Healing as an art therapist and as an artist
A reporter is interviewing me today about the arts and healing. I was recommended because I am both an artist and an art therapist. So in preparation I want to toss around some ideas about the two parts of my life that include art and healing, their differences and similarities.
As an art therapist, I use creativity and art making to support my clients' intentions to heal themselves and feel better. I do this in many ways. First, I may ask my clients to make an image of what they want themselves or their lives to look like for the better. For those who have either a vague idea of their goals or who seem disconnected from what better for them can look like, this can be a grounding and concretizing process. An example of this would be directing a client to make a collage about her goals for her current relationship: what she wants to get out of it, how she wants it to look like, how she wants to be in it. I also use creative processes to discover, expand, deepen and clarify people's resources and strengths. An example of this would be noticing a powerful, positive, visual statement made by a client, such as "I felt like a tiger!" and directing them to make a sculpture or drawing of this. After the image is made, I would ask the client more questions about the experience of making the image and their thoughts and feelings about the image/art object itself. This could lead to more creative processes: writing, sandtray work, and maybe more art making. Often the creative exploration of visually strong verbal cues leads to greater understanding and embodiment of strengths and resources.
In terms of exploration of more challenging material, bringing in art making and other creative processes can help a client approach her pain and wounding in ways that are both indirect and, in many cases, more accurate. Verbal language has great limitations, especially when it comes to describing upsetting or traumatic personal experiences. I see verbal language as made first and foremost for public consumption, rather than for personal exploration. Look at the slowly evolving language used to describe such things as trauma: "victim," while having its place, is still used in generous helpings by the general public, even when the person who experienced the trauma feels that she has recovered and is now thriving. If a person processing his trauma can explore it in his own terms with less limits put on the language he can use, he can include all possibilities and factors and emotions into the equation. An example of all of this is leading a person through drawing a "body map," where the client depicts her current or past bodily sensations through color, line, symbols and texture within a general body outline. She determines how this is done and what various colors, etc. mean. This of course incorporates body awareness as well, but lets a client safely express and explore the effects of trauma on the body, both physically (e.g. chronic stomach pain) and symbolically (e.g. a broken heart).
There is so much more that could be said about the use of art in art therapy, but I'll leave it there for now.
As an artist, I use my art in similar but also differing ways. The goals and intentions for my art art (as opposed to my art therapy art) are wider ranging. I am a craftsperson as well as an explorer with my own art. I pursue intriguing imagery in a purely creative mindset, intentionally not interpreting it or trying to intellectually understand it until later on. My art as an artist does share with my art as an art therapist the intention of understanding aspects of myself. But I also use my art to understand the world around me, and the meaning of imagery in the greater collective. And the final product of a well-crafted, visually interesting, and communicative art piece is a major goal for myself as as artist. This is not the case for the art I do or ask others to do as an art therapist. Most art made in art therapy is so deeply personal that it may only hang on the artist/client's bedroom wall if anywhere. Much of this art is not meant to be shared, unless the sharing of it with a wider audience is somehow healing or therapeutic for the client. An example of this would be one of my refugee clients asking to share their art in a public venue to promote the understanding of the complex experience of being a refugee. In this case the voice of this person, quelled and silenced by oppressive governments or militias, is able to be freed and amplified for the world -- such an experience can be deeply healing for a person who has lived the isolation of persecution. Here again the experience of artists and clients in art therapy overlap. Some artists share their art for similar reasons. I think about Tracey Emin, processing difficult life events via her art. Louise Bourgeois is another artist who processes a lot in her art: she is considered the founder of what is called "Confessional Art." The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars share their experiences, their pain, and their hope in their music. The common ground between art therapy and art making is perhaps the size of a football field!
Artists, art therapists, and people participating in art therapy have so much to share with each other. I believe that it would help the field of art and the field of art therapy to engage in more dialogue about this intriguing work.
As an art therapist, I use creativity and art making to support my clients' intentions to heal themselves and feel better. I do this in many ways. First, I may ask my clients to make an image of what they want themselves or their lives to look like for the better. For those who have either a vague idea of their goals or who seem disconnected from what better for them can look like, this can be a grounding and concretizing process. An example of this would be directing a client to make a collage about her goals for her current relationship: what she wants to get out of it, how she wants it to look like, how she wants to be in it. I also use creative processes to discover, expand, deepen and clarify people's resources and strengths. An example of this would be noticing a powerful, positive, visual statement made by a client, such as "I felt like a tiger!" and directing them to make a sculpture or drawing of this. After the image is made, I would ask the client more questions about the experience of making the image and their thoughts and feelings about the image/art object itself. This could lead to more creative processes: writing, sandtray work, and maybe more art making. Often the creative exploration of visually strong verbal cues leads to greater understanding and embodiment of strengths and resources.
In terms of exploration of more challenging material, bringing in art making and other creative processes can help a client approach her pain and wounding in ways that are both indirect and, in many cases, more accurate. Verbal language has great limitations, especially when it comes to describing upsetting or traumatic personal experiences. I see verbal language as made first and foremost for public consumption, rather than for personal exploration. Look at the slowly evolving language used to describe such things as trauma: "victim," while having its place, is still used in generous helpings by the general public, even when the person who experienced the trauma feels that she has recovered and is now thriving. If a person processing his trauma can explore it in his own terms with less limits put on the language he can use, he can include all possibilities and factors and emotions into the equation. An example of all of this is leading a person through drawing a "body map," where the client depicts her current or past bodily sensations through color, line, symbols and texture within a general body outline. She determines how this is done and what various colors, etc. mean. This of course incorporates body awareness as well, but lets a client safely express and explore the effects of trauma on the body, both physically (e.g. chronic stomach pain) and symbolically (e.g. a broken heart).
There is so much more that could be said about the use of art in art therapy, but I'll leave it there for now.
As an artist, I use my art in similar but also differing ways. The goals and intentions for my art art (as opposed to my art therapy art) are wider ranging. I am a craftsperson as well as an explorer with my own art. I pursue intriguing imagery in a purely creative mindset, intentionally not interpreting it or trying to intellectually understand it until later on. My art as an artist does share with my art as an art therapist the intention of understanding aspects of myself. But I also use my art to understand the world around me, and the meaning of imagery in the greater collective. And the final product of a well-crafted, visually interesting, and communicative art piece is a major goal for myself as as artist. This is not the case for the art I do or ask others to do as an art therapist. Most art made in art therapy is so deeply personal that it may only hang on the artist/client's bedroom wall if anywhere. Much of this art is not meant to be shared, unless the sharing of it with a wider audience is somehow healing or therapeutic for the client. An example of this would be one of my refugee clients asking to share their art in a public venue to promote the understanding of the complex experience of being a refugee. In this case the voice of this person, quelled and silenced by oppressive governments or militias, is able to be freed and amplified for the world -- such an experience can be deeply healing for a person who has lived the isolation of persecution. Here again the experience of artists and clients in art therapy overlap. Some artists share their art for similar reasons. I think about Tracey Emin, processing difficult life events via her art. Louise Bourgeois is another artist who processes a lot in her art: she is considered the founder of what is called "Confessional Art." The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars share their experiences, their pain, and their hope in their music. The common ground between art therapy and art making is perhaps the size of a football field!
Artists, art therapists, and people participating in art therapy have so much to share with each other. I believe that it would help the field of art and the field of art therapy to engage in more dialogue about this intriguing work.
Comments
Post a Comment