Saturday, December 30, 2017
Saturday, December 09, 2017
Sweden's PassionistaColorista features Lacy on her podcast!
EPISODE 4: Lacy Mucklow, about Color Me Calm, and her other coloring books
"They had no idea that their coloring books would make success around the world, when they released Color Me Calm and Color Me Happy back in 2014. In this episode I talk to Lacy Mucklow, art therapist, and the author of these books. She talks about how it started, which one that is her own favourite, what pencils she uses when she is coloring, why mandalas are so calming, how different colours affect us, and much more!"
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Lacy Interviews with The Wellness Design Podcast
How can an adult coloring book create a memorable experience in your waiting room and offer next level service to your peeps? In today’s episode I interview Lacy Mucklow, the author of the wildly popular adult coloring books “Color Me” series. You’ll learn how coloring instantly calms the brain regardless of your age and what’s so unique about these coloring books your patients (and their families) will love!
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Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Karen Pence Advocates for Art Therapy as Her Cause
Beyond Arts and Crafts:
Karen Pence Preaches Art Therapy
A trained watercolor artist and advocate of the little-known mental health profession, Vice President Mike Pence’s wife went to the Virginia art supply store she frequented when they lived in the state during his tenure in Congress, bought 120 pounds of self-drying clay and packed it aboard Air Force Two for their flight down to survey the damage.
“She cleaned him out,” the vice president said of the store’s owner.
Mrs. Pence made art therapy her cause ever since she first learned about it more than a decade ago. She has visited numerous art therapy programs, both in the U.S. and abroad, and on Wednesday in Florida, nine months into the administration, she planned to formally announce the goals for her art therapy initiative.
She wants to help people understand the difference between art therapy and arts and crafts, and to grasp that art therapy is a viable option for treating trauma, injury and other life experiences. She also wants to encourage young people to choose art therapy as a career.
“I don’t think that a lot of people understand the difference between therapeutic art and art therapy,” Mrs. Pence, a trained watercolor artist, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview before the announcement at Florida State University in Tallahassee. The school has an art therapy program she described as “tremendous.”
Blabbing to a girlfriend can be therapeutic, she explained, but it is not the same as art therapy, which has three elements: a client, a trained therapist and art.
As passionate as she is about raising art therapy’s profile, other issues help make Karen Pence tick, too.
One of them is helping military families, especially spouses. Her only son, Michael, is in the Marines.
There’s also her interest in honeybees. Mrs. Pence installed a beehive on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory, where the vice president’s official residence is located, to help call attention to a decline in managed bee colonies that officials say could negatively affect U.S. agricultural production. She had a beehive at the Indiana governor’s residence for the same reason.
Now 60 and married to the vice president since 1985, Mrs. Pence has long been viewed as one of her husband’s most trusted political advisers. They’re often together on trips, at the White House, or at the observatory, almost always holding hands.
Since returning to Washington in January (the family lived in the area when her husband served in Congress), she has accompanied the vice president on goodwill tours of Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as trips to survey recent hurricane damage in Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She tries to visit art therapy programs wherever she goes. Journalists who travel with Pence often keep an eye out for his wife; she often brings them cookies when he ventures back to the press cabin for small talk.
She’s even done a little campaigning, urging Virginians to vote next month for Ed Gillespie in what’s viewed as a tight gubernatorial race.
“It really makes a difference, I can tell you. Nobody thought that we were going to win,” she said, an apparent reference to the Trump-Pence ticket.
The vice president often refers to his wife as the family’s “prayer captain.” She has led congregations in prayer during their hurricane-damage trips.
“We’re people of faith so we just try and approach everything with prayer,” Mrs. Pence said from her sunny, second-floor office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex, where she and her staff enjoy coveted views of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.
Art therapy drawings given as gifts adorn the outer office.
She proudly displayed several of her paintings, including of the Capitol dome, the vice president’s residence, a Ball canning jar-turned-flower vase, a cardinal bird and a pink peony. She turns many of her watercolors into prints and boxed notecards that she gifts to art therapists she meets.
Except for myriad pets, including two cats, a dog and a rabbit named Marlon Bundo, the Pences are empty nesters. Their son and two adult daughters are off on their own.
“I think for us this is a good time in our life for this role because our kids are out of college. They’re living their own lives,” Mrs. Pence said.
She’s also launching a blog in conjunction with Wednesday’s announcement to chronicle her visits to art therapy programs.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Adventures in Art Therapy selection among Feedspot's Top 30 Art Therapy Blogs!
I was contacted to discover that this blog was selected to be among the Top 30 Art Therapy Blogs and Websites by Art Therapists. I'm in very good company with other esteemed colleagues. Thanks Feedspot! Check out the great list!
Monday, May 08, 2017
Guest Blog: Joan Stanford on Creative Expression
Joan Stanford, author of "The Art of Play," has graciously written a guest blog for Adventures in Art Therapy! Read ahead for her wisdom and insight about the importance of expression through artmaking.
The universe is full
of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
—Eden Phillpotts
I recently attended the NORCATA (Northern California Art
Therapists Association) conference in Berkeley and just watched A Beautiful Remedy, a documentary on PBS
about arts in medicine so am feeling very connected to the healing power of art
expression. While I have worked with various populations (and for several years
in the local public schools) I now work mostly for and with people without a
client/patient designation. I offer play shops and
creative retreats. My intent is to invite anyone
to explore with playful art making and through that to connect to
themselves, to others and to the world around them with more authenticity and
compassion. My book, The Art of Play,
released this June, relates my story: how I, a busy innkeeper, wife, and mother
found my way to expressive arts and how that opened up a whole new world.
Many of the people who play with me have not touched art
materials since preschool or elementary school. Some were more actively engaged
previously in some “artistic” pursuit but abandoned that as their adult working
lives took over and, now, jump at the chance to reactivate those interests.
Others are just curious. Some consider
themselves totally “non-creative” but want to see if they can discover
something new. Of course, signing up is completely voluntary so that is a huge
plus. We have all encountered resistance when clients are mandated to work with
us. But my playmates bring their own fear-based resistance. Facing a blank page
creates anxiety for most of us. Being asked to trust the process, to let
something emerge from within is not easy. That is why I use the word “play.”
We begin with conversation; they may say why they came and
what they hope for from the experience. I always stress that play is
experimentation—there is no judgment, no mistakes. I offer total permission
with the hope that the carefree child part will join in with a sense of
curiosity and excitement. We do some warm-ups to stimulate free association, to
activate imagination. This allows a shift—visibly sensed—from the outer world
to the inner that the safe space provided facilitates. Safety allows
risk-taking and the experimentation necessary for discovery. I display a
variety of art materials to entice engagement of the senses by attracting the
eye and piquing interest.
Self-expression through art making is a birthright of all
and evident in the first traces of human existence. I want to help make the
process accessible and available so people have a tool for introspection that they
will turn to as easily as journaling. When we allow imagery to speak to us we
learn something new. Images are our first language and evoke feelings,
memories, and associations that our analytical left-brains may not have access
to.
My personal practice is creating spontaneous collages in a
small six-by-six spiral bound journal. I paste the collage on the right side,
and then record the conversation on the left. I might ask, “Who are you?” or
“What do you want me to know/remember?” Sometimes I create the collage in
response to something happening in my personal life or world events.
After the
Paris shootings I did this:
And, later, after the Orlando shootings:
When strong feelings of grief, sadness, helplessness, or
anger overwhelm me, the page is a good container. As I create these, the energy
is released and can be transformed.
Another more playful image:
People I work with often cannot commit a lot of time or
space to playing with imagery so this is a doable option. Tearing words and
images from magazines is easy and can be done anywhere—even on a plane. No
fancy materials are needed so there are fewer excuses, less avoidance. The
words that come are surprising, often poetic and insightful.
As I just read, “The world speaks to us. We just need to
learn how to become better listeners.” —Steven D. Farmer, Ph.D.
Thursday, May 04, 2017
Movie - Nise: The Heart of Madness
This looks like a very interesting movie. It looks like Dr. Silveira was coming on to the idea of art as a form of therapy/treatment at the same time it was burgeoning in America (with Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer) and Britain in the 1940's, as their counterpart in Brazil. Cool!
Read more here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/movies/nise-review.html
The territory couldn’t be more delicate, but “Nise: The Heart of Madness,” a mesmerizing drama from Brazil, navigates it skillfully to create a portrait of a real-life doctor who found an alternative to some of the more cruel trends in psychiatric treatment in the middle of the last century.
Glória Pires stars as Dr. Nise da Silveira (1905-1999), who as the film opens is taking up a post at a psychiatric hospital near Rio de Janeiro in 1944. She settles into a seat in a lecture hall where the benefits of lobotomies via thin spike are being extolled, then witnesses a cruel demonstration of another favorite technique, electroshock therapy.
“I don’t believe in healing through violence,” she tells colleagues, but, especially since she is a woman, they are dismissive. They assign her to what they think is busywork.
She transforms the insult into opportunity, creating a unit in which patients who had been written off are given a chance to express themselves through painting and other art forms. The results are startling.
The movie, full of characters behaving erratically, could easily have taken on the aura of a freak show, but the director, Roberto Berliner, somehow stays respectful of the subject matter even while depicting extreme psychiatric conditions. It’s a study of courageous innovation against an entrenched medical orthodoxy.
“Our job is to cure patients, not comfort them,” one colleague chastises.
“My instrument is a brush,” Dr. Silveira replies curtly. “Yours is an ice pick.”
Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner states "Children need art...as much as they need love and food and fresh air and play."
Philip Pullman, who received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Children's Literature in 2005, had words of wisdom with this that he wrote for the 10th anniversary of the Award in 2012:
Children need art and stories and poems and music as much as they need love and food and fresh air and play. If you don’t give a child food, the damage quickly becomes visible. If you don’t let a child have fresh air and play, the damage is also visible, but not so quickly. If you don’t give a child love, the damage might not be seen for some years, but it’s permanent.
But if you don’t give a child art and stories and poems and music, the damage is not so easy to see. It’s there, though. Their bodies are healthy enough; they can run and jump and swim and eat hungrily and make lots of noise, as children have always done, but something is missing.
It’s true that some people grow up never encountering art of any kind, and are perfectly happy and live good and valuable lives, and in whose homes there are no books, and they don’t care much for pictures, and they can’t see the point of music. Well, that’s fine. I know people like that. They are good neighbours and useful citizens.
But other people, at some stage in their childhood or their youth, or maybe even their old age, come across something of a kind they’ve never dreamed of before. It is as alien to them as the dark side of the moon. But one day they hear a voice on the radio reading a poem, or they pass by a house with an open window where someone is playing the piano, or they see a poster of a particular painting on someone’s wall, and it strikes them a blow so hard and yet so gentle that they feel dizzy. Nothing prepared them for this. They suddenly realise that they’re filled with a hunger, though they had no idea of that just a minute ago; a hunger for something so sweet and so delicious that it almost breaks their heart. They almost cry, they feel sad and happy and alone and welcomed by this utterly new and strange experience, and they’re desperate to listen closer to the radio, they linger outside the window, they can’t take their eyes off the poster. They wanted this, they needed this as a starving person needs food, and they never knew. They had no idea.
That is what it’s like for a child who does need music or pictures or poetry to come across it by chance. If it weren’t for that chance, they might never have met it, and might have passed their whole lives in a state of cultural starvation without knowing it.
The effects of cultural starvation are not dramatic and swift. They’re not so easily visible.
And, as I say, some people, good people, kind friends and helpful citizens, just never experience it; they’re perfectly fulfilled without it. If all the books and all the music and all the paintings in the world were to disappear overnight, they wouldn’t feel any the worse; they wouldn’t even notice.
But that hunger exists in many children, and often it is never satisfied because it has never been awakened. Many children in every part of the world are starved for something that feeds and nourishes their soul in a way that nothing else ever could or ever would.
We say, correctly, that every child has a right to food and shelter, to education, to medical treatment, and so on. We must understand that every child has a right to the experience of culture. We must fully understand that without stories and poems and pictures and music, children will starve.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Art Therapy vs. Art Class
Here is a great article by Ruby Garyfalakis that talks about the differences between art education and art therapy. There really is a difference, and this could help clear up misconceptions between the two.
If you’re interested in art therapy or thinking about checking it out, you may be wondering what the difference is between art therapy and an art class. In fact, this is a question we are asked all the time, so we wanted to share some thoughts about it here on our blog.
From our perspective, these are the main differences between art therapy and an art class:
1. THE RELATIONSHIP.
a. Art therapy involves a therapeutic relationship. This is the most important element of any type of therapy and what makes it unique from other kinds of activities. There are specific boundaries and elements to a therapeutic relationship. The therapists at Art as Therapy follow the ethical guidelines established by the Canadian Art Therapy Association and the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. Only those who have received the appropriate graduate training can offer art therapy. Although art therapy usