Program / Event Details

Art Educator Andrea Sauer specializes in using art as a healing modality and will lead students through sessions of active listening with their peers, creating a safe space for feeling valued and heard, and students creating 4 joyful, bright figures based on several master exemplars including Angel Ortiz and Keith Haring’s playful paintings. The therapeutic painting style that she will introduce is practiced by indigenous cultures where intentional creativity is used to gain insight and healing. The somatic practice of painting while reflecting on life experiences and having a safe way to process them is a powerful way to be responsive instead of reactive to things that may normally feel triggering. Teaching the students ways to be responsive to feelings instead of reacting and understanding pausing,breathwork,and other mindfulness techniques are the best option before reacting.
Andrea Sauer is currently employed by Talbot County Social Services and works with girls referred by the court system to use art and mindfulness to process challenging life situations and events. She taught for twenty years in public education teaching art although often doubling as a “guidance counselor”. She left in 2020 and educated herself through workshops and classes on how trauma is stored in our bodies. She was learning the science behind what she had already intuited, which is that we hold what has happened in our lives, what is currently happening in our lives, and what our ancestors have endured (epigenetics) right in the tissues of our body. Well aware of the power of art to process our life experiences and the power of moving these experiences outside of our physical body and giving voice to what may be hard to vocalize. She has also taught in mental health facilities (CTSA Bel Air) and retreats that have been funded through Maryland State Arts Council and Creative Alliance.