Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope is an experience I created and shared with my Senior Design Studio class section. We explored what we want to bring into this next chapter of our lives and what we want to surround ourselves with, creating individual butterflies and a community habitat.
I’ve been considering all the people who are in my community and how we support each other. I have had a lot of experience with therapy, including group art therapy that I have found very helpful in expressing difficult feelings and experiences. The end of senior year is a very stressful and uncertain time, so I wanted to share an activity with my fellow designers that would hopefully be helpful.
First, I instructed everyone to reflect on the question “What do you want to bring with you into this next stage of life?” and brainstorm ways to visually represent their answers. Then, I distributed blank butterflies for them to draw on and displayed some inspiration images. As they finished up their butterflies, I asked them to reflect on the question “What do you want to surround yourself with in this next stage of life?” and use their answers to paint a collaborative figurative “habitat” for themselves and their butterflies. Finally, everyone was able to make their butterflies into stickers that they could choose to keep with them or add to the habitat. I hope that through this activity they were able to take a pause and proceed more mindfully, considering how they form their community and environment.
