art therapy, 1988-current
my personal experience with art therapy

Art therapy is a field that has allowed me to interact with people in a professional sense and to address the social maladies that are present in my artwork. Conventionally, the field of art therapy has only existed for just over a century. In clinical practice, it is considered an extension of psychoanalysis where a client expresses her thoughts and feelings in a drawing and the therapist interprets elements of color and composition to arrive at a diagnosis. My experience with art therapy was simple and came long before I ever picked up a psychology textbook.

Art therapy has been "discovered" in many regions across the United States and Europe and the individual credited with establishing art therapy in a particular region often exemplifies a unique approach that reflects a certain style or culture. In fact, healing and art are present in many civilizations across most known regions and eras. The art practices of most cultures (craft, music, dance and story) are the records by which they are identified. More importantly, divine figures from the shamans to the catholic saints and the vodun priests typically fuse all that is sacred with an aesthetic and rituals that are common to healing and social well being.

In my own cultural experience, art is very scarce. I was gifted with private art lessons during my childhood and the benefits of making art were profound. At a basic level, I learned skills and techniques that helped me to express my thoughts and feelings. However, the communication I learned through animation and illustration also helped me empathize and communicate the experience of others. Art expressions were not just entertainment - they resonated with others and helped me to connect with people on a fundamental level: humor, despair, irony, etc.

Most importantly, the admiration and respect I developed with my first instructor, John Arthur Williams, allowed me to form a bond with another male who was compassionate, talented, and sensitive. He was a role model and he instilled in my art practice spiritual values, focus, discipline, and endless qualitative aspects that I have been exploring ever since. John was my first mentor and he introduced me to the value of relationships in art.

art therapy, 2003-current
art therapy as a profession

During my studies in Fine Art I became increasingly interested in less conventional genres such as conceptual art, performance art, non-western art traditions and art made by "dilettantes." As the art I researched became less formal and tangible, I gained interest in the immaterial qualities that made an artwork special. Cultural resonance, personality, spirit, and other mysterious forces of inspiration drew me to investigate how something as subjective and unique as art could be so universally potent. Through my investigation I became aware that art - despite "advances" in technology and despite becoming increasingly categorized and complicated into the form of an elite industry - was actually a fundamental and essential human quality. Art is our most primal ability to engage with our human experience.

The sculpture department at my undergraduate school was very small and I noticed how certain personalities reflected the artist's preferred processes and materials. In addition, I was disturbed by the tragic lifestyle that was associated with pursuing a life in the arts and how the social mistrust, instability and lack of support for the arts perpetuated the difficult path of an artist. I began my studies in San Francisco as a withdrawn and insular artist that avoided people and authority. Eventually, I became socialized by people who genuinely cared about my experience as a young adult. Although these people were generally "non-artists" they were devout supporters of the arts and they encouraged me to continue my work, to provide a positive influence and create opportunities for others. I was committed to becoming part of a community of artists that valued art and its inherent potential to heal and nurture.

Researching art and spirituality, I soon discovered Pat B. Allen's "Art is a Way of Knowing" and Catherine Hyland Moon's "Studio Art Therapy." Both art therapists were faculty for the Master of Arts in Art Therapy department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I admired the program for it's commitment to art therapists that were practicing artists, the sense of community among programs and professionals in the Chicago area, and it's appreciation for non-traditional forms of art-making and research.

I formed a mentoring relationship with Don Seiden, founder of the art therapy program at SAIC and the Illinois Art Therapy Association. In the culmination of my studies, I wrote my thesis on his unconventional approach to forming a community for art therapists and art educators. His philosophy emphasizes the metaphysical; he often discusses immaterial forces of love, trust, concept, magic, and inspiration. In light of his accomplishments, he acknowledges others consistently and he approaches every relationship as humbly as an artist would approach his medium. He has a constant love for art, and professes it has been a companion throughout his life.

Art, like these very important people, has consistently provided for my soul. It is a force that - in my more cathartic moments - has provided a sanctuary for my thoughts and feelings. In moments of more complete awareness, I have looked at my own creations with complete awe. Even as they come fresh from my own hand, they consistently reflect my experience as would the insights of a life-long friend.

As this potential for art manifests in other people, I find that making art with other individuals has afforded me a place to share my skills in a way that resonates with others. Regardless of a person's skill or ability I have found there are ways for people to develop their own terms for insight, create work that is meaningful to them and finally, to share their work with others in a way that fosters a more lasting, compassionate, and sustainable connection.

The modes of art for self-reflection and community building are an ever-present and growing aspect of my projects. I encourage viewers of my work to appreciate these connections and know that my work would wither and die without the constant support, empathy, and inspiration from other artists.

art therapy, 2003-current
the development of an art therapy practice

Insitutionalization
Authority
academic
Expertise
Empirical
medical