Art therapy and clinical counseling masters students Abby Stephens and Hanna Eide are hosting an art therapy event at the first monthly Good Way Gardens series of 2025 on Sunday, April 6. The event will take place at the Howe House on 315 E Logan Ave. from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Good Way Gardens is a community gardening initiative that occurs once a month, on the first Sunday of every month, through October. Each month, they feature different live musicians, and the band Humbletown will be performing at the upcoming meeting.

This month’s art therapy event is a service project for Stephen and Eide’s Art Media/Materials in Art Therapy course. Attendees will have the opportunity to craft beads out of paper. They will provide yarn or some other string type so people can make their beads into necklaces or keychains.

“You can either color them, or people can write anything basically they want on it,” explained Eide. “And then you just cut a strip– and it can be a straight strip, it can be a triangle strip– and then you roll it, and we’ll put glue on it and wait for it to dry. Then there’s a bead.”

Stephens says that this activity will promote fine motor skills and self-expression.

“So, you’re practicing, like, rolling and using your fingers and your body movements,” she said. “If you wanted to dedicate it to someone or something, but you didn’t want to just, like, outwardly portray it, it’s a good way to hide little messages since you’re rolling it up into small bits of paper. It can help with expression.”

Stephens and Eide also emphasize the environmental soundness of the craft, as it takes place at a gardening event.

“Since we’re using paper and soft glue, it can break down over time,” said Stephens. “So in that sense, it’s good for talking about environmentally friendly things like a community garden, and then it’s also really affordable and accessible. So that’s also the point of a community garden, is that anyone can benefit from it.”

The two also believe that it is vital that art therapy events and community service organizations like Good Way Gardens are accessible to everyone. They both agree that creating is “human nature,” “a human right” and “a human way to connect with the Earth and other people.”