th, I set an intention of spending two minutes drawing a self-portrait every day, to check in with myself and to reflect on and track my daily state of being.
These drawings serve as a record, a visual journal, of 29 days in "self-isolation". I didn't make a drawing every day, but through their non-existence, the missing drawings still speak about their respective days.

The images shown here reflect the ups and downs, distress and peace that I have experienced during recent months. Some people I've spoken with have shared a similar emotional experience.

By allowing myself to become vulnerable through sharing my internal experiences, I may open the door for others to do so. There is power in sharing; through it grows the ability to connect and to realize that we are not alone, that we are all humans here together, experiencing the emotional roller-coaster and unknowns of life on this planet.

Our country is in desperate need of repair.

This is a time of grave hardship, but also a time of great change. We will break free from the past, as individuals and as a country.

These trials will result in growth and evolution.

Rumi quote with digitally collaged image

This piece reflects on the idea of being enough as an artist and as a person. When you look at this piece, you can see that it is indeed a rainbow. However, it is a rainbow that anyone could have drawn. As an artist I question, “If a child could have drawn this then is it worthy of the same attention of a piece that took more skill and time to make?”. I realized that even in its simplicity, it carries the same magical wonder as any other rainbow. It is enough. And much like this rainbow, I too am enough.

I started with something
I started with something
That was already there
A circle holding details
A circle holding details

The mirrored shape of a leaf
Smeared green
Flame-like lives
Swirls swirls swirls
Thickening outlining
Echoes of color across the page
Echoes of color across the page

I started with something
I started with something
That was already there

Someone's body covered, 
upside down.
The earth underneath: 
ripped pages, dripping paint.
A mask is central. Undone. Open mouth and eyes.
Red white and blue.
How true?
Faces Outlined. 
Still in process.

All photos and writing taken/created during the pandemic.

This piece was my final mandala for my Hermeneutics class. It embodies my deep rooted connection to spirit. It provides me with love, compassion, strength to me and I give that back out to spirit and the collective. My primal self rests in a nest there is a sense of safety and cultivation in this place where I am connected to what spirit provides for me. However there is also isolation. My path is to use this connection as a source of personal power. To ascend like the eagle claiming this personal power and my own authenticity. Moving out of isolation and taking up space knowing that I have the support and a resting place to go back to.

The path to center is not linear, it's not clear cut. There are dead ends and the paths you think are seperate meet. Sometimes I walk the same path over and over again. Yet I continue walking, searching, creating. In doing so cultivating a divine sense of inner knowing. Maybe it's not about getting to the center, but rather the path I take to get there.

Neither conscious nor unconscious. Neither awake or asleep. Dancing in a world of my own creation. Melting in the clouds, hanging in leaves.

Enter into the womb and heart of this forest tree, protected and nurtured by tree spirit, forest animals, and all of Life.
This art piece was homework for an online art therapy class "Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing" by Cornelia Elbrecht. The class, which delves deeply and experientially into both Peter Levine's work and the attachment work of closed eye guided drawing, occurred during the first 7 weeks of covid restrictions.
The Forest Refuge is much more than an imagined "safe place". It reminds me to feel into and sacredly and tenderly tend to my nervous system while being present in this rapidly changing world.

This image came during a meditation led by Robert Waterman in the Spring 2020 Hermeneutics of Depth Psychology course that I observed in preparation for teaching the course Summer Quarter. The course took place online via Zoom due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, and with multiple personal and global stressors I was tracking feelings of fear balanced with courage and inner resilience. These words came as the image emerged after the meditation:

Steady yourself. Steady your course.
Let go of your fear and your doubt.
Fly directly into the heart of the storm.
The storm will break but you will not.

Hold tightly to Faith. Hold tightly to the hand of God.
Let go of your personal agenda, of all that you think should be.
Be present with what is.
Trust that the peace you seek resides in communion with Spirit.

There is no wrong doing. There is no right doing.
Let go of your righteousness.
Take up the sword of Truth.
There is only the unfolding of Body and Soul,
Into Living Love transcending.

This piece emerged during the Spring 2020 Hermeneutics of Depth Psychology course taught by Robert Waterman that I observed in preparation for teaching the course Summer Quarter. I had received guidance from Robert at one of our consultation group meetings. He had advised me to, "Be the snake, not the dove," in response to a painful personal conflict I was experiencing. He was referencing a bible verse that says, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." I decided to create an image using the mandala process from the Hermeneutics class to explore what this meant a bit more. Looking at it now I can still feel a powerful charge that I sense as both empowering and loaded with grief connected to both the loss of innocence, or naivete, and to greater wisdom gained from lifting the veil of denial and surrendering to the reality of my experience. My life curriculum continues to show me how much learning can be accessed when I open my eyes, cooperate with what is, and truly see what life is revealing through the unfolding of creation.

In the Hermeneutics of Depth Psychology course at SWC, students utilize various methods to connect to their inner truth, or authentic sense of self, similar to how scribes in ancient times interpreted spiritual texts. However, in this case, the sacred text is the Soul and the interpreter is the Conscious Self communicating with archetypal symbols that emerge from the unconscious via dreams, active imagination, meditation, guided imagery, and art making. At the end of the course, students share mandala images they have made that reveal their character (authentic self) and destiny (life curriculum/soul journey) in a powerful final presentation. This piece was made in tandem with student work as I observed and participated in the Spring 2020 Hermeneutics course taught by Robert Waterman in preparation to teach the course during Summer Quarter. This particular mandala came through after a process in which we created twelve individual images/symbols based on positive and negative aspects of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves. These twelve images were then integrated into one mandala, with awareness and insight being shared in the class in large and small group discussion. For me, this image is a reminder of how to balance opposing forces by accessing the transcendental, moving from the apparent duality of the earthly plane into the sensation of Unity on the Soul level.

Art response to reading the book "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates for an out of comfort zone project in multicultural perspectives.

Art response to how I view the world as a therapist.

Erica Kurey
Pulling Apart

This was my final piece for Ethics class. The piece I created for my Ethical Self is a plank mask, which was used in traditional Alutiiq culture to tell a story with painted or carved images on the flat surface, as well as wooden appendages attached around the outer rim that moved with the wearer’s movements. My Ethical Self Mask is decorated with paintings and appendages of what Angeles Arrien designated “The five universal shapes”: the square, triangle, circle, equidistant cross and the spiral. The colors I’ve used are traditional colors used by my ancestors, and each has it’s meaning. The hands with holes in the palms represent Spirit Helper Hands. The Spirit Helpers had holes in their palms to allow enough fish and game to pass through to the people, so that they would not go hungry, but also allowed enough to remain in the Spirit Realm so the spirits would not go hungry and prey on the people.

I created this mandala for Hermeneutics class, based on the Heart Protocol.

I created this mandala for Hermeneutics class, based on the Alignment Nexus protocol.

Being in nature has been a huge blessing during the pandemic.  Blessed we live in such a place we can take advantage of the great outdoors.

After watching the video 
9 minutes of agony. 
questioning humanity...
I felt stuck.  I had to do something to shift the energy - Power in Art Therapy!

This piece was created mainly with my eyes closed, during a virtual creative gathering, hosted by artist Flora Bowley.

Painting of our cat Willow

These pieces are art responses to conversations I had throughout the course of my internship. This art process was both reflective and integrative. I found processing interactions this way to be greatly therapeutic.