Why Do Art?

This week’s activity was focused on discussing what purpose art-making plays in our lives and more specifically, what role art plays within the context of our group.

We started by sharing a wide variety of artist’s work   … images ripped from discarded Art in America magazines. We drew attention to how each artist had different and distinctive styles and how we had personal, subjective reactions to each example.

They were then given half-faces gleaned from fashion magazines and mounted on white card-stock. They were asked to complete the faces in their own style. Like most people, many of the women were not confident in their ability to draw a face “correctly”. By encouraging them to design the faces with a personal touch they could move past their inner critics. As always, we emphasized that there was no wrong way of doing the exercise and they could approach it in a playful manner.

While they were working at their drawings I took the opportunity to clarify a common misconception that all art therapists are trained to analyze drawings as having specific symbolic meanings. I explained that in my art therapy training at Western University we were warned not to project our own preconceived biases into another person’s art. Black doesn’t always suggest depression and red isn’t always anger. There are, however, recurring symbols in any individual’s art-making that can help explain some emotional responses… and an art therapist can help them to decode their personal metaphors.

Some of their responses to the question “what is the purpose of art?” were:  Relaxing. Not always pretty or attractive but satisfying to express. Letting out the Inner Child. Creativity gives pleasure. Relieves boredom. 

As an art therapist, I could have spoken of some theoretic basics; creating art focuses the thought process and can provide a way to control scattered or dysfunctional thinking patterns, group dynamics provide opportunities to practice relationship skills, or how problem- solving skills can be demonstrated and practiced in a safe environment…. But what would be the purpose of doing so since a lot of the group’s enduring success lies in the magic of participatory connections. There’s a synergy, a catalyst for change, that happens as they each add their contribution to the whole. They experience the power of having a greater voice working together.

My Name Is.....

September has rolled around again and the art therapy group resumes its weekly schedule. As we have some new faces around our big table we review our guidelines right after the introductions. We don’t have many rules of Do’s and Don’ts but we do need to hold our time together as a place of physical and emotional safety. Top of the list is Confidentiality and we discuss what that means in our community. Next are Kindness and Respect and all the ways that we practice these in action.

Then we spend a bit of extra time on Acceptance and artistic Non-judgement because not only is the artwork personal, beautiful and unique but each woman is as well. We all have our strengths and challenges and we want our group to be a time to feel accepted and valued just as we are. Because so many of our participants believe that they can’t do art correctly (?!) we encourage a personal interpretation of how each activity evolves…including deciding to opt out of any segment. Because sharing creativity in this way can make a person feel vulnerable the women are also allowed to pass when we take turns at the end to share what we’ve created. They rarely stay silent after hearing the other women speak. Doing art together in this way can be a playful way to make our lives brighter and build friendships.

The chosen activity was a variation of the classic “Design Your Own Nameplate” Each woman was given a plain white lunch bag and an assortment of artist tools: markers, coloured pencils, pastels, and strips of coloured papers. They were asked to make a design that represented themselves and include a nickname, either one they made up for this activity or one they already had… as long as it is one they personally, freely choose.

As intended, this activity opened up a lively discussion of the names we call ourselves compared to the names that we are given by other people… and how these names affect our lives.