In Oaxaca, food too is art. Cuisine is informed by ancient indigenous traditions and rituals and is made with local ingredients. To me, the chocolate cultivated and prepared here is among the most delicious in the world: chocolate drinks are prepared hot or cold and made with hot water or hot milk.

Mole, a traditional Mexican “sauce” made from a multitude of ingredients ground together including nuts, chocolate, coffee, and  seeds is especially delicious here. It comes in different colors that vary according to the ingredients included: black, brown, red, yellow, and green and served with a variety of poultry and meats.

The presentation of food is art as well, whether in the market, or on the plate in a restaurant or in someone’s home. I have been having a great time eating my favorite dishes again, and finding new ones too. My new ritual “splurge” is arriving in the market in the afternoon when women from the towns that surround Oaxaca city arrive to sell their bread. My favorite: rolls filled with Oaxacan chocolate and cinnamon! Each woman personalizes her recipe and calls out to the customers in the market announcing what she offers that day. I love the colors, smells, and sounds of the market!

Another food adventure is the “Menu del Dia” or menu of the day. In my hotel, the Oaxaca Real, it includes a soup, a plate such as the one above, and a dessert like flan or Tres Leches cake, all for about $5!!

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Visiting one of my favorite places, El Centro de las Artesanias one block from my hotel I was drawn again to the handmade kites I saw there during my last visit to Oaxaca. I remember their “faces” and that they seemed to be ephemeral beings that could magically float up into the sky. Looking more closely at the surface work this time, I could see that each contained a narrative, that each one told a story.

I also took in the richness of the textures – of the paper and the complexity of the materials used in the surface work. I hope to be able to study with this teacher too.

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On Sunday, February 5, I went to the Centro de la Artesania ( Traditional Craft Center) to shop, and found that there would be a Mask Making Workshop the same afternoon. I finished the activities I had planned and returned in time to join the group.

Our teacher was Pedro Mendoza, an artist and mask maker from the town of Trinidad de Viguera. He brought two fellow artists from their community studio to help us learn about the mask making art form. He told us about his work and the use of the masks in rituals and celebrations in his town.

We began by learning to make a base for the mask: a beginning form without details like the forehead, eyebrows, nose, and lips. Next we learned how to use the newsprint material, tearing pieces and coating them with adhesive and forming them in pieces to sculpt the face.

I learned about symmetry in the “face” I created, and how to add the details so that the face would express what I desired. I worked to build in the eyebrows, nose, lips, and ears. After my mask dries, I will paint it. Here is a photo of my mask in progress:

I look forward to visiting Pedro and the other artists in their Trinidad de Viguera studio in the coming weeks.

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While reading the DSM-5, I experienced many different emotions and contemplated why so many complex processes were all neatly organized into one publication. As an Expressive Arts Therapy response, I decided to reconstruct the DSM-5. After considering multiple meanings of the words, manual and disorder (see definitions below), I was inspired to physically alter the DSM-5 into a self-revised version that I refer to as the Diagnostic Manual of Disorder (DMD). Included inside the revised copy is a DVD that displays a do-it-yourself guide to making your own diagnostic manual of disorder. The process is demonstrated in my performance art piece below.

manual

[man-yoo-uh l]

1. done, operated, worked, etc., by the hand or hands rather than by an electronic device.
2. involving or using human effort, skill, power, energy, etc.
3. a small book, especially one giving information or instructions.

disorder

[dis-awr-der]

1. lack of order or regular arrangement.
2. breach of order; disorderly conduct; public disturbance.
3. to destroy the order or regular arrangement of; disarrange.

You can experience my DSM – 5 performance art piece in the video here:

The DSM- 5 Reconstructed by Brit Davis

Brit Davis

First I must give credit where credit is due. This was not completely and solely an original idea. This creative process was inspired by two visual artists’ work, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, and Heather Hanson’s Emptied Gestures. Da Vinci’s pen and ink drawing depicts the cannon proportions, something that is emphasized in this expressive arts process. Hanson’s work explores kinetic drawing through large scale chalk drawing.

This creative intervention takes Hanson’s creative process and elevates it from the floor to the wall to encompass several levels of movement. Incorporating kinetic drawing with other methods of creative intervention, such as yoga, dance, and meditation, present a harmonic balance of artistic and healing processes and product.

The creative process integrates Cathy Malchiodi’s (2015), scaffolding for creative interventions in trauma; reaching out, taking heart, making meaning, and moving on. Participants begin by finding safety through preparing canvas and stretching. The individuals then explores their story through movement and large scale drawing by incorporating yoga, dance, or simple natural gestures, and large chalk drawings. The intervention closes with a meditation and reflection on the process and product created. Using their bodies as a compass, participants create a large scale expressive mandala on canvas.

I call this process Human Compass as it is part drawing, part yoga, part meditation, part Vitruvian man. Unlike typical dance drawing, the canvas does not lay on the ground, but is pinned to the wall. I felt this was a better choice as one could experience more than one level of movement during the telling of their story. One could be very tall and stretched out while at other time it may feel more accurate to be low to the ground and small.

Secondly, one does not need to dance to use this process. Many types of movement can be incorporated in this process. This specific example uses yoga for its proven ability to assist and support traumatized individuals in their recovery (Banitt,2012) . Movement can be used to tell stories, non-verbally, as well as freely express and move energy that lingers in the body.

Each hand is responsible for a piece of charcoal, the piece does not switch from hand to hand. The participant can chose to use both sides of the body at once, or to move each side separately. Constant contact with the canvas is nearly impossible while exploring movement freely. However, the more times the chalk strikes the canvas the more accurate the recording of the movement becomes. Colored chalk, charcoal, and any other mediums that mark canvas or the surface easily can be used.

Many things can be taken from this process. Not only does it use expressive movement and yoga that naturally keep the body and mind connection well, but it also documents that energy movement, giving the individual a physical piece to look at and draw meaning from. This process also emphasizes the body being a tool. One must take care of their body, they must learn to bend, to become flexible, to withstand discomfort to complete beautiful circles and cycles.