Pathfinder Bird

by Suze Mercado

The Pathfinder Bird is an artist book that documents the development of my artist identity while attending Kutenai Art Therapy Institute (KATI) from 2018-2020. In this capstone project, I put together a collection of art and writing, including photography, studio art, journal entries, school papers, creative projects and poetry. All of the art, photography and writing is my original art. This is an extension of my personal case study as well as an introduction to the direction I plan to take my art therapy practice. In May 2020, I presented a personal case study that showcased my personal and creative development over two years of training as an art therapist at KATI. Looking forward, I want to pursue expressive art therapy and develop a holistic tattoo therapy practice with the use of ritual. The Pathfinder Bird is split into three sections using Satish Kumar's framework of Soil, Soul and Society(Kumar, 2015). After introducing art therapy, I will delve further into the theory that forms the ground of this book and contextualize this theory within the world of art therapy.