You
don't have to be good at making art for art therapy to be good for
you. As children, we weren't skilled at art, yet we got
to make art all the time. Very young children are allowed to be
fully absorbed and engaged in artmaking without worrying what anyone
else will think of it. Artwork made by healthy children
in a supportive environment, is a fully unselfconscious outpouring of
whatever is inside at the moment. Most people experience this
sort of artmaking at some point in early childhood; unfortunately, that
period of time ends, and it shouldn't.
For everyone, there is something creative that
was encouraged and enjoyed in early childhood that abruptly lost its
charm when someone ridiculed them. Maybe it was singing, drawing,
or dancing. These heartfelt expressions suddenly became an enemy
when a sibling, parent, teacher, or classmate drew attention to how a
drawing didn't "look right," or a song was "off key," or dancing
"looked funny." I know a person who swears her mother told her
that she couldn't sing when she was eight, and she never sang
again. Her mother swears she never said such a thing. What
really happened isn't the point- her perceptions caused her to close
herself off from an expression that previously gave her joy. To
try to sing again as an adult would take much bravery on her part,
because all the old wounds of rejection and ridicule would strike very
loudly as she sang out.
In art therapy, a person is able to explore
artmaking as a form of expression rather than a performance for someone
else. An art therapist provides a safe, nonjudgmental environment
for a person to develop a new relationship with art. There are
countless approaches to art therapy, so I will only describe what you
can expect from my own approach. Because I am trained as a
counselor and art therapist, art therapy is optional but not required.
Many people who are adamant in the beginning that they don't want to
make art, become curious about it as we get to know each other.
Other people want art therapy from the start. Either way, the art
that is made tends to be about something that a person is struggling
with in life. In this situation, talking about it does not seem
to be enough, so art is made in order to solve the problem from the
part of the brain where emotions are processed. Just the
act of making art with a nonjudgmental witness present can bring up a
plethora of emotions. We deal with the emotions that arise.
Sometimes, stepping back after a burst of expression
becomes art, we see things that we may not have realized were present
before. That is the beauty of art therapy. If you are
expressing yourself verbally, the words are gone once they leave your
mouth. With art therapy, whatever you have expressed is now in
front of you. My job is to help you see what it is you are
looking at. By this, I do not mean that I interpret the
artwork. Instead, we engage in a discussion of it, and we are
curious together while we explore this unknown part of yourself.
I also encourage you to learn the language of your art, so that you can
use it on your own to work through issues that life throws your
way.