In my previous blog I looked at keeping records of the art just in case your client wants to refer to it or it comes up in the coaching conversation. In this blog I want to expand on why it is so beneficial to ensure that previous art pieces created by your client are brought into ongoing sessions and, in particular, the final session of your coaching programme; the art just keeps on giving!
When clients create their art, those images become an integral part of their narrative and will continually weave themselves in and out of the coaching conversations you have together. Having those images available will be invaluable to these conversations. These images will then almost always be looked at in the context of the current conversation which then lead to new insights, deeper meanings emerging and reinforcement of previous discoveries. However, there are even greater benefits available to your client.
Having images created across sessions available allows you and your client to look at them side by side and discover themes, patterns, connections and disconnections between them. This added richness creates possibilities for new insights and meanings to emerge. Clients can also revisit those images and change them if they want to; allowing the imaging to evolve as their perceptions change and they gain clarity.
Look out for repeat uses of colour, shape and imagery. An emerging theme for a client of mine was imagery of water and the sea. Exploring these images led her to an extraordinary shift. She realised that she wasn’t frightened of the sea (her narrative during the sessions) but actually wanted to live by the sea with her partner!
Notice repeat relationships between shapes whether in size, proximity or positioning within the image. And don’t forget repeats of things that are missing too.
Also look out for things that change. For example, one client of mine always put a border around their images, and then they didn’t. Noticing this allowed my client to identify that they had started to move on which she wasn’t fully aware of. It was a confidence building moment!
The final session
In the final session, laying all your client’s images out in order from the 1st to last is a very powerful and tangible way of allowing your client to review their progress and what they are taking away from the coaching programme. It can often be hard for clients to put themselves back at the beginning and really notice the differences between how they were then and how they are in the present moment. The art allows them to do this easily. It can be extraordinarily empowering for clients to experience their coaching programme in this way. It is also a much richer way of evaluating success for everyone.
Who keeps the art? Client or coach?
Keeping a record of the clients’ art