_________________________________________________________________________
Project Description Barbara Bridges Topic: RECOVERY Today, I’m Alright.
RECOVERY. If you are reading this word, “RECOVERY” it would be unusual if you do NOT know anyone who WAS, IS, or you wish WERE, in RECOVERY. What does that word actually mean when connected to trauma? I chose to use the word RECOVERY for my series because my series is a message of hope. Your trauma is not terminal. You are not broken. You can create your own life rafts of hope and resilience with practical strategies
Art to Change the World’s first event, See. Say. DO. Intends to change the world by using art to deliver a message of hope and serving as a catalyst for positive concrete change. Please open all the cupboards and drawers, consider what you see and take one of the contents, if invited. Leave your reflections and comments in the art and attend our workshop!
In my project on Recovery, my team members are Marya Hornbacher, an author who is in recovery from addiction http://www.maryahornbacher.com/ and David Swarthout, a psychotherapist specializing in addiction. Marya has already influenced my thinking. http://www.drdavidswarthout.com/ She indicated when people ask her if she is “in recovery” she responds with strength, contentment, and peace of mind “Today, I’m alright.” I decided to name the work after this insight. Personally, I have experienced addiction (food) and my friends and family have also been challenged. It would be difficult to find anyone who does NOT have this issue in their lives- we just don’t talk about it – so we suffer alone. I now believe my loved ones are sick of people treating them like it is all over-that they are recovered. I now know that Today- they are alright. This new insight has informed the direction of my large 5‘X 5’ W X 7 ‘ work. The sculpture has influenced the workshop design which will engage our audience moving forward. https://www.arttochangetheworld.org/barbara-bridges/
Workshop:
Our workshop invites EVERYONE who has a connection with TRAUMA to join us for two hours of resource sharing, art-making, conversation and most importantly – identifying strategies for change. This workshop welcomes all people who have had their life touched by trauma: People, and friends and loved ones, recovering from disordered eating, gambling, chemicals, alcohol, or sex addictions and people recovering from death, divorce, cults or abuse.
Participants will be invited to select a recovery talisman from the drawers and cupboards of TODAY to share at the workshop and then take home to help in their ongoing recovery. Includes Higher Power sculptures, wranklets and TODAY, I’m Alright t-shirts.
Register with Barbara or at the check-in table or online:
https://www.arttochangetheworld.org/calendar-event/100-300-barbara-bridges-recovery-workshop-kitchen-5/ Join our October 14 Workshop: Register
How the art gets made. Journal
July 11, 2018 Decided today not to include the Recovery chair. The objects are presenting themselves at a rapid pace and I need the space on the 4th side of “I’m Alright”. The 12 step Recovery programs have problems with people who do not embrace a “God” belief system since the basic concept is to trust your “Higher Power”. The standard line is… you can choose anything for your higher power… even a door knob. In my workshop, participants will be encouraged to take one “recovery object” from the sculpture to use as a talking point during the session and then take away with them as a talisman. Here are examples of the Higher Power Door Knob Sculptures. I have often heard that during detox…the person feels bugs crawling on them. My trunk keeps them contained… you can control that perception. Wranklets can be worn on wrists or Anklets and are used to remind the wearer of their power to chose their pathway. Read More: Building the Artwork now . View Progress/Artist Journal
Authentic Voices: Marya Hornbacher, http://www.maryahornbacher.com/ a five time published author who is in recovery from addiction and David Swarthout, http://www.drdavidswarthout.com/ a psychotherapist specializing in addiction.
Biography Barbara Rogers Bridges 612 845-0416 www.arttochangetheworld.org 
http://bridgescreate.com drb@bridgescreate.com
Barbara is the Founder and Director of Art to Change the World.
Barbara has been an artist and a teacher/college professor for over 40 years. Her social practice sculptures have been exhibited in Maine, Miami, the Virgin Islands, Maryland, Chicago, Mexico, Spain, Canada, and throughout Minnesota. Bridges taught K-12 art in Minnesota, Maine, and the Virgin Islands. She was voted Art Teacher of the Year twice in Minnesota. She is a sculptor on a mission to demonstrate how art can serve as a catalyst for social change and is committed to creating, and empowering others to create, high quality art objects which honor their powerful message.
Barbara has partnered with various Minnesota institutions developing curriculum. These include the Minneapolis school district, the Minnesota Online High School, Perpich Center, the Walker Art Center, the Mpls. Institute of Art, the Weisman Museum, and the Minnesota Museum of Art. ArtsconnectED.org
Barbara has served as a professor for over twenty years at the university of Minnesota and Bemidji State University and has contributed in a variety of ways. She was the architect of the unique DLiTE (Distributed Learning in Teacher Education) – a hybrid online K-8 teacher licensure partnership program and the FasTrack secondary initiative designed for previously degreed candidates who wish to teach high school. The combined programs serve 250 teacher licensure students per semester, average age 35, working, and place bound with children. Read More: http://bridgescreate.com
1. Reflecting Pool http://bridgescreate.com/installation/reflection-pool/ 2.Three Waves http://bridgescreate.com/artwork/3450/
3.Transcending Race http://bridgescreate.com/artwork/transcending-race/ 4.Ode to Gluten http://bridgescreate.com/installation/ode-to-gluten/
