Susan Harder: Art Therapist, Artist

The blog is up and running...still working on the rest of the website, but it's on its way:

http://susanharder.weebly.com/blog

NEW WEBSITE/BLOG

Yes, it's true.

I think this blog has only been around for about 2 years... but it's time to move on.

I finally created a Weebly website to catalog my art, with additional blogging.

I'm not sure how personal the blog will be. I think it will be more art-focused...since that is the direction I'm going anyway...but who knows.

I'm working on it when I have time (that means not that much), but I hope to get it fully updated with lots of artwork that I've made in the last 2 years.

So if you want to keep track of my art making...and therefore, me....you can go to

http://susanharder.weebly.com/

Ciao, Midwest Art Edition.

Write the link down now, while you have a chance.

The blog may disappear from the Interwebs before you know it.

Thank you, faithful readers.

- Susan

schmeckfesting

Hey....

So we went to Schmeckfest last weekend. 

It was a super-quick trip, but well worth it to see some really good friends and family. 

The musical, Big River, was really well done. 

The meal made tasted so good and made my stomach hurt due to my uncontrolled portions. 

Very successful. 

I turned in the first draft of my 30 page paper on Wednesday. 

Needs some work, but my professor didn't have many changes for me. 

The exhibition takes priority now. 

I will put it up in one week.

(I can't really believe that just yet.)

My art is almost done...I'm planning on painting the edges and making a few more marks tomorrow. 

I was just at the studio sewing on a very awesome art project for our show in May.

Hope to show you a picture of it when it's done. 

And now it's Good Friday...I don't have much else to do...and it is REALLY hard for someone who has been SOOOOOO busy for the past year to not have much to do.

I guess the whole house needs cleaning, but that doesn't sound like fun. :)

Life feels very ambiguous and grey right now. 

Ben's got job applications in for schools in South Dakota and Milwaukee. 

Don't really know what's happening with that.

Trying to figure out how not to let it all stress me out. 

progress

Here's the piece so far!

It's mixed media.

I've painted and done a printing process with newspaper and mod podge on it so far.

More materials to put come, I'm sure. 

Each canvas is 4 ft tall, 5 in. wide., 2 in. deep. 

I'm taking a lot of notes on the process...but haven't started writing my discussion section yet. 

I think once it's nearly done I can start. 

I biked to the lake today! 

12 miles there and back. 

Great weather for it, but I'm wiped out.

And unfortunately Ben has caught a cold so he won't be running 21 miles this weekend. 

He's preparing to run marathon distance at the end of the month in preparation for an ultra-marathon.

My "spring break" is nearly over...but I will get a spring break from work in April...which will likely feel more like a break. 

And Ben will be spring breaking at that same time!

Good stuff to come!

art exhibition

Hello, readers.

I'm currently on Spring Break.

That doesn't mean much for me these days since I only have 1 day of class a week anyway. 

However, it was nice not to have class this last Monday.

I also still have groups throughout the week...but they've been fun and meaningful thus far, and I'm happy for that.

The weather has FINALLY warmed up here in MKE.

That means Ben is back to outside running, which he loves. 

We're preparing to head over to Freeman for Schmeckfest at the end of March. 

A quick trip, but looking forward to gorging myself on ethnic food. 

The art show goes up in 1 month. 

Almost 2 months until graduation!

Ordered my cap and gown last week. 

We're looking towards July and the move to South Dakota...though I have so much more think about until then. 

I finished building my canvases, as you can see above. 

It was not that easy. 

It was quite tedious and challenging, in fact.

But now it's done and they don't look too bad. 

I'm going to work on them right now.

I'll (try to) keep you updated.

Hopefully you're enjoying some spring-ish weather and best wishes towards the end of your week. 

ummei

Hiiiiii.....this is Ummei. (ooooo-may)

She is my AT friend's dog.

She is also a Shiba Inu.
Such a beautiful, friendly dog that acts like a cat.

Sorry I have not written lately.
I kind of completely forgot that I blog.
It's just been an exciting February thus far.
Like I've been told by so many, this last semester is flying.

Ben helped me cut wood for my canvases that will eventually become my exhibition piece. I need to finish sanding and building them. Then I must actually start painting. I have a sketch...but it needs to become a reality at some point.

I've been writing my 30-page paper. I feel like the semester has barely started, but I already have 15 pages written and edited. Awesome. Granted, it's the intro & the literature review...which I pretty much copied from my research proposal and annotated bibliography...but it makes me look like I've been working my butt off.

I've also been working a lot. It's been great. I love my groups and the people I'm working with.
Our show is May 7.
That might seem like a long ways off...but it's not. Lots of work to do; it should be fun.

