Wednesday 28 September 2011

More on Affordances..

In my endeavour to find more on affordances in relation to paper craft, I explored a few more avenues….
Remember back in my first blog where I told you that I had a history with paper?? Well, those links to history are important for me. They provide me with memories of time spent with my mum and how reengaging in paper craft after a long absence can evoke the same sense of achievement as it did when I was younger.
Aesthetics is an important aspect to paper craft. This is where I like to take time to pick out the best coloured paper or pattern, to blend ideas and recognise a beautiful finished end product. 
So it’s fair to say that paper craft has a sense of meaning for me, not just historically but spiritually. You might think spirituality is a funny thing to say about paper craft, so let me explain…  Crepeau (2007) defines spirituality as “the fundamental orientation of a person’s life; that which inspires and motivates that individual.” That last line of inspiring and motivating is how we as humans are guided to participate; we obviously don’t have the same spiritual needs or wants but it still allows for guidance to engage and to usually find peace and happiness in what we do. It influences performance and defines where and who we do it with, these also link back to history and evoking memories…
The physicality of paper craft is limited if I consider fitness, strength or flexibility however physical aspects also influences performance.  When engaging in paper craft, I consider the objects in my environment like the table I use or perhaps the built environment where I choose what room I do my craft in or even the sensory environment where I decide if I want to listen to the radio or watch television.

Reference:
Crepeau, E.B.(2007). Analysing occupation and activity: a way of thinking about occupational performance. In E.B. Crepeau, S.E. Cohn & B.A.B. Schell (Eds.), Willard & Spackman’s occupational therapy (10e.d., pp. 189-1980). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkin.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Katy, I am very impressed with this post. It is similar to mine, and I feel that you covered every aspect of the written topic. I like the way you illustrated the theory through examples and explanations to make it as clear as possible. Your post is really helpful for everyone who reads it, and makes clear the underlying aspects of occupational therapy even to people outside this course. I also liked your explanation of how the reference fits in. There is nothing I can think of that would improve this post.

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  2. Hi Katy,

    I have read your whole blog, I am not much of a craft person but your blog is quite motivating for someone to start doing this activity. You have explained your activity in relation to the references you have used and I think you articulated the aim of your blog really well. In this particular post, you have linked spirituality and craft really well. I can't think of any changes that your could make, so I say a job well done :)

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