I don\u2019t know about you, but when I imagine \u201ccreative people\u201d or \u201cartistic people,\u201d I usually picture something like a big surface \u2014 maybe a canvas or a huge sheet of paper stretched across the wall of a giant, bright, white studio. And there\u2019s a person painting with their whole body, moving freely, paint splashing everywhere. You\u2019d need a ladder just to reach the edges. You get the general idea.<\/p>\n\n
On the other hand\u2014life looks quite different. Not that I would mind breaking into scenes like that, but sadly, it\u2019s rarely possible. Reality photobombs that beautiful frame of the free-spirited creative woman inside me who really wants to exist normally. It\u2019s very frustrating.<\/p>\n\n
I know I\u2019m important too, and you can\u2019t pour from an empty cup\u2014if I don\u2019t fill up, I can\u2019t give. It\u2019s important to find time for myself and the things I care about. True. No argument there. Still, there are times when it just doesn\u2019t happen\u2014no time, no space, no inspiration, no desire. Working with materials right now is a great and fulfilling idea, but I\u2019m already tired from just thinking about the effort it would take to set up.<\/p>\n\n
And I also know that it really does make me feel good, nourishes me. Then I think of those for whom working with materials is not natural or part of their routine\u2014who guarantees that, in the end, the effort will pay off? That the encounter with the material will even be worthwhile? Pleasant? Where does all of this lead? Could there be comfort, relief, enjoyment in it?<\/p>\n\n
When I was in that awful age when everything changes, when you\u2019re constantly comparing yourself and starting to form all sorts of conclusions\u2014some pretty strange and mostly distorted\u2014I used to think I was tall, and that was it. Girls quickly learn to relate to themselves based on their most noticeable physical trait. I was tall, and in my experience, that meant being \u201cbig.\u201d This had many implications, and I let it stop and limit me in many situations. I took up a lot of space, and this clashed completely with my personality (at the time) and how I wanted to behave\u2014which was mostly about not standing out or attracting special attention. It was a contradiction that was hard to live with.<\/p>\n\n
I wanted so badly to be small. I envied those lucky enough to be petite; it seemed to me the most beautiful thing a woman could be. I imagined all those small girls growing up to be lawyers or neat businesswomen in pencil skirts, high (but comfortable!) stilettos, carrying stylish handbags, busily tapping everywhere they went, always in a hurry.<\/p>\n\n
I thought that if you\u2019re small, you can afford to spread out and take up a lot of space, because you yourself won\u2019t seem to occupy that much. So go ahead, go all out, even if you wear crutches a meter high instead of shoes\u2014you\u2019ll still look good overall. You can jump high, go wild, express yourself completely freely. You can stretch out a huge piece of fabric and paint on it with both hands, no brushes, dip your fingers into the paint and draw big circles and lines everywhere, thick and bold. You can work with your whole body.<\/p>\n\n
Even if you do all that, with the joy of a child you still look beautiful and good, you don\u2019t overshadow anyone, don\u2019t dominate, and you\u2019re not excessive. No risk of hurting anyone or anything. Even if you jump very high, you won\u2019t hit the ceiling; if you stretch your arms out, you won\u2019t bump into anyone\u2014you won\u2019t touch anything. So be free and calm; do your thing.<\/p>\n\n
If you\u2019re big, you already take up a noticeable amount of space, so it\u2019s better to shrink a bit. You yourself are a kind of spectacle by default, and there\u2019s not much room left for anything beyond yourself. Without wanting or being asked, you already fill most of the reasonable space a person can occupy, so what\u2019s left for you is to do small things\u2014lest you hurt the environment, really hurt it, clash with it.<\/p>\n\n
That\u2019s how it was in that extreme period of adolescence in Wonderland, everything was at the edges\u2014you either ate from the big side of the mushroom or the small\u2014and the consequences were extreme and far-reaching. A distorted, backwards relationship between physical size and amount of freedom, rough and harsh rules I imposed on myself and generously allowed others (of course, these rules never applied to boys in my eyes at any point). In this distorted logic, creating and expressing oneself in a small format was considered self-limitation, which back then was a punishment in my eyes, a fate that wouldn\u2019t change. So I worked in small notebooks and with little material.<\/p>\n\n
Motherhood created a feeling that now physical size no longer matters. Reality dictates a distance from the freedom to do everything big and take into account only what and how I want. After I grew up, shrank, and again and once more in every round of size and smallness, a new little player was born. Now we shrink because it\u2019s the order of the hour\u2014there are new little players on the field, and they need lots of room from us grown-ups. Thoughts and more \u201crealistic\u201d tasks come in, and the routine sweeps away the rest; sometimes it sweeps so strongly it carries away a lot, and all that remains is to dry out and gather the pieces until the next wave.<\/p>\n\n
