Client and

Professional

Experience Portfolio

Hope Dangler

2015

“Safe Place Canopy”

HOPE Community CenterAdrian, Michigan

December 2014

August 2014 was the beginning of a new experience that would change my life. I participated in aninternship at a local community center for adults with cognitive impairments. Each week, my fellow

interns and I created art with members to form bonds and enjoy a safe, creative place. We designedsimple projects that helped unleash creativity and promote personal individualism and strength. By

December, we had formed strong bonds with the members and we hated to plan for the fnal project,which we called “termination.” I took the position of team leader for this project and outlined an

elaborate plan to create a permanent installation. We all decided the project needed to be our mostsuccessful one yet, utilizing what we had learned the members did and did not like about some artmedia. After deep consideration, the perfect project was conceived. The plan was to hang a fabric

canopy from the ceiling and to create decorations with festive, member-made artwork. I made individualplans for each intern regarding the steps that needed completed for a successful project. With this

instruction, each intern completed their portion of the work and helped create the hanging canopy andcollect the appropriate supplies for the decorations. During termination, we assisted the clients withcreating coffee flter snowfakes, writing inspirational quotes on small cards, and painting ornaments.

The projects had the members busy, giggling with one another, and making memories. The canopy wasdesigned to give the clients a safe place to relax and calm down. After all was assembled, the memberstook turns walking into the canopy and reading the inspirational cards and looking at the decorations.We left feeling fulflled and knew we had impacted their lives as much as the members had impacted

ours. A week later, I ran into a member outside of the community center. She immediately hugged meand thanked me for inspiring her and her friends, and told me the canopy was used daily for games,

quiet time, and leaving inspirational quotes to friends and staff. This is the moment I knew I needed tobe a leader while introducing people to creativity and the use of the arts to express themselves.

“Pom Pom Painting”

Montessori Children's House of LenaweeAdrian, Michigan

February 2015

These projects were created by 4 to 6 year olds. Children love to get messy, and paint is the best messymessy media I've found. These small canvases were created in spirit of Valentine's Day, but they were a test

for fne motor ability and color choice. Each child is unique selected different types of pom poms, sizes,color of paint, and used a different painting technique. Some dotted the paint, others smeared it. Each child

was given the same choices of paint colors, but each canvas is much different from the next. The childrenexplored the combination of colors along with the use of white space and color.

Working with children is much different than most populations. They have shorter attention spans, lessmotor ability, and less experience with communication and vocabulary than the average population. Bylearning to work with children, I feel that I can work with any population. Designing projects for children

never end up how you plan them. Each child shows his or her personal experience through their art, even ifthey can't share it vocally yet.

“Pinch Pots”

Lenawee Intermediate School DistrictAdrian, Michigan

March 2015

These projects were created by young adults and adolescents with documented mental disorders. Thestudents typically work in a ranch-style house on living skills and procuring hobbies. A few students weretransported to the Adrian College Art Department where they worked with undergraduate students and

socialized. Instructions were given on how to create a pinch pot; additional tools and colored slipdemonstrations were given later.

The students were asked to think about what types of items they could put in their bowls. Most agreedthat small items, like loose change, would be best. Some students made pots to give to close friends or

family members. After a pizza break, students created a second one. We asked each student to try a newtool that they hadn't used on the frst bowl. We provided stamps, colored slip, wooden tools, and metal

tools. The faculty from LISD were helpful, but encouraged the students to create their own projects.

Clay is manipulative and can be used for both creation and destruction. Creation works best when aclient needs support; the clay is a metaphor for structure and stability. Destruction works best for built-up anger and for a healthy release of agitation. Both can be used in a setting. In particular, this group

only needed creation in order to establish a sense of stability and mastery. The students learned a newskill while improving their social skills.