The Healing Power of Music and Art

Brennan Phelan, Staff Reporter

Brennan_Phelan@csumb.edu

April 17, 2008

This week a group of Visual

and Public Art (VPA) Capstone

students called the Artist’s

Collective are presenting “Healing

Through Art,” a project designed

to teach the campus community

about self-reflection. On April 18

from noon to 5:30 p.m. members

of the Artist’s Collective, along

with campus staff and community

members, will be outside of the VPA

buildings presenting workshops

on yoga, mindfulness meditation,

and various art activities.

Yoga classes will be led by

teachers from the Seaside Yoga

Sanctuary and by Christine

Derr, from CSU Monterey

Bay’s (CSUMB) Kinesiology

department. Nicole Wallace

from the Personal Growth and

Counseling Center will be teaching

art activities for self-reflection,

and students will lead meditation

workshops from CSUMB.

There will be live music and

food throughout the event, and

the photography club will be

displaying student work. The

Environmental Committee will be

there with information about their

organization, and the Watershed

Institute has provided tools and

support to tend the garden inside

the labyrinth outside the VPA

buildings. The Animal Friends

and Rescue Project from Pacific

Grove will be at the event from

3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with pets

for adoption.

The members of the Artist’s

Collective, which includes Nicole

Ricci, Theresa Juran, Laura Colla

and Medline O’Neill, will be

leading art activities and helping

out with the other workshops at

the event.

“We will be leading activities

like sand art and chalk art, and

we will be helping out with a

collaborative art piece about selfreflection,”

said Ricci.

They have been working

together on events like this

throughout the semester as part of

their Capstone project. In February

they put on an event called

“Inspiration,” which consisted of

a fashion show, an interactive

gallery showing work from local

artists, live music and dancing.

They hope to host another event

on campus sometime in May.