by Rae Cameron, Artist and REST Volunteer
I love making art available to women who come to the REST Enrichment Services Center to participate in the REST Art Spa. Art is more than just making pretty things, and it's even more than just expressing your feelings - it's about making your mark. It's a unique physical expression of the artist's emotional reality and spiritual vision.
The intentional art we do at The Art Spa helps participants reframe their perspectives of themselves, the world around them, the obstacles they have faced, and the ones they are currently facing. I think it surprises many clients to find out they can reflect on an aspect of themselves, such as the color of their resilience, for example, and then translate that abstract idea into something representational that other people can look at with admiration and joy.
It's important to practice being creative in a safe, no-pressure zone. The Art Spa’s goal to hold space for clients to explore what it looks and feels like to put themselves into something outside of themselves and see that it is good, beautiful, interesting, valued, and worthy. The more often a person sees an art project through to the end, the more their confidence grows. I see this happen during every session at REST.
Doing art together opens people up. I'm humbled by how much the clients trust me, sometimes just after one session. They share their pain, but honestly, what touches me the deepest is when they share their few cherished memories from places they miss and people they've loved. I'm inspired when I learn what keeps them going on personal levels. They sometimes tell me their current hopes and dreams - sometimes, it's small and wholesome, like wanting a kitten. Sometimes it's big and challenging, like pursuing a degree in law or getting married. It is an honor to be with them as they identify their value and find ways to implement it in the world around them - often for the first time.
I believe God placed a particular burning in my heart for victims of the sex trade when I was twenty years old. I have never once lost that. The sex trade is an incredibly dark spiderweb of all levels of dysfunction and heartbreak, the literal opposite of God's dream for humans. I love charging into that darkness with all His hope of light and Love. I love being a part of His work that dismantles generations of oppression and offers real freedom and transformative healing in return.
Note from REST: We want to say ‘thank you’ to Rae Cameron for sharing her thoughts, passion, and commitment. If you’d like to see more of her art, please visit her Etsy page: A Studio in the Midst.