Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the SoulA leader in art therapy shares powerful developments in the field and provides a road-map for unlocking the spiritual and emotional healing benefits of creative expression The field of art therapy is discovering that artistic expression can be a powerful means of personal transformation and emotional and spiritual healing. In this book, Shaun McNiff—a leader in expressive arts therapy for more than three decades—reflects on a wide spectrum of activities aimed at reviving art’s traditional healing function. In chapters ranging from “Liberating Creativity” and “The Practice of Creativity in the Workplace” to “From Shamanism to Art Therapy,” he illuminates some of the most progressive views in the rapidly expanding field of art therapy, including: • The “practice of imagination” as a powerful force for transformation • A challenge to literal-minded psychological interpretations of artworks (“black colors indicate depression”) and the principle that even disturbing images have inherent healing properties • The role of the therapist in promoting an environment conducive to free expression and therapeutic energies • The healing effects of group work, with people creating alongside one another and interacting in the studio • “Total expression,” combining arts such as movement, storytelling, and drumming with painting and drawing |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 9 | |
| 15 | |
| 28 | |
| 31 | |
| 34 | |
The Art Therapist as Artist | 52 |
Aesthetic Meditation | 55 |
Images as Angels | 100 |
Part Four TOTAL EXPRESSION | 147 |
Part Five CONNECTIONS TO SHAMANISM | 181 |
Part Six REFLECTIONS ON THE SOURCE | 209 |
Part Seven USING NEW MEDIA TO EXPAND | 239 |
Part Eight ART HEALING IS FOR EVERYONE | 263 |
The Practice of Creativity | 283 |
The Test of Time | 290 |
Part Three OPENING TO IMAGES AND MEDIA | 69 |
The Interpretation of Imagery | 75 |
Treating Images as Persons and Dialoguing with Them | 82 |
The Challenge of Disturbing Images | 96 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ability active imagination aesthetic American Art Therapy angels Anthony approach archetypal Arnheim art and healing art heals Art Psychotherapy art studio Art Therapy Association artistic expression artmaking Arts in Psychotherapy artwork auras become Bernice body Christopher Cook color create creation creative arts therapy creative energy creative expression creative process culture D. H. Lawrence Danvers State Hospital depth psychology dialogue discipline dreams emotional enactment engage environment essay experience explore expressive therapy feel figure focused forms gestalt therapy gestures healing powers hospital idea images individual integration interactions interpretation James Hillman Journal Jung Lesley University let go lives look materials McNiff medicines move movement nature offer ourselves painting patients perception person perspective physical playback practice psychological qualities realm relationship response rhythm rhythmic Rudolf Arnheim shaman soul space spirits spontaneous therapeutic therapists things tion videotape visual visual perception