Birth Art Training
Session Four Resources
-
State different approaches that would be used with groups vs. individuals.
Demonstrate how to give a clay assignment clearly.
Experience a Birth Art clay assignment.
Describe at least two birth art assignments for clay sculpting.
-
-
Week Four Objectives
Upon completion of Lesson Four, you will be able to:
State different approaches that would be used with groups vs. individuals.
Demonstrate how to give a clay assignment clearly.
Experience a Birth Art clay assignment.
Describe at least two birth art assignments for clay sculpting.
Working With Groups
Birth Art & Groups
In this course, we often focus on birth art in the context of private sessions, in which you are working with just one person or, at most, one couple/family. But birth art processes can also be used with groups, perhaps most frequently in the context of group childbirth education classes.
There are a few things you might want to keep in mind if you are transitioning from private sessions to group sessions.
Group settings inevitably include varying degrees of motivation, interest, and buy-in, and you generally know less about each participant in a group session than you do in a private session. This means that you will probably want to spend more time building the framework for birth art, making sure that you have clearly communicated the purpose and value of birth art processes for childbirth preparation. Imagine that you are “selling” the idea of birth art to the least invested participant. At the same time, however, don’t get too attached to getting each individual participant’s buy-in; beyond a certain point, that becomes their responsibility, not yours.
Don’t get too attached to the idea that every single participant will have lots of valuable insights and fall in love with the birth art process. Your job is to do a good job presenting the opportunity for exploration – what participants make of that opportunity is ultimately not within your control.
Group settings can naturally engender feelings of comparison-related vulnerability. (Did I do it as well as that person?) When you build the framework for the process, remember to emphasize that it is not ultimately about the drawing. Make sure that parents know that they will not be doing a show-and-tell with the group. When discussion time comes, reiterate that it is not necessary to display the drawings. In giving discussion/journaling prompts, focus on what participants thought/felt/experienced, not what they drew.
Save your “keep going” prompts for when you see multiple participants (two or three, depending on the group size) slow down. It’s not unusual to have one participant who appears to finish almost immediately – don’t disrupt the group and use up your prompts in order to address that one person. Just let them stew while the rest of the group works, and issue the prompts at a time when a more widespread slowdown seems to be occurring.
Watch the group carefully to determine when to transition from the “keep going” phase to the journaling phase. Allow for variations in speed: "If you're still drawing, start considering how you might bring your drawing to a close. If your drawing feels complete, then flip your paper over and spend some time considering these prompts." It’s always a good idea to give a one- or two-minute warning as an activity draws to a close.
There will not be enough time for everyone to share, and even if there were, it’s unusual to have groups where everyone wants to share. It’s normal to work with just two or three volunteers. Journaling gives everyone the chance to process their experience, and everyone will learn from the solution-focused dialogue that you have with those who do share.
By the same token, do be sure that you’re offering space for those who are perhaps more shy or take more time to warm up to sharing. Before closing the process, ask who else has reflections to share, and really wait to see if anyone speaks up. (Saying “What else?” and then waiting so long that it feels a little awkward is a universally useful strategy!) In addition, if the group includes both birth partners and pregnant people, try to get at least one of each perspective.
If one participant is monopolizing the discussion in a way that feels unproductive and/or off-topic, you can gently interrupt or redirect them. First offer validation for what they are saying, and then follow up with either a question that redirects them towards a more productive/solution-focused/appropriate line of inquiry OR a question addressed to the whole group that emerges from what they were saying. (“Who else has had a similar experience?”)
Mentor-Led vs Artist-Led Dialogues in Small Groups
After the artist makes a drawing and journals briefly, it’s time to talk about what came up, what the artist is learning about themselves, how they think about a certain thing, and new questions related to birth preparation, becoming a parent, or their work as a birth-related professional.
If parents make birth art but don’t journal or talk about it, they will probably enjoy the process but not get very much out of it. When they journal about their birth art process, they become introspective and get more value out of the exercise. When their process is witnessed, validated, and effective questions are asked, most parents/artists experience self-discovery.
Mentor-Led Dialogues for Individuals or Small Groups
Usually a dialogue with an individual takes about twenty minutes. If you are working with a couple or a small group, the dialogue ripples out in a way that benefits everyone and it may take up to an hour.
Tell the group that although you will check-in briefly with a few of them, there may not be time for everyone to share. Suggest they can learn, even if they don't share aloud, by listening to what others are learning, and by asking themselves the same questions. Usually, a few people will be relieved that they don’t have to share aloud, allowing the eager ones to jump in.
Parent-Led Dialogues with Large Groups
If it is a larger group, say twelve, fifteen or even twenty parents in a group, it won’t be possible to talk to every parent about their drawing or process. So, another way to involve all members of a big group is to form small groups of three or four. They can bring their drawing into the small circle, but they don’t need to. Sometimes it’s more interesting when couples separate and each person dialogues with their classmates. You can also suggest pregnant parents form one group, and birth partners form another group. When the couples leave class, they will talk to each other about their drawing and insights, as well as the insights of others in their small group. In this way, they are getting twice as much out of the exercise.
Guide the small groups in sharing by:
Writing a few questions/prompts on a whiteboard.
Lending each small group a set of Birth Art Question Cards-on-a-ring (You can make these from index cards and loose leaf rings). The first person to share asks the person to their right a randomly chosen question from the cards about their birth art process. As the leader/Mentor, you can ring a bell every three minutes to keep all of the small groups moving forward—together. Without a signal to keep the groups moving forward together, one person may share for ten minutes, leaving little or no time for others to share.
When everyone in the small groups has spoken, bring the group together and invite them to share new insights or ask questions. Sometimes the art process brings up a practical or medical question that they hadn’t thought of before. Here’s where your knowledge about birth is needed to complete the birth art process.
Working an Image in Clay
A lot of writers have a daily practice of free-writing, that is, writing anything that pops into their head without editing as a kind of warm-up exercise.
There are artists who know that the first thing we draw or sculpt is from the conscious mind, it is an image we know, or that we've doodled, drawn, or sculpted before. So, the first two or three pieces we draw or sculpt are planned "sacrifices."
When it comes to sculpting a Birth Art assignment, try this:
Work the clay. This gets air bubbles and cracks out, and makes the working pile a nice cohesive lump of clay.
Let your hands and mind keep moving and molding the clay until a shape, a form you recognize emerges. You can develop this a while, work it for a few minutes. Have a private dialogue with it: listen to the form that you hold in your hand. This doesn't have to be a lovely piece, the most beautiful thing you could sculpt. Let it be primitive.
Quickly, smash the clay, or throw it on the work table to flatten it, and without thinking or planning, keep your fingers moving quickly, working the clay into another lump that begins to take a new shape. Repeat step two.
For the second time, smash the crude clay sculpture that just emerged, and as you work the clay again, see and feel what is beginning to show up. Repeat step two. You may keep going with this piece, or you may sense you need one more smash and create phase.
One definition of work--
as in working the clay--is:
to make, effect, or bring into being.
The same dictionary defines play:
to bring about, work or effect.
Play is a way of working and
work is a way of playing.
Our best times are when working and playing
are the same.
-Corita Kent and Jan Steward
Learning by Heart
Sculpting Prompts
Look at, or consider showing your clients sculptures of pregnant, birthing, and nursing parents.
Museums display ancient images of birth etched in clay or birthing figures added to vessels or vases.
Following in the footsteps of our ancestors, suggest sculpting assignments or prompts such as:
Sculpt a pregnant person
Being pregnant
A vessel that represents the womb, a vessel or holding space, and decorate it with birth-related symbols or figures
A power symbol
The animal that reminds you of birth or good parenting
A Gate of Birth
The Threshold you are standing on, and/or are crossing (soon)
Bring parents through the process of creating, letting go, and creating with clay again, giving as many keep going prompts as the moment calls for. Give the parent(s) space to journal about their process afterwards, and then lead a solution-focused discussion about their experience, not the end product. Just as you did with the pastel drawings, create these clay art assignments before bringing them to pregnant parents.
Week Four Homework: Making and Journaling About Your Birth Art
This week, do a birth art with clay assignment on your own, and guide a volunteer in a birth art with clay assignment. Post your summary in our Online Group.
Guidelines for your Birth Art Session:
Introduce your volunteer artist, i.e., age, friend/client, how many weeks pregnant or postpartum, and anything relevant to the session. (Maintain confidentiality by using a pseudonym or initials.)
Did you lead a private or group session? If it was a group, describe the group (i.e., how many members? Were they pregnant parents? Postpartum parents? or a personal growth group).
Which clay assignment did you give, and why?
How many times did you have them smash their sculpture?
Was the parent-artist resistant to smashing the clay? If so, how did you mentor them through their resistance rather than giving them a way out?
What new connections, insights, or questions did the artist have?
What was a teaching moment that you noticed and followed?
Was your dialogue problem-focused or solution-focused? What was a solution-focused question you asked during the session?
What did you learn about leading birth art sessions? What did you learn about yourself as a Birth Art Mentor
What was a moment of brilliance you had as a Mentor?
What was a moment of uncertainty that you experienced as a Mentor, or something you'd like to do differently next time?
Which clay process did you do for your own Birth Art process this week? What was one insight you had from your process?
Post your session summary in our Community Group so you can receive feedback You may include a photo of the art, but are not required to do so.