JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Joint Base San Antonio members helping survivors of sexual assault are using art as a form of self-care, healing and a way to spread awareness through a new project being conducted by the JBSA Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program.
The Wet Paint Project gives survivors of sexual assault and violence, and those professionals and volunteers helping them in the SAPR program, the opportunity to raise awareness and prevention of sexual assault by creating abstract art pieces.
Sayama Turner, JBSA SAPR Student Development Programs director, created the Wet Paint Project in May as a self-care activity in classes for those working on behalf of sexual assault survivors, including sexual assault response coordinators, program managers, Special Victims’ Counsel and volunteer victim advocates.
Turner was trying to create a self-care activity for those who assist sexual assault survivors when she came up with the idea of using abstract art, an activity she has been doing for over 30 years.
“It was designed as a method to help those who are in the field of sexual assault to have a new way – a new strategy – of practicing self-care,” Turner said.
Turner said it is important for advocates of sexual assault survivors to practice self-care. After learning the concept of abstract art in SAPR self-care and resiliency classes, Turner said advocates have passed on and encouraged sexual assault survivors to take it up.
“It’s providing a way for individuals who may have endured sexual assault to find a new way to recover by way of art because art is a form of therapy,” Turner said. “It has been found to be very effective.”
Since May, Turner said 50 members of the military community have created pieces of abstract art, with 25 of those pieces donated to the SAPR Advocacy Center at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, which displays them on their walls.
Even with COVID-19 restrictions, Turner has been able to provide in-person instruction to the advocates, helping professionals and senior leaders on abstract art, because the classroom at the JBSA-Fort Sam Houston SAPR Advocacy Center is large enough for social distancing.
She also liquified the paint so class attendees didn’t have to touch paintbrushes to create their works of art, as the canvases are designed to help people control the flow of the paint in creating designs.
Turner said the Wet Paint Project has brought members of the JBSA community together in expressing their feelings and emotions through art.
“The Wet Paint Project allows for resiliency to take place, giving people strategies, team building as they’re having conversations about sexual assault,” Turner said. “It provides them an opportunity to be able to build a project, not only individually, but collectively.”
Turner said JBSA members who have been able to show their art have helped spread the message of awareness and prevention of sexual assault throughout the military community, and for those who have survived sexual assault, the message of healing. She said by doing this, these JBSA members have helped to initiate conversations about sexual assault in the local community.
Master Sgt. Leona Guy, Headquarters Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center financial operations policy and procedures manager at JBSA-Lackland and volunteer victim advocate, said being able to create her own piece of art as part of her SAPR training was a calming experience for her.
“It’s not difficult at all,” Guy said. “At first I was, ‘I don’t know how to paint,’ but I was very interested in it anyway. Once I did it, it was so much fun. It’s just surprisingly refreshing.”
The work of abstract art Guy created was a blue-green color painting, which represents the clear water of the Caribbean Sea that borders her native Belize. She said the painting gave her a sense of calmness and reminded her of where she came from.
“I really like the wet painting because it keeps people grounded in the moment,” Guy said. “When you’re painting and you’re turning the canvas, you have to be in that moment. Sometimes we get so caught up with work and life that we forget to just enjoy the present.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Bellotte, Naval Medical Training Support Center, Naval Military Training Instructor at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston and volunteer victim advocate, said learning a self-care activity such as painting reminded him about the importance of taking care of himself.
“The paint event, in my eyes, was great,” Bellotte said. “I have very little artistic creativity, but I was able to make something amazing by just following directions, which gave me a brief reprieve from the day’s stressors.”
For information on participating in the Wet Paint Project, call 210-336-3565.