ART THERAPY:

Art and the process of making art in the service of diagnosis or treatment:

When one is doing a diagnostic or treatment session it should blend the trained clinical eye and the ear of a psychologically sophisticated listener.  Interest should be placed on the behaviors, the art making process, the resulting art along with the impact the process is having that may reveal meaningful insights into the person's or groups underlying issues, needs or syndromes. Or having some healing impact or other beneficial side effects. Often insightfully expressive dynamics flow through the resulting artworks symbolic nature.

Unlike art education, our goal here is not to learn art techniques to become a better art maker. Our goal is the manifest a therapeutic alliance between the art therapist, the client or group, with the Art Therapy process.

I recently worked with two intelligent and talented studio interns using the plaster-craft process. Neither had ever used the material before.

They both visited my studio during a monthly open house and asked about art therapy as a practice when each noticed my Masters In Art and Art Therapy degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on the wall.

The resulting discussions led us to an intern situation.

PARIS CRAFT:  I have found this media to be a richly powerful activity that offers a variety of therapeutic options while its outcome is not based on any talent. It bypasses the notion of drawing in a realistic or even cartoonish manner.  It often spares the session the anxiety of memories many have of not being able to draw at a desirable level as a child or youth.

The sensory integration aspect, of dry, oil, water, wet, back to dry along with painting later to embellish it in a personal manner, is a rich therapeutic pathway to observe.

We started by reviewing the process and media along with task analyzing the therapeutic options possible in the activity.

Next they would experience the process, create using the process and finally administer the process to others.

I strongly suggest that the leading or practicing art therapist be very comfortable with the techniques and materials used with all types of clients.  This is not the time to experiment or discover new media.  This type of artistic-surprise may not be in the best interest of your clinical goals or objectives.

Tamir was a college senior Gates' Scholar.  This is her resulting work. 

It shows her mastery of the process. She is now exploring her options for graduate school.

Below we have Sofia who was a Chicago based college senior. 

She became very excited about the potential of this process and wanted to produce a more ambitious body or collection of work. After her graduation she returned to China to share the experience.

 Sofia spent the entire summer working on her installation.