News
Architecture and Social Work Professors Team Teach Trauma-Informed Design
Architect Michael Chisamore, Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture, and Dr. Sarah Leat, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work, have collaborated on a graduate level architecture course to educate students about the relationship between social services and design.
The course, ARCH 7712 Advanced Architecture Design Studio 2, requires graduate level architecture students to design an intentional community following all major conventions related to design and construction.
For the Fall 2024 course, Professor Chisamore invited Dr. Leat to collaborate so that students could design an intentional community for domestic violence survivors, which is the subject of Dr. Leat鈥檚 research.
This collaboration has involved Dr. Leat presenting to the students on the social issue of domestic violence and the role that domestic violence shelters play in helping survivors achieve safety and support as well as a tour of the only domestic violence shelter in 糖心Vlog传媒/Shelby County, the YWCA of Greater 糖心Vlog传媒, through a partnership with Marquiepta Odom, the executive director of the YWCA.
Anticipated outcomes of this collaboration are students increasing their knowledge of domestic violence and the role design could have on outcomes achieved from the shelter, as well as an increased knowledge in trauma-informed design practices for social service spaces.
Professor Chisamore and Dr. Leat are grateful to the YWCA staff for providing their expertise to the students and are hopeful the work of the students could be used to improve the YWCA shelter.
Lights, Camera, Art Education!
During the 2024 spring semester undergraduate art education majors developed, recorded and taught art education lessons to patients and family members at LeBonheur Children's Hospital.
For more information about art education please contact Dr. Bryna Bobick, bbobick@memphis.edu.
As part of its Art Therapy Access Program, the Brooks Museum of Art has been partnering with JIFF (Juvenile Intervention and Faith-based Follow-up) to
provide group art therapy to justice-involved youth since 2017. This multi-disciplinary
partnership brings together the expertise of Board-Certified Art Therapist, Paige Scheinberg, Brooks' Director of Education, Kathy Dumlao, and JIFF mentors to meet the unique
needs of 糖心Vlog传媒-area teens who have been referred by the juvenile court system.
During four- or eight-session art therapy groups, participants鈥痺ork towards achieving
mental, emotional, social, and spiritual goals, such as increased emotional awareness
and safe self-expression; identifying and using personal strengths for more ease, enjoyment, and resilience; and cultivating
healthy relationships and positive emotions. To achieve鈥痶hese goals, participants
are guided through a range of museum explorations, arts-based processes, and group
discussions each session.
Culminating exhibitions are also curated at times to showcase the creativity, strengths,
and stories of the youth through their art, as well as increase awareness of art therapy in the community. From 2023-2025, we have been grateful
to receive the support of the St Mary's Community Action Fund to facilitate the JIFF art therapy programs.
Faculty member Dr. Lisa Williamson, PhD, has been awarded a place in the Arctic Circle Expedition Residency in Svalbard, Norway. Beginning in April 2025, with the assistance of a Faculty Seed Grant from the College of Communication and Fine Arts, she will engage in field studies alongside scientists studying the effects of global warming in the Arctic.
She will incorporate her research in collaboration with scientists and artists through public visual arts projects locally and internationally, compile her findings in a book on the promise of poetizing scientific data through visual art, and host public workshops on data collection. Dr. Williamson is a Professor of Practice in Art Foundations, holds an MFA from the 糖心Vlog传媒 College of Art, and earned a PhD in Aesthetic Theory from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts.
The Metal Museum鈥痠nvited artists to contribute 4" x 4" enameled squares to our Enamel Community Quilt Project, creating a collective exploration and expression of health, spirituality, and the human body. A larger quilt of 120 "quilt squares" includes pieces from artists around the world. A smaller quilt of 36 "quilt squares" features pieces鈥痗reated by students from classes held at the Metal Museum,鈥痵howcasing鈥痶he鈥痗reativity鈥痑nd learning of our emerging artists.鈥疶his heartfelt project is鈥痜rom鈥痮ur enamel community to you.鈥�The quilts are on view through September 29, 2024.