Happy Re-New Year!

As I take time on this last school day of the 2018 calendar year to paint over canvas's in an effort to renew the surfaces for future artists in art therapy to use... I find myself flooded with some pretty amazing reflections that I wish to share with you today.

For Centuries, artists who painted on canvas, wood, and other surfaces would often reuse surfaces leaving layers of amazing paintings and artistic studies under final masterpieces that are today hanging in some of the world's finest museums.

Art Therapists are charged with treating the art created in session with a reverence that whatever is created, is first and foremost the artists, and also an important expression that is part of the therapy process.  We have many ethical concerns to factor in when the art maker no longer wants the image, leaves without a way to contact them, or other ways that art is left unresolved.  In the district, the art therapists encourage kids to make choices about their art after it is completed.  It is part of the process of what we do, and often these decisions are more important in their meaning than "what do we do with the art."   Sometimes images will be destroyed prior to bringing art home if the artist feels it shouldn't go out of the art therapy space.   When art is left at the school with no clear resolution, we often store the art far beyond the time that therapists are required to maintain records in case a student returns for any reason and request it.  All of the Alton Art Therapists have amazing stories of kids returning as students or alumnae and the impact that seeing their art being treated with care has on them.

For the first time in the 28 years that art therapy has been a part of the district, I am using white primer to paint over unclaimed images painted on canvas that have been stored for many years 

(coincidentally... it happens to be 28 canvases!)

The metaphors that come from the act of painting over past images to make the canvases available for kids today are pretty powerful... 

1) Art is Powerful!  

Art making creates a lasting history that is difficult to erase. Literally... after three layers of primer.... some of these images are fighting their way through the white and their colors or textures will be impossible to completely cover.  How Resilient!  Art therapy can help one revisit, reshape, and learn from life events that we can never really fully erase but we can make it part of our history that builds our own resiliency.

2) There is really no such things a getting "blank slate..."

But we can all be renewed and get a fresh start!

Professionals who dedicate their career to working with kids who have the full range of reasons why being at school can be tough know more than anyone... that these kids need many chances to paint over a rough morning, day, week and start fresh with a team around them that are ready to look at them with those fresh, "new coat of paint" eyes as well.

My Plan for these Canvases...

Once these canvases are sufficiently prepared, it is my intention to keep these as an option for kids to select.  When making that decision...we can explore what that means to take a canvas that served another purpose for a kid years ago and add to that canvas's history by giving it a new life to create their own mark.  And of course...we will explore what starting with a fresh coat of paint can mean to all of us!

 Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Break!

-Mr. Schwartz

Each Alton Middle School art therapy student was asked to contribute to this collage by creating a "Screen Shot" that their brain can "save" with a quick message that they might need to see when experiencing stress at school.  

The screen shot only needed to be meaningful to the artist and did not need to make sense to others.  

It was designed to give the artist's brain a message of support to help  cool down and handle that stress 

in the best possible way.

In Honor of Women's History Month

and in conjunction with

Creative Arts Therapies Week

 

Ms. D'Amore and Mr. Schwartz 

decorated a door 

at Alton Middle School 

 

honoring

a former professor, mentor and long-time director of the

SIU-E Art Therapy Counseling Graduate Program

 

P. Gussie Klorer,

PhD, LCPC, LCSW, ATR-BC, HLM

 

Dr. Gussie Klorer has been a professor since 1985, served 22 years as the director of the SIU-E program, has a highly respected book:

Expressive Therapy with Traumatized Children (2017, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers) 

and numerous articles about art therapy.

Dr. Klorer is planning to retire from her position as a fulltime professor at the end of this school year. 

She has done so much to grow the profession in the Southern Illinois and St. Louis region.

 

 

We asked Dr. Gussie Klorer

to share her thoughts about one of the women

pioneers of the art therapy field who most influence her work.

 

"Edith Kramer, who was one of founders in art therapy and wrote the first book I read about art therapy.  She was an artist and a therapist and worked with children. When I read "Art as Therapy with Children" in college I knew I wanted to be an art therapist and then when I went to school for it, she became one of my teachers." 

- P. Gussie Klorer

 

Edith Kramer (1916-2014)

 

 

For more information on Edith Kramer visit:

http://edithkramer.com/

 

 

 

These colorful and soothing water beads will be an option for the kids to explore with their hands (with strict instructions for hand washing before and after of course!!!) as they consider what their art options might be, work through a stressful topic, or just wind down after making art and getting ready to return to the art room. 

 

It is my plan to repurpose these at the end of the year by leading the kids in an activity to create stress balls.  We will fill some sturdy balloons with these water beads and explore how satisfying they feel when you need something to squeeze in you hand.  Should be fun!  (and Relaxing!) 

How a student engages with the materials in Art Therapy carries so much unspoken potential:

Certain materials can help a student let something out that is difficult to release with just words.

Other times, engaging with the right art materials helps a student to contain difficult emotions (or "hold themselves together") and be able to be more successful with their day to day challenges.

 

Art Therapists seek to support students in recognizing how their relationship with the art materials can be best used to identify  and meet their most current needs.

 

Thank You!