Activity Corner: Disability Watercolor Conversations
Welcome to the first in a series of activities to help educators, families, and employers explore ideas and experiences about disability, access, and inclusion – and get creative along the way! These are go-to activities that I use in my college classes, consulting workshops, team meetings, and personal get-togethers.
Activities that help us better understand disabled people – whether as a class, a family, or a work team – can be wonderfully interactive ways to build knowledge, heighten empathy, and strengthen connections with each other. Consider doing them as a sensory break after a lecture, for some fun on a holiday, or to foster cooperation during a retreat.
This activity, Watercolor Conversations, doesn’t require any artistic ability or technology skills. In fact, what’s great is that it gets people off their phones or devices and into the moment! It plays with three elements of art – line, shape, and color – and is best done with pairs or groups of three.
Materials Needed
Thick paper appropriate for watercolors
Watercolor paints
Brushes for each person
Water in cups
Step 1: Self Check-In
Take a minute and check in with yourself (or invite others to do so). What are your feelings or emotions about disability today? Think about how to express that feeling in terms of color, line, and shapes.
Color. If feelings about disability could be a color, what color would it be?
Line. What kind of line could express how you are feeling about disability?
Shape. What kind of shape could show how you are feeling about disability?
Step 2: Painting In Conversation
Pair up with one other person, preferably (if it’s a classroom or workplace), someone you do not know very well. Sit across the table from each other with a blank piece of paper between you.
Paint a conversation with each other about how you are doing today. Instead of using words and recognizable symbols (no hearts or smiley faces!), use colors, lines, and shapes to express your feelings.
This is a silent activity, but soft music in the background may be a good way to set the tone. Painting in conversation can last for about 5 minutes. Here are a few painting-in-conversation guidelines:
Take turns. Let your partner paint while you watch (or “listen”).
Try to relate and interact with each other’s marks. The paper is a fully shared space. Don’t paint on separate sides!
Find ways to build on each other’s work, expand, and elaborate.
Step 3: Explore
Within each pair, explore what it was like to complete this exercise.
What was it like to communicate with watercolors?
How did you use color, line, and shape as it relates to your feelings about disability?
What did you learn about emotions and disability through your painting as a conversation?
How did you and your partner expand or elaborate on each other’s contributions?
What about your feelings related to disability were you able to convey? Not convey?
Repeat with another partner as a variation.
Step 4: Reflect
After sharing in pairs, gather the group together. Place the paintings where everyone can see them.
What did you find easy or challenging about this activity? What did each of you learn from your painting conversations?
What role does conversation play in how we understand our own emotional relationship with disability?
What connections can you make between communicating with watercolors and the way we want to communicate to each other about disability?
(Adapted from Watercolor Conversations)