Typical Day
Violet Mindcraft starts her day at 8:00AM. She gets up, has a quick healthy breakfast (with copious amounts of coffee, of course), before donning a brightly colored smock and jeans, her duds for the day.
After sitting in traffic for an hour, she's eager to get to work at The Children's Hospital, where she's been the head art therapist for seven years. Violet always loved art and knew she wanted to use it to help people, but it wasn't until she went to graduate school and took classes in art therapy that she found her calling.
Violet especially loves working with children; even though it's hard knowing that many of the children she works with are sick and may not be around much longer. That was actually the most difficult part for Violet to get used to.
Even though the type of art that Violet has the kids do really doesn't have much to do with aesthetics, she still notices when a child she is helping has a gift to communicate artistically.
Eleven-year-old Joey Jumbleston is one of those extremely gifted kids. When Violet comes into Joey's room that morning, he's excited to get to work.
Joey has a rare form of liver cancer and has been on the transplant list at the hospital for six months. He has his good days and bad days, but lately the chemo has gotten him down. Normally a very outgoing kid, Joey had been feeling too sick to do much of anything, until Violet came along with her brushes and canvases.
That day, Joey works on a particularly outstanding version of "Mr. Mangowese," his pet name for his tumor. "Beat it Mr. Mangowese," Joey writes on his canvas.
In Joey's art, Mr. Mangowese is a mix of red, brown, black, and green and has big, angry, gnarly teeth. By painting the grotesque, ugly tumor, Joey feels like he's purging his body of the illness.
He says he feels happier after he paints his Mr. Mangowese pictures. He also adds bits of humor to his paintings. In one painting, Mr. Mangowese is smoking a cigarette—"So that he'll die quicker," adds Joey.
In another there's a surgeon's knife cutting a screaming Mr. Mangowese from Joey's body, who has a big happy grin on his face. "Cut it out," Joey writes in big red letters on the top of the painting. This is his latest favorite.
Violet works with Joey for an hour and a half today, but Joey still wants to paint, so she leaves him with some art supplies and tells him to have at it. She says she'll swing by later that day to see what he's come up with.
Violet then moves on to her next patient, eight-year-old Iris Iwashay, who has just been admitted the day before and is undergoing a heart transplant operation later that week. Iris looks very pale and very frightened when Violet comes to meet her. She is curious at all the art supplies that are on Violet's cart as she wheels it in.
She explains to Iris that these are for her to use however she wants. She has paints, crayons, sculpey, and clay today. Some days she has crafts and makes things like puppets or paper machete masks with the kids, other days she does textured paintings or water color.
Iris fingers the clay and says she would like to sculpt but she doesn't know what. "It doesn't matter what, why don't you just start holding onto it and seeing what you feel like doing. If you just feel like making a ball or throwing it against the wall, do it," says Violet.
Iris mushes the clay in her hands. She likes the squishy feel of it. She starts building and shaping it with tools until she comes up with a very unique object.
"What is it," asks Violet?
"I don't know," Iris answers in a small voice.
"Does it make you feel happy or sad?"
"I don't know," says Iris.
"Upset, scared, or angry?"
"I don't know," she starts to say, then: "Angry. It makes me feel angry. I kinda hate it."
"That's fine," says Violet. "Do you want to give it a name?"
"I don't know," says Iris. "Maybe, Big Bad Bobo."
"Okay," says Violet. "Sounds good to me. I have to go now but maybe next time we'll try something different, like paint or draw Big Bad Bobo."
"What if there's not a next time?" Iris asks.
"What do you mean?" Violet asks.
"I have the operation soon. I might. What if, I can't paint or draw next time?"
"Don't you worry, Iris. We'll think of something."
Violet gives Iris a reassuring smile and takes her cart to the next room.
She visits twelve different patients that day. She sees some children with cancer, some with painful burns, children who have lost limbs, and others who have severe mental illnesses. She's treated children with autism and anxiety as well as siblings of those who are terminally ill. It's been a very difficult and tiring day, but she knows it's worth it.
On the way home, Violet swings back by Joey's bedside to see how "Mr. Mangowese" is doing. Joey has created quite a masterpiece this time of Mr. Mangowese getting hacked into pieces on what she thinks is a roller coaster ride.
She would talk to Joey about it but he is fast asleep, the brush still in his hand. There's red paint on the bed sheets. She leaves him with the brush and paints and puts a fresh canvas by his bedside in case he wakes up later and wants to paint some more.
She says goodbye for the night to the staff and leaves the hospital.
It's about 6:00PM and she hits the rush hour going back to her apartment. She puts on some uplifting music, rolls down the car windows to get fresh air in her face, and heads back home. Days like this can be rough, but she's thankful for having work that leaves her so fulfilled.