I have a Human Growth & Development presentation on Monday.
My literature review for my paper is due this coming Wednesday.
My resume/cover letter is due in Ethics the following Monday, along with a "developmental autobiographical story" in HG&D.

That's kind of why you haven't heard from me.

I'm looking forward to checking this stuff off of the list. Then I can focus on my paper and art exhibit.

I'm toying with the idea of nixing this blog and starting up a strictly art-based website/blog...mostly because I don't need my personal information on the Internet when I have clients some day.
We'll see if/when that happens (maybe when I have time to set it up?).
But you have me for now!

Have a lovely weekend.

pie

Pie. 

Beer. 

Hymn singing.

This last Friday evening.

Our good friend from church turned 50 last week. 

And in order to celebrate we all brought pie and beer (even pizza pie) and joined in some fun conversation and hymn singing. 

I definitely left with a stomach ache.

We have a great group of friends at Milwaukee Mennonite.

Ironically, we won't be seeing those friends today because it snowed A LOT.

This morning I was craving some Rocket Baby Bakery bread (only 3 blocks from our house) so I bundled up and walked over to grab some sourdough and cranberry walnut loaves. 

It was a real mess out there.

Some of the snow banks on the sidewalks were up to the middle of my calf.

I had to run/jump through those areas. 

Sometimes I even walked on the road. 

Thus, plenty of snow made its way into my boots. 

I didn't even notice because Smartwool socks do their job...as well as my big old down coat, Under Armour running tights, and Carthartt hat.

If you have the right gear, bad weather isn't so bad. 

I'm procrastinating...because homework and thinking are hard work...

But have a nice Sunday as I try to make that happen. 

silos

Time for a quick update.

I had a last minute gallery show!

My professors own an art therapy studio/gallery space down in Bay View and they last minute decided that they were going to have a show with art therapy students.

I made these silos in about 2 days time. 

Not that hard to do.

We didn't have a great turn out (cold dark night in MKE), but I did sell two silos.

I'm going to put the rest on Facebook and see who wants them.

Amidst the silo-creating I've also been working on my large and annoying annotated bibliography.

All 20 annotations are currently in good enough shape to turn in on Monday...but they're not quite complete. I should do just a touch more work on them. 

I will work on them on Sunday after my parents leave...

Yay! Mom and Dad are coming for a weekend visit!

We went to Madison to see Taylor last weekend.

We honestly hadn't seen her since summer because we both had a ridiculously busy fall. 

Shared some good beers, laughs, and pizza.

I'm also super excited for the spring because I'll be working more groups!

Three, to be precise. 

One after-school elementary group, one in-school elementary group, and another alternative school group. 

One of my co-workers is a bartender out in Riverwest. 

He likes to hold a "drink and draw" group on Wednesdays at the bar, so I decided to keep him company. 

Made me a real nice hot toddy.

The last semester of my graduate school career starts on Monday! 

What an amazing break it has been. 

I needed every second. 

I've been cooking with more veggies and exercising most days ever since we returned from holiday traveling. 

Feels better.

Nice to get over all of my stifled sicknesses and feel like a normal, healthy person without intense grad school reading and writing to fog my brain. 

And now only  a little less than 4 months of it!

I am ready to go. 

stuffed birdies

Here's my parents' Christmas picture. 

We took this during our time in Freeman.

Just wanted to check in and let you know that I haven't left the house since Tuesday evening (It's Thursday evening). 

Been some awfully cold and snowy days here.

And if you don't need to leave...you don't. 

I've been...

watching Grey's Anatomy,

working out, 

sewing small stuffed bird decorations for my pregnant friend, 

cooking, 

cleaning, 

drinking coffee for pure enjoyment, rather than the intention of staying alert,

analyzing my research data, 

and anytime that I am not moving I am underneath my glorious heated blanket on the couch. 

Our house is a bit drafty. 

I also bought textbooks for my last graduate school semester!

Get ready for a lot of "lasts" to start coming up. 

I get to turn in my "intent to graduate form" in a few weeks!

On Wednesday Ben had to go teach...despite the fact that it was a high of 0. 

His school's overall attendance for that day was 42%

FORTY-TWO PERCENT!!!!

The public school system got the hint and decided to cancel for Thursday and Friday.

(it also snowed a bunch and is still SUPER cold)

So much for that first week back to school. 

Looks like we'll be doing wine and a movie tonight!

I hear there's a blizzard in SD right now...so wherever you are...stay warm. 

more holidays

More pictures from our holiday travels.

This year we took new family pictures as a gift to our parents.

Afterwards Paula and Tom took us out to supper at McNally's Pub in Sioux Falls as their gift to us.

