Art Therapy: Media and Methods
By thisnik | August 22, 2010
Introduction
Art therapy provides a hands-on alternative to speech-focused psychotherapy, which allows a client to express themselves in a creative manner via readily accessible artistic materials. In focusing on creating art instead of on the therapist, a safe space is created which allows clients to authentically express themselves. With an understanding of the qualities of various media and the relational aspects inherent to them, an experienced art therapist can help the client observe and articulate emotions, thoughts, and experiences that may be otherwise difficult to discuss. In this paper, I shall discuss one classroom experience, the properties of the media involved, and the ways in which they may be used in a therapeutic setting.
Classroom Experience
Fresh faces on the first day of class, all of us strange and stranger to one another, we filed into the room where we would spend the next three days. After taking our seats and settling in, prior to getting names or making introductions, the professor instructed us to number off into groups of four people each. Once assembled, we were given a large piece of paper and access to colored pencils, cray-pas, and markers. We were told that we were to remain silent through the entire activity, communicating with our fellow group members primarily through our interaction with the media. All of us were to use the provided materials to draw on the paper, refraining from creating definitive shapes, concentrating instead on abstract lines and objects.
Each selecting a different space, the four of us settled into the activity, decorating our respective areas with grids, swirls, shadings, dips, dots and blobs. It wasn’t until our initial spaces were fairly well saturated that any of us ventured out into the middle space, and, from there, into other corners. By unspoken consent, each of us had selected a single color to represent ourselves. As one may note via the image above, each participant in this group remained very conscious of the boundaries of others, with interplay being fairly structured, ordered, and complementary.
Following the activity, the class reassembled to speak about the experience and the feelings it evoked. Each group’s creation was hung on the wall. The completed drawings for each group had distinct flavors, ranging from relatively light use of space and strong boundary definition to a complete saturation of the space and lack of boundary distinctions. Individual responses to the activity also varied accordingly. I personally expressed a consciousness of not wanting to violate the space of complete strangers, and an initial anxiety which relaxed into a cautious yet enjoyable experience of sharing spaces with strangers. Other people noted similar feelings, but there were also individuals who felt otherwise, ranging up to a fearless and excited desire to jump right into the activity with their group members.
Media and Method
The introductory exercise described above utilized common and sturdy materials: butcher paper, cray-pas, colored pencils, and markers. In being so very common, the process of creation becomes immediately accessible to everyone. Very few people are intimidated by a marker, and they don’t say “I can’t use that” because they already know what a marker does, how it works, and the ways it interacts with the paper. If a person were presented with uncommon materials, however, they might be reluctant – most people, unless they have had specific instruction, do not know the ways in which oil paint can be used to best effect, or how to express through welding, sculpture or Photoshop.
Because of a lack of familiarity with the materials, and the attendant fear, intimidation or frustration that comes with not knowing something, the individual instead gets stuck on the process. Creative expression becomes inaccessible to them, and authentic connection simply doesn’t happen. As Don Seiden says in Mind Over Matter, in an art therapy setting it will often be the case that “the artist is inexperienced and naïve” and in having “material [that] is ordinary, undemanding and inexpensive” (p. 31), the artist – or client – can transform the material into something unique, creating an expression of memories and feelings.
Even within a selection of commonly available materials, there can be great variation in the ways in which they can be utilized and the qualities they possess. A ball-point pen, for example, is possessed of qualities which are distinctly different than clay or collaging materials. Each kind of media possesses unique qualities, and the ways in which it relates to other media and with the client is also unique. Seiden elaborates on the relational qualities, noting that “these connections can reflect unity, conflict and all the potentials that are available to two or more entities in relationships” (p. 28).
In the classroom exercise, we were given access to controllable materials – paper, marker, cray-pas and colored pencils. Markers are exceptionally controllable, as they fulfill a very specific function: their lines are permanent, bold, assertive and consistent. Utilizing a marker denotes a commitment. Shading is difficult with markers, and line variation is limited. Cray-pas, while still controllable, allow for a wider range of expression – they allow the artist to layer, shade and blur, and can either be vivid or subtle. Colored pencils are safe, allowing the artist to erase and correct mistakes, subtle, and versatile. The receiving medium of the activity, butcher paper, is fragile, as one can tear, crumple and layer it, is accepting of other media, and passive.
It is the responsibility of the art therapist to be aware of the unique properties of the media they use in their practice, and the ways in which it influences the work the client does. Controllable media allow for a more constructive, focused exercise, where less controllable materials – like watercolor or finger paints – may create a regressive experience. As Judith Rubin notes in The Art of Art Therapy, “the more unstructured the medium, the more an individual will be able to project upon it” (p. 7). In being conscious of the unique properties of each material, an art therapist can help guide a client into an activity using media which will be the most productive for the purposes of the exercise.
Therapeutic Applications
The activity detailed in this paper, where a small group of people silently use controlled media on a large piece of paper to co-create a piece of art, can easily be adapted into a group therapy format. In using it exactly as utilized in the classroom, it can begin to break down the barriers between strangers, make participants aware of the different ways in which media can be used, and make clients aware of boundaries and the way in which they interact. Such an exercise would not, however, be useful in all group settings, especially if one were working with a client or clients who had difficulty respecting or even recognizing the boundaries of others, as it could devolve into an uncontrolled exercise of their control over the group dynamic through hoarding of the medium. Being sensitive to the individuals present in the group and a willingness to tailor the activity to the dynamic will help assure a productive experience for all participants.
To adapt the classroom experience into one productive for a group with boundary issues, one might make the groups smaller – two instead of four – or add more direction to the creation, like asking participants to create a town, or give each individual in the group a smaller piece of paper to work on and then have the entire group assemble their component parts into a finished whole. Any of these alternatives would help create a safe space for every participant. Rubin speaks to the responsibilities of the art therapist, saying:
One needs to provide both a ‘framework’ for artistic freedom and a consistently facilitating presence during the activity itself. And in order to fully comprehend (and therefore fully assist and patient), the art therapist must learn to observe the working process on many, often subtle dimensions simultaneously, and to intervene in a way that promotes its fulfillment (p.22).
By knowing the media, remaining flexible on the methods, observing the process and facilitating the client’s progress, the art therapist can help clients take real, significant, and positive steps forward.
Conclusion
The creation of art is never a simple thing, no matter how easy the process. There is meaning in everything, from the selection of the media to the way in which it relates to itself and the artist, to the way the artist uses it, their feelings in using it, and the end product itself. A stick figure drawing can be as evocative and meaningful as any “Great Work of Art”. Everything is meaningful. Don Seiden says: “in the production of art, the symbolic, metaphorical value of the experience is an essential component in that it allows for the fullest exploration of an idea or feeling” (p. 63). In a therapeutic setting, the art therapist becomes a participant in the creative process – not as a director, but as a facilitator, observer, and aid, reserving judgment and helping the artist see that which is present. Once they have identified the feelings, issues, or experiences, the art therapist and artist can then work together to create realistic goals and healthy solutions.
Bibliography
Rubin, J. A. (1984). The art of art therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Seiden, D. (2001). Mind over matter: The uses of materials in art, education, and therapy. Chicago: Magnolia Street Publishers.
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The paper was written for AT 478: Art Therapy – Media and Methods, taught by Professor Turner, Summer 2010.