Over time, things have changed, and after I grew and matured, I allowed myself to work big, even very big, to be (sometimes) that big and sprawling creative entity.<\/p>\n\n
Fortunately, that freedom to take up a lot of space also led to a much more positive attitude toward smallness. I stopped seeing it as limitation, necessity, or meanness and began seeing it as an opportunity to express myself strongly, simply, and concentratedly\u2014which is also more practical and fitting to the intense reality of life.<\/p>\n\n
The fact that it\u2019s impossible (or undesirable) at every moment to drop everything and work on a monumental scale doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t achieve a similar effect working on a much smaller scale, maybe even palm-sized. Maybe even the opposite: smallness is like a tablet containing a lot of good in a concentrated form, all the important parts inside, essentially the dose. In any case, it\u2019s not a less creative or expressive act, and it allows a satisfying sense of completing a process in a relatively short time.<\/p>\n\n
I learn a lot about the power and possibilities of smallness from the works of my clients. I find myself marveling and being influenced by them, holding in my heart the choice to work small from a variety of motives, starting points, and contexts, using all sorts of materials and means of expression.<\/p>\n\n
Small work can be an invitation to come closer and really get to know what appears in it. It requires special focus and attention. It can hold surprises, revealing itself only to those who consciously choose to focus on it and perhaps for a moment ignore the context and everything around it.<\/p>\n\n
This is true even for the presence of a very small image within a larger work; the immediate impulse is to come close and examine what\u2019s there. Small work manages a dynamic relationship with the space it occupies in a significant way\u2014even when it stands alone\u2014precisely because of its tiny size. It is part of the present background surrounding it, and this dynamic can teach a lot about the experience of positioning oneself in the world, feelings of belonging, the similarities and differences between the individual and their environment, and more. All these are meaningful themes and central motifs that occupy many clients (sometimes even the very reasons they seek therapy).<\/p>\n\n
At the same time, small work has the ability not to show at all. It can hide inside a container or a cover, be carried on the body, kept in a hand or a pocket. It gives the creator a choice regarding the kind of connection it invites\u2014if any at all. Maybe it was created to be completely private, like a song for a drawer. It can have great significance precisely because it is itself a secret. When my eldest daughter first went to municipal kindergarten, she struggled a bit at first. To ease her, we bought stickers on which we drew small pictures and wrote her name\u2014\u201cpower stickers.\u201d She insisted on sticking them on the inside of her shirt, near her heart, so only she would know they were there and to keep their power safe until the end of the day, without worrying they might get lost in the sand or at an encounter with another child.<\/p>\n\n
Smallness leads to choice and editing. Even if several materials or elements are used, every part is present and influential, with a role. Smallness also allows control\u2014materials that might provoke fear or feel less predictable in their behavior are easier to use in small doses and usually lead to a feeling of achievement and completion relatively easily and quickly.<\/p>\n\n
I invite you to shrink a little, zoom in, and see how it feels to create something small.<\/p>\n\n
Since I started writing not just for myself, I\u2019ve received a few curious comments about the length of my posts\u2014how is it that in an age where people spend on average seven seconds reading a post, I allow myself to write 1,300-word posts? I\u2019m still debating this and trying to explore the ability to shorten and condense from a focused and whole place that doesn\u2019t come with a feeling of giving up or compromising, alongside the desire to express myself big and completely free. Time will tell\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t know about you, but when I imagine \u201ccreative people\u201d or \u201cartistic people,\u201d I usually picture something like a big surface \u2014 maybe a canvas or a huge sheet of paper stretched across the wall of a giant, bright, white studio. And there\u2019s a person painting with their whole body, moving freely, paint splashing everywhere. You\u2019d need a ladder just to reach the edges. You get the general idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[132,131,134],"class_list":["post-6403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1","tag-art-therapy-behind-the-scenes","tag-arts-and-crafs-at-home","tag-memories"],"yoast_head":"