Then we went to Paula and Tom's town home, which they are temporarily living in while their new home is being built.

Paula loves, loves, loves her J. Lohr cabernet, so that is what we are enjoying.

Ben and I brought our gifts along to give as well...

Copper mugs for everyone! 

They are specially made for Moscow Mules, a tasty vodka, ginger beer, and lime drink that we learned about when we moved to MKE.

You can read about why they use copper mugs for this beverage HERE.

Mom doesn't consume alcohol, but we gave her one to keep her drinks cold anyway.

After we gave our gifts, P&T surprised us with a limo ride to see the Christmas lights in Sioux Falls. 

Sneaky and fun.

We saw some beloved friends and family in SD.

Here is a shot of Cousin Jordan and I while we spent our last evening in SD with friends. 

Jordan manages a popular restaurant, Brasa, in the cities and he has been bugging us to visit him for a long time...so we're planning a trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul sometime this spring. 

I already mentioned that we spent some time in Lindsborg.

It really is an awesome little town with a lot of cool Swedish cultural elements, such as dala horses. 

Ben and I explored some of the art galleries and shops downtown.

A National Geographic photographer from Belleville, KS actually has a gallery and sells prints there. Who knew?

Also, I think you already know that I love eating ethnic food.

It turns out that while eating a Swedish breakfast at the B&B I discovered that I really love pickled herring.

Who knew?

We participated in two white elephant gift exchanges this year.

Ben really lucked out with this gift.

We can't make a trip to Lawrence without a visit to Love Garden Sounds, a record studio on Massachusetts Street...with cats wandering through the shop. 

Kyle befriends a cat in the picture above. 

new years 2014

We had a lovely time in Lawrence celebrating the new year with our friends.

Brad cooked a lot of amazing food for us: curried soup, cornbread, quiche, roasted beets and potatoes, and cheesy grits. 

He normally cooks at The Roost on Massachusetts. 

If you're ever in Lawrence, check it out. 

Because he's such a foodie he got Ben and I an amazing Southern cookbook for Christmas called Heritage. It's worth it just to look at the beautiful pictures. There's a special section about pickling that made me wish I had a garden...so I made cucumber salad instead. 

We went to Jacob and Chelsy's house on NYE, hung out with friends, and played a little 2014 trivia. 

Ben's team won. Ben is very good at trivia. 

The next day we made our 9 hour trek back home, so we are finally back in MKE after our 2 week Christmas vacation driving extravaganza.

Had a wonderful time, but it's nice to be back home and not living out of a suitcase. 

Because I am FINALLY feeling better I can actually relax (or even feel well enough to do chores). 

Because we awoke to no food in the house we decided to go out for one finally luxurious breakfast.

We headed to Cafe Hollander for Belgian waffles and coffee. 

I have the next 23 days off. 

I plan on cooking, cleaning, baking, art-making, exercising, homework-ing, and spending time with friends.

Can't wait!

family time

I feel like I should squeeze in one last post before 2015. 

We are currently in Kansas visiting Ben's family. 

The picture above is from a day celebration that we had at a B&B in Lindsborg, Kansas. 

The Stuckys gathered to celebrate Grandma Milly's 90th birthday, which is coming up in February. 

We are headed to Lawrence tomorrow to hang with friends. 

We'll stay for New Years and then head back to MKE on Jan. 1. 

Luckily, Ben doesn't have to return to school until Jan. 5, so he has time to relax yet. 

It's been a wonderful trip thus far. 

Spent Christmas in South Dakota with my family.

Saw some good ol' friends. 

Spoke to some important people about potential job opportunities in Sioux Falls. 

The job search may ramp up a little more in the coming months, but it's at least time to get things rolling.

Our lease is up in August. 

There are more notable things about our future house situation...but I'll explain those when we know more about the future in general. 

I'll try to post a few pictures from my phone when I get a chance. 

Until then, I'll be enjoying my break. :)

Happy New Years!

finish line

Final semester of supervision. Final semester-long art piece.

SORRY FOR THE HIATUS!

So I made it...almost.

There is the matter of this little "take home exam" that I have yet to complete for Family Systems, but the goal is to sit in a coffee shop and complete it on Monday!

Otherwise I somehow magically made it through 2 very tough weeks. 

They weren't the toughest 2 weeks because I had a lot to do.

They were just THE LAST TWO WEEKS of one of the hardest semesters I've ever experienced. 

I actually didn't have THAT much to do.

Luckily, I've had practice with 2 other tough semesters. 

If I hadn't had experience with the first two semesters I never would have made it through this one. 

Not to mention that they were the last two weeks of PRACTICUM.

