Category Archives: Art Therapy Projects

In collaboration with a local high school, a group of Indigenous students and myself worked together to create a mural for their new sacred space. Entitled “The everything memorial”, these students framed this experience as a way to acknowledge, honor and memorialize the Indigenous children who attended Indian Residential School and Indian Day schools. Although a piece of history, it is important to continue the conversation and awareness-building about the systemic injustices faced by Indigenous people because the long term effects in families are still present. Indigenous students and their families are continuing to reclaim their identity and culture. They are continuing to work through multigenerational trauma so that they can empower themselves to become who they are meant to be. The images, colors and narrative were put together by the students, with guidance of the art therapist. Through the process of making this mural, our conversations explored identity, trauma and growth as we all walk this path towards discovering ourselves as Indigenous people.

As an Indigenous Way of Knowing, we often share our teachings through story and the story of this mural is one of them. In our storyl, we meet three young people around a sacred fire. Fire connects us to Spirit, the energy that connects all life, and to Creator. Two youth, living in the present, sit with a spirit of a young person taken by the Residential School system. They grieve this young person, whose grave may be unmarked or lost, and grieve how this history impacts their families and themselves. But they also sit with wisdom, knowing that Spirit keeps us connected and our culture connects us to who we are. Around them lies the power of this connection, from the land, to the sky and to animals. The moon cycle reminds us that change is normal cycle in life and that we can continue to grow through our own changes. The roots remind us that we are resilient even if we are still trying to reconnect with who we are. The spirit animals remind us our individual gifts and teachers we have outside the school walls. They remind us that we are never alone and that healing will happen in connection. Our young artists have signed this image with a handprint to honor themselves and their resilience, gifts and wisdom. This story reminds of why Every Child Matters because there was a time when Indigenous children did not. It is also a reminder that we as a community, a school, a society have work to do to make culturally safe spaces. Spaces that are trauma-informed and understand the unique healing needs of Indigenous Children today. 

As Métis leader Louis Riel once said: “My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.” The spirit of our young artists were indeed present!

During the fall of 2023, I was invited to create a mural space for the Indigenous students at a local high school. The intention was to bring to life an invitation for Indigenous students to connect at the entrance point of the allocated space. Through conversation, students provided ideas and inspiration for what’s important to them. Representation from different nations was established, with specific teachings along the seasons integrated.
Over the span of a few weeks, students were invited to connect and co-create with me. Providing a safe space to allow this mural to unfold, students were empowered to step out of their comfort zone, try new things and share some of their lived experience with myself as the art therapist.
I am so proud of all of them!

An Art Hive is a community studio that welcomes everyone from Kahnawake! Come once or come ten times, you will be welcome every time.

Please contact me (mkwarttherapy@gmail.com) to register.

From February 22nd to 24th, Canadian Roots Exchange and its partners invited me to facilitate a 3-day emergent sculpture as part of the Foraging Our Paths youth conference. Participants were Indigenous and non-indigenous who attended came from coast to coast. They were invited to bring objects from their homeland together create a group sculpture as part of the dialogue around environmental violence and land relations.

Gathering at 4th space to explore found objects

Hosted by Concordia University’s 4th space, local resources were donated for the project including garbage, recycling and other found objects. Participants were invited to explore the objects and use them to tell a story about their relations to the land. Some came in with ideas and others used the materials to speak for them. All objects were secured using different glue-based fixtures. 

Youth from across Canada, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, making art and community to discuss the same issues.

Over our time together, conversations emerged around natural resources, climate change, capitalism and the role of each of us in building bridges to a healthier world. Many brought their experiences with infrastructures and some brought their innocence. Together we were able to bridge community through land.

These conversations came a critical time, when communities across the nation were coming together to stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people in their stance against the Canadian pipeline proposed to run through their community. In a long line of history of land removal in this way, barricades and teachings went viral around indigenous history and the importance of speaking for the land.

#cre #survivance2020

In July, the elders and I organized a mural project for ten Indigenous male inmates as part of their group work towards holistic and culturally safe healing at a federal prison. Together, from drawing the concept to its final realization, we spent two weeks co-creating a wall mural that extended throughout their cell block.

It was a moment of positive social exchange and teamwork as well as a moment of self-reflection and building cultural identity. It was access to cultural safety, identity and self-expression; it was trauma work.

There was both laughter and seriousness as we spent time in candid conversation, casually painting. There were moments of focus, contemplation and the delight of mixing colours. There was pride and courage to try something new as well as unconditional support when self doubt spoke too loud. There was joy and there was gratitude. Overtime, the wall began to transform into a change of seasons that blended each of their traditional territories, mirroring their own growth as people.

On the surface, what we created during those two weeks was a large colouring painting but what we really did was make social change

As I have been given authorization and consent to share this artwork, I would like to share an art therapy project that was led from July 13th to the 20th 2018.  During this time, I spent 6 days at a medium security prison leading an art therapy week with 26 male indigenous inmates.

Initially, the project was intended to be a mural painted by myself for the inmates to enjoy but with organizational support, it was allowed to transform into something powerful. From the start, my intention was to support the men themselves to create a mural by indigenous men for indigenous men with input throughout the entire process. We explored the impact of multigenerational trauma, the ways we may have learned to survive, resiliency building and creating a community within the penitentiary.

Together, from prepping the mural concept, to holding space for personal narratives and to completing this final 18 by 10 foot wall, we were able to integrate ceremony and traditional medicine with the exploration of identity and healing from the perspectives of different nations. They shared stories of residential school, the impact of colonization and their experiences in restoring culture for themselves and found within them the strength to try a piece of the painting process and grow from it. Many shared the experience of relaxation, meditation and being present within the project, emphasizing that making art helped them to release and let go of built up emotions and discover themselves in ways they never thought they could.

Playing a dual role of artist and art therapist was challenging, but I facilitated the project so that all the men had either verbal or written input for the design and the creative process as well as support to go through the art-making and narratives that emerged. I may, at the end of the day, have given the wall the “touche magique” and a safe space for the men to explore themselves, but the men gave each other many teachings as well. From mastering the ‘franglais’ language to having the courage to be vulnerable and uncover hope, self and indigenaiety.

Painting opened a window for these men and I am honored to have been a part of the experience.