Wrecked by Art with Cindy Ingram – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The last couple of weeks have been intense. Between processing the presidential election results (which has left many of us feeling scared, emotional, angry, and sad) and some difficult things happening in my personal life, my creative practice has completely fallen by the wayside. That daily art practice I shared with you before? The one with the squares for each day? Gone. Those mosaics I was making tons of? Haven't touched them. I simply haven't had the energetic, emotional, or mental capacity for any of it.

Watch this episode on video: https://youtu.be/-dGpUlC6QnM?si=z9clL7Z-9eX6mFln

You know those times when the world feels like it's falling down around you, and the thought of picking up a paintbrush or sitting down to write feels completely overwhelming? That's exactly where I am right now, and I know I'm not alone. This week, I was meeting with a coaching client who's working on an exciting creative project—one that usually lights her up—and she shared that she's experiencing the same thing. The election results knocked her over too, and she hasn't been able to put any creative energy toward her work.

Here's the thing: I've noticed that when life gets intense, our creative practices are often the first things to slip away. It's totally normal. As someone who makes art, writes, and generally tries to stay creative, I've learned that there are gentle ways to keep our creativity alive even when we don't have the emotional or mental capacity for big projects.

Creating Safe Space for Creativity

Let's talk about something really important that I've learned: to be able to create, you need to feel some level of safeness. Your nervous system needs to be at least somewhat regulated. You don't need to feel 100% safe—just enough to get started.

What does that look like in practice? It's different for everyone, but here are some things that help me:

* Creating a soothing environment (yes, it sounds cliché, but lighting a candle or playing specific music really does help)

* Finding your comfort drink (I'm literally sipping iced coffee as I write this, even though it's 4 PM)

* Setting up a dedicated creative space, even if it's just a corner of your desk

* Using meditation apps (I've been trying Insight Timer lately—turns out meditation isn't so bad with my ADHD when I have something to focus on)

Starting Small (Really Small)

One of my program participants came up with this brilliant idea: she made a post-it note that said "2 minutes" and listed all the creative things she could do in that time:

* Write a haiku

* Make a quick drawing

* Take photos of interesting plants on a walk

* Doodle on a post-it

It doesn't have to be a big event. You don't need to set up cameras and art supplies and make a whole production of it (trust me, I get it—I'm literally has to make the video simpler than usual because that's what I can handle right now).

Finding Your "Just Right" Activity

For me, one of the most soothing creative practices is collecting paper scraps and gluing them down. I can watch TV or listen to an audiobook while I do it. It's engaging enough to keep my hands busy but not so demanding that it overwhelms my emotional capacity.

Your "just right" activity might be:

* Neurographic art (making lines and rounding the edges)

* Playing with watercolors and watching them flow

* Stream-of-consciousness writing

* Moving your body through dance or large gesture drawing

* Working with clay

* Following a simple art tutorial on YouTube

The key is finding something that feels luscious and good to you, without being overwhelming.

Remember: It's About the Process, Not the Product

There's this amazing Kurt Vonnegut quote where he tells students to write a poem and then tear it up—scatter the pieces in different trash cans so no one can ever put it back together. Why? Because you still grow from the act of creating, even if no one ever sees it.

I spent years not making art because I thought it had to be "good." I studied art history, I knew what "good art" looked like, and I convinced myself that if I couldn't make that, it wasn't worth making anything at all. What a waste! I've been making art for several years now, and while I haven't made any money from it, it has changed my life in profound ways.

Stay Engaged (Even Just a Little)

The longer you stay away from your creative practice, whatever it is, the harder it gets to come back to it. (And if you're neurodivergent like me, you might literally forget that you're an artist or writer—whoops!)

Staying engaged, even in tiny ways, reminds your subconscious and your nervous system: "Hey, this is still a thing I do. This is still part of who I am." It helps you hold onto that part of yourself when things get hard.

A Gentle Reminder

If you're struggling to create right now, you're not alone. Allow yourself to create without expectation, without pressure for it to look or sound any particular way. Your creativity isn't gone—it might just need a gentler approach right now.

Remember: engaging with your creativity is valuable with or without an outcome. Sometimes the most important thing is just showing up, even if all you do is tear up paper or write three lines in your journal.

What small creative act could you do today? Not to make something amazing, not to share it with anyone, just to stay connected to that part of yourself?

In this vulnerable share on my podcast and YouTube, I open up about my journey of embracing my true self through healing through art and creative community. Watch as I process these revelations through art journaling while discussing last night's powerful tarot session, the magic that happens in our art interpretation circles, and my upcoming tarot program. Join me as I reflect on self-acceptance, neurodiversity, and the healing power of creative community.

To see me making art at the same time, watch this podcast episode on YouTube:

🎨 Mentioned Programs:

* Art Church (Monthly Free Sessions) - https://cindyingram.com/art-church

* Art Connection Circle - https://cindyingram.com/circle

* New Tarot Program (Coming Soon!)

✨ Want to join our creative community?

* Subscribe to my Substack - https://cindyingram.substack.com

* Learn about Art Church - https://cindyingram.com/art-church

🖼️ Featured In Video:

* Light Seer's Tarot Deck - https://amzn.to/48ExgFb (affiliate link)

* Last Week's Video -

* More about my River Trip - https://cindyingram.substack.com/p/sunday-strokes-a-river-trip-and-a

* This is Me - Table Sing -

* This is Me - Britain's Got Talent -

Art and Self with Cindy Ingram is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this episode, Margaret and I, both passionate art educators, open up about our own artistic journeys. We get real about the struggle of finding our artistic identities as teachers, grappling with imposter syndrome, of not being “good enough” or niched enough, and the “shoulds” that help us back from embracing our own art. But what we have found on the other end after letting all of that go is freedom of expression, the joy and satisfaction of making art for us and no one else, and the safety and nervous-system regulation that art provides us that we knew as children but forgot as we grew up. 

It's been all about letting the process guide us and having the curiosity, the playfulness, and the consistent practice lead us to whatever comes next.

I know you’ll love this conversation.

Get the links to stuff we talked about on this episode on the shownotes at this link. 

This episode is part of the former Art Class Curator podcast and is targeted specifically for art teachers. 

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Teacher burnout is so real it hurts, but there are ways to care for yourself and organize your life to avoid running on empty. In this episode, Cindy explores how teaching is impacted by purpose and joy. She shares her experiences from two vastly different schools, discusses how to prioritize your teaching responsibilities, and how you can avoid burnout.

This episode is part of the former Art Class Curator podcast and is targeted specifically for art teachers. 

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Let's talk about why dead white guys are not enough in our art classrooms and why I'm not having a panic attack even saying those words!

This episode is part of the former Art Class Curator podcast and is targeted specifically for art teachers. 

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Art is the perfect subject to battle xenophobia.

The fact that we even call it ‘Non-Western’ art points to how ingrained Western bias is in art education. An entire planet’s worth of cultures and artistic traditions are defined by what they aren’t instead of by what they are.

The only way to change the paradigm is to do the hard thing, the right thing: Introduce our students to artworks by artists from across the world, even if we never learned about them, and have classroom discussions about how art historians have traditionally labelled and discriminated against art from other cultures.

When I teach Non-Western art, I always start the unit with a lesson on cultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism. Students may call something "weird" or laugh at a work by someone from a different culture. When our students (and we do it too sometimes; I don’t think anyone is really immune from this) make judgements about the artworks of other cultures using their own Western perspective, they are deepening the divide between cultures and people.

It’s vital that we address the subject with our students and there are ways to do so across grade levels. When we teach art in a thoughtful, inclusive way, our students learn to recognize and combat bias in themselves and others.

In this episode, I share the lesson that I go through to introduce my students to these concepts! 

In this episode, Cindy comes to the realization that exposing students to works of art is not for the end goal of "appreciation." It is much, much bigger than that. 

Where is the passion, the delight, the wonder, the heart-pounding experience with art? Where is the feeling in your heart, that drop in your gut, that makes you a CHANGED PERSON? Let's keep talking about THAT.

In this episode of the Art Class Curator podcast, Cindy talks about why art matters and what makes art connection so very important for our students and for the world. From creating more connected and empathetic humans, to understanding and connecting with the past, to learning how to slow down and become comfortable with uncertainty, meaningful connection with works of art hands-down just creates better people.

This episode is part of the former Art Class Curator podcast and is targeted specifically for art teachers. 

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In this episode, Cindy discusses how to engage students’ natural born curiosity as well as how to spark a curiosity mindset through modeling, exciting artworks, and more.

This episode is part of the former Art Class Curator podcast and is targeted specifically for art teachers. 

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Whether you're a new teacher, an old pro, or you've just run into a particularly difficult set of students, it's vital to have a solid classroom management strategy in place. Cindy talks about the importance of experimenting, finding support, protecting your energy in the classroom, firm routines and procedures, and making sure you and your students are engaged.

Visit the show notes at artclasscurator.com/31 for the links and resources mentioned in this episode.