That part really hasn't sunk in yet.

I hit my 800 practicum hour requirement (actually probably more like 825-ish) and I will officially have 18-20 hours of my life back each week.

WOW.

THAT'S HUGE.

But I might also be working more hours at EYM, looking for a real, full-time job, doing homework from the two classes that I'll be taking this spring semester, creating my exit art show, and writing a 30-page contextual essay about my research.

So YES. I AM looking forward to it.

These last two weeks were hard because I was sick with a cold. 

The first week was just a dry throat and postnasal drip.

Week 2 was a full blown cold, but because I didn't have a lot to do I could actually do SOME laying around...but not much. And now I've given my cold to Ben (but I think we could blame his elementary school children too).

I managed to do some rearranging of my schedule at the hospital in order to get the rest of my hours in and clients closed out. 

I did have to cancel my last visit to the infusion clinic and my last time at the cancer support group on the oncology floor.

It's not responsible to spread your cold to people with compromised immune systems. 

I took a bouquet of tissue paper flowers as a gift to the infusion clinic on Friday. The nurses loved them and they were super appreciative.

Because I still have a little residual cold and cough I decided to take it easy today and tomorrow. 

Been napping, drinking tea, and watching tons of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. 

No shame. 

Time for a break.

Speaking of breaks...

Never got to say how wonderful it was to have Ben's sister with us for Thanksgiving break. 

We made a nice little spread, hung out, watched Netflix, Skyped/called family, went to my final Open Studio at the hospital, and took Emily on her very first brewery tour over at Lakefront. 

I actually have some "homework" to complete before the spring semester starts...aka analyzing my research, and completing my annotated bibliography (no small tasks).
BUT I have until JANUARY 26 until classes start again.
Thank you MMU, for the most beautifully long Christmas break.

Hope that gives you all an idea of what life has been for the past 3 weeks.
We're headed out for a week in South Dakota and then Kansas.
Going to be cleaning the house until then...it's been awhile.

lost in familiar places

3 weeks to go, my friends!

And one of them is THANKSGIVING week. 

Unfortunately I think it's going to be a really hard few weeks simply because I don't want to do a single thing. 

Writing papers just doesn't seem that exciting anymore. 

Thanks, but no thanks.

I'd rather pet my beautiful kittens. 

We really love them to pieces...and obviously can't take enough pictures of them. 

So this is basically a post to let you know that I'm still alive and procrastinating all of the time. 

That's why I'm on the blog instead.

I'm also just trying to stay afloat.

It's a miracle if I can wash a few dishes these days. 

Though I DID make some very comforting cheeseburger soup last night.

Feels like it's taking all of my strength just to get homework done.

I have a multicultural paper to write.

So right now I'm going to gird up my loins and make some paper-writing magic happen. 

facepainting

Happy belated Halloween, ya'll!

I wasn't planning on dressing up this year, but my friend Holly said I should do a little something creative because we were planning on attending the De La Buena/ Hood Smoke show here in MKE. Holly works with me at Express Yourself MKE and she and her husband sing and play piano for De La Buena, which is Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz music. It was an awesome show and fun to be with friends. 

I have always wanted to try out a candy skull design, which is a traditional Hispanic celebratory practice for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on Nov. 1. I still have the pictures of the festival in Guatemala. But I didn't want to use cruddy cheap paint that cracks and sucks the moisture out of your face, so I asked a friend of mine who does a lot of theatrical face painting. She recommended a costume/theatre make-up shop downtown, so I splurged on some black and white. It took about an hour to paint. It was so much fun and I was sad to take it off at the end of the night. The make-up was worth it too. I had to be careful not to smudge it, but it looked just as good at the end of the night as it did at the beginning. The picture above is my practice run. The picture below is what I wore to the show. I actually liked the design from the first run (typical me!). I had to be careful to make sure I could replicate the design on both sides. 

Other than that...

Study, internship, study, internship...

I'm done with my midterm stress bomb and have transitioned into the beautiful, pre-end-of-the-year lull. 

I am not "out of the woods" yet, but compared to my midterm, the rest of the semester looks glorious.

Quite a bit of reading and writing to do, but it's nicely spread out. 

98 hours of internship to go.

1 weekend class to go. 

4 weeks of class to go (not including Thanksgiving break). 

By the way, Ben and I are super-excited to have his sister Emily be with us for Thanksgiving this year. 

Can't wait to cook, explore MKE, and lazily hang around the house with her!

I have a very dreaded annotated bibliography that will require A LOT of reading and writing during Christmas break....but I have 6 weeks off so it shouldn't be an issue. 

Ben and I are going to a Yonder Mountain String Band concert tonight.

