Spiral Garden: A place for relaxation and reinvigoration
Spiral Garden: A place for relaxation and reinvigoration
Shannon Crossman
This year, we are celebrating our 40th anniversary of the opening of Spiral Garden
Interview with Shannon Crossman, program coordinator: arts, Spiral Garden and creative arts March break respite camp, Holland Bloorview
Can you provide a brief overview of the history of Spiral Garden camp?
Spiral Garden was initially developed by an artist, a special education teacher and a early childhood educator in 1984 as an outdoor, integrated art, garden, music and play program within a hospital setting. It offers a retreat and respite from the busyness of school and being at a hospital – it’s a place for relaxation and reinvigoration.
Serving both inpatients and outpatients and community children and youth, the program has evolved over the years to support hundreds of children with and without disabilities, who collaborate with professional artists and musicians to create a unique culture of music, artworks and stories while tending the organic gardens.
What do you believe is the most unique or special aspect of the Spiral Garden?
The staffing model within a hospital setting is unique in that the programming is outdoors and led by professional artists and musicians. The goals are for the children to have as much fun as possible, to navigate space and time, to make decisions about how they spend their time, and with whom, doing what they prefer. Children may not have this decision-making agency in other aspects of their lives, especially those who are inpatients. Here they have freedom to get messy, to have fun with each other and care for nature.
A long-time Spiral Garden participant, volunteer and now staff, Anna Khouzam says it best: “Spiral Garden, at its core, is a space for children to explore their innate creativity and imagination in a safe, stimulating, and serene environment.”
What inspires you in your day-to-day work?
As an important and meaningful part of my day-to-day work, I work one-to-one with inpatients as artists. It is inspiring to support both the client’s need and appreciation of their own art-making for their own benefit towards their rehabilitation. They do it for the joy of it; for self-expression; for the exploration of ideas, forms and materials; and for their own self-regulation and calming. It is inspiring how they have the wisdom to seek art-making as a route for rehabilitation and making of meaning – perhaps of a world view or perhaps of a self view that positions them as capable, creative and whole.
Do you have any memories to share from your time in this work?
Celebrations can collectively mark and synthesize our time together in a rich, solemn, joyful way. From the treasure trove of intangible and tangible cultural artifacts, from songs to stories, puppets to quilts, banners and flags, we collaborate to celebrate us and acknowledge meaningful moments.
One memory that comes to mind was saying goodbye to the Zucchini Queen, a giant puppet that was nibbled by a racoon. The puppet was eulogized with solemnity and humour, adorned with flowers, serenaded with a New Orleans-style funeral dirge with violin, drums and saxophone, and ceremonially set alight. It was a moment that could be transposed to life outside of the garden, to inform, and comfort, a normal but fraught life passage.
How do you feel Spiral Garden has progressed and changed over the years?
We now have a greater understanding of the importance of art in a hospital context and its value in the rehabilitation journey, so we leverage Spiral Garden to support social opportunities and engagement. In a functional way, the program has grown in size to support up to 60 children each session. There has been an increased need for one-to-one staff support to meet the increasing needs of the children so that they can be safe and successful in this outdoor program. Training has also evolved to meet the needs of the clients as has the environment e.g. weighted blankets, bean bag chairs. Climate change has impacted the ability to be outside consistently – there were times when we needed fall jackets. Now we are inside more often than we would like because it is 40 degrees Celsius with the humidex.
What do you wish everyone would know about Spiral Garden that they may not be aware of?
I will again reference Anna Khouzam, a long time Spiral Garden participant, volunteer and now staff: “The model of Spiral Garden normalizes empathy and equality, empowers children of all abilities to respect nature, be themselves, experiment in the arts, and work towards and be community-minded. This is the approach we as adults should be taking more often.”
This year, we are celebrating our 40th anniversary of the opening of Spiral Garden
Interview with Shannon Crossman, program coordinator: arts, Spiral Garden and creative arts March break respite camp, Holland Bloorview
Can you provide a brief overview of the history of Spiral Garden camp?
Spiral Garden was initially developed by an artist, a special education teacher and a early childhood educator in 1984 as an outdoor, integrated art, garden, music and play program within a hospital setting. It offers a retreat and respite from the busyness of school and being at a hospital – it’s a place for relaxation and reinvigoration.
Serving both inpatients and outpatients and community children and youth, the program has evolved over the years to support hundreds of children with and without disabilities, who collaborate with professional artists and musicians to create a unique culture of music, artworks and stories while tending the organic gardens.
What do you believe is the most unique or special aspect of the Spiral Garden?
The staffing model within a hospital setting is unique in that the programming is outdoors and led by professional artists and musicians. The goals are for the children to have as much fun as possible, to navigate space and time, to make decisions about how they spend their time, and with whom, doing what they prefer. Children may not have this decision-making agency in other aspects of their lives, especially those who are inpatients. Here they have freedom to get messy, to have fun with each other and care for nature.
A long-time Spiral Garden participant, volunteer and now staff, Anna Khouzam says it best: “Spiral Garden, at its core, is a space for children to explore their innate creativity and imagination in a safe, stimulating, and serene environment.”
What inspires you in your day-to-day work?
As an important and meaningful part of my day-to-day work, I work one-to-one with inpatients as artists. It is inspiring to support both the client’s need and appreciation of their own art-making for their own benefit towards their rehabilitation. They do it for the joy of it; for self-expression; for the exploration of ideas, forms and materials; and for their own self-regulation and calming. It is inspiring how they have the wisdom to seek art-making as a route for rehabilitation and making of meaning – perhaps of a world view or perhaps of a self view that positions them as capable, creative and whole.
Do you have any memories to share from your time in this work?
Celebrations can collectively mark and synthesize our time together in a rich, solemn, joyful way. From the treasure trove of intangible and tangible cultural artifacts, from songs to stories, puppets to quilts, banners and flags, we collaborate to celebrate us and acknowledge meaningful moments.
One memory that comes to mind was saying goodbye to the Zucchini Queen, a giant puppet that was nibbled by a racoon. The puppet was eulogized with solemnity and humour, adorned with flowers, serenaded with a New Orleans-style funeral dirge with violin, drums and saxophone, and ceremonially set alight. It was a moment that could be transposed to life outside of the garden, to inform, and comfort, a normal but fraught life passage.
How do you feel Spiral Garden has progressed and changed over the years?
We now have a greater understanding of the importance of art in a hospital context and its value in the rehabilitation journey, so we leverage Spiral Garden to support social opportunities and engagement. In a functional way, the program has grown in size to support up to 60 children each session. There has been an increased need for one-to-one staff support to meet the increasing needs of the children so that they can be safe and successful in this outdoor program. Training has also evolved to meet the needs of the clients as has the environment e.g. weighted blankets, bean bag chairs. Climate change has impacted the ability to be outside consistently – there were times when we needed fall jackets. Now we are inside more often than we would like because it is 40 degrees Celsius with the humidex.
What do you wish everyone would know about Spiral Garden that they may not be aware of?
I will again reference Anna Khouzam, a long time Spiral Garden participant, volunteer and now staff: “The model of Spiral Garden normalizes empathy and equality, empowers children of all abilities to respect nature, be themselves, experiment in the arts, and work towards and be community-minded. This is the approach we as adults should be taking more often.”