Safety Nest workshop at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

March 24, 2018

In March 2018, the Emerald Sketch marched in Washington D.C. with over 200,000 protesters, among them many of the students and families directly affected by gun violence and school shootings. The teenagers from Parkland, Florida initiated the March for Our Lives movement and created a wellspring of hopeful and profound energy.

To start the day, Nicole Porter organized an Emerald Sketch Art therapy Trauma Response Workshop inside the Educational Studio at the National Gallery of Art. The original idea was to provide a safe space for any massacre survivors and their families prior to the March. We began by inviting individuals from Newtown and across the country who have been directly affected by gun violence and are interested in Art therapy and Trauma Response.

We gathered an eclectic group of clinicians and survivors and created a “Safety Nest,” reminiscent of one created in the Newtown community.  Among the group were two additional art therapists, Javere Pinnock and Rana Abdallah-Lara; architect Michael Davis; and Alvin Ailey dancers. The art therapists led participants through creating #WeaponsofMassHealing, making assault weapons from black foam board, drawn to scale to indicate the guns used for American school massacres.  Ours, however, shoot rainbows. One side reads “What if Guns Shot Rainbows?” while the other side reads, “It Would F*cking Tickle.”

We created an additional giant rainbow sign and used it as a space  for double handed scribbling (an excellent mind-body exercise). It read “Where is our #SafetyNest? #Arttherapy”

We then hosted an art therapy workshop to introduce how programming began in Newtown following the Sandy Hook School shooting. All participants had an opportunity to engage in an art therapy drawing process or contribute to the group Safety Nest sculpture, in addition to a dynamic group discussion.

Together as creators, collaborators, and clinicians we joined the #MarchforOurLives. We moved swiftly through the federal building with our artwork and then organized our Weapons of Mass Healing on the steps of the United States of America etching.