How I've missed the bluegrass music!

I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE SO CLOSE TO THE END!

I AM ELATED!

Best wishes in your final weeks without extreme snow and cold!

the leaves in milwaukee

A shot from the parking garage at my internship.
This was a rare sighting of sun this week.
Mostly clouds and rain.

Behold! The glorious Wisconsin fall colors!

I wish fall would last for half of the year instead of winter. 

Hopefully this year will not be another "polar vortex" extravaganza. 

I've been polling folks at the infusion clinic.

Some people say that it will be worse. Other people say not. 

We shall see.

The family systems presentation went well, by the way.

Glad I can now recycle all 12 of those journal articles that I had to read in preparation for it. 

Test this Thursday...and I'm going to try to get my genogram/paper done...but I'll likely just have a rough draft.

She pushed the due date back a week because of the test falling on the same day. 

"Midterm" busyness will essentially be done by the end of this week.

I'm officially at 650/800 hours for internship.

Only 150 to go!

Hard to believe we're nearing the end. 

Research is going well. 

I've only got 2 more weeks to go...but I might actually finish up early because I already have 6 pictures and stories. 

Need to speak with my professor on Monday. 

Another shot from the parking garage.

mid-term

It's already OCTOBER 11!

I blinked and now we're nearly half way through the month. 

Fall has been lovely, but I've been so busy that I've barely had time to enjoy it. 

My Family Systems presentation is this Thursday.

Then my Genogram and Genogram Paper are due next Thursday, along with a test.

Can't wait to take down these next two weeks!

Maybe I'll have lots of fun things to write about after that...maybe.

For now, you can look at my body map...which is about 7 feet long.

The body on the paper is literally the size of my body. 

dismal

Here's a print from rehab group. 

String painting.

Pretty successful process.

Found the idea on Pinterest and made it my own. 

So....

I am really busy.

And stressed.

And tired.

Today as I was driving towards my internship I told myself I should have stayed home. 

I decided to leave 5 hours early because I was just too tired and lethargic to really make anything significant happen.

Luckily, I didn't have anything of importance scheduled.

(Oh, how I love my flexible schedule.)

It was a really great choice. 

I slept, worked on Family Systems homework, ran one errand, and cleaned the living room. 

We can't have good days everyday, so this one was just one of those not so good days. 

Glad I had the opportunity to pass on it and try again tomorrow. 

Also, we took the train down to Chicago on Saturday for a Royals vs. White Sox game. 

This was Emily's first professional baseball game that she has ever attended, so we were happy to be with her for the momentous occasion.

We stayed with our friend Kelly and she also attended the game with us. 

We ate some fabulous ballpark food...not to mention Ann Sathers (cinnamon rolls from heaven) and Southport Grocery and Cafe. 

I can't believe October is here.

I have some big paper/presentations/things happening in these next 3 weeks. 

I'll try to check back in, but no promises.

I'm a little afraid, but also extremely excited to tackle what I feel will be the busiest part of my grad school career.

Wish me luck!

hilde snuggles

Here's a pic of my sweet little Hilde snuggled up, asleep on my shoulder.

I totally needed her snuggles tonight because I just finished my first family systems test and the essay section was harder than I imagined. 

Not to mention my brain was a little fried before I even began.

I looked back on the week that I've had, and I realized that it was also harder than I imagined.

Coming off of an awesome weekend of art therapy in the woods was inspiring and fun, yet it made this week exhausting. 

Quite the day today:

9a-10:45a - Meeting at Express Yourself. (Did I mention that I'm officially on staff and leading one group there this year? I'm SO EXCITED to stay connected with those inspirational people!)

11a-4p - internship at the hospital

4-4:25 - rush hour traffic

4:25-4:40 - grab supper to go

5-6 - cram information into head for family systems test

6-7:30 - take test

7:45 - collapse onto couch

8-9 - devote entire hour to doing absolutely nothing...and perusing internet.  

It will be nice to calmly focus on homework and relaxing this weekend.

The plan is to be a little more prepared for next week. 

colloquium 2014

2014 Colloquium piece.

All of the 1st and final year art therapy graduate students ventured into the woods for a retreat at Camp Edwards by East Troy, WI this past weekend.

Art making, tai chi, good art therapy discussion and just loads of fun.

I am so grateful for the experience. 

It was nice to be a knowledgable 2nd year student that could kind of sit back, enjoy, and embrace the weekend, instead of being in that 1st year confused haze. 

Colloquium is also a sign that THE END IS NEAR!

I'm getting ready to finally tackle my 6-week research project, which I plan to begin next week. 

If I can just make it to December.... oh boy.

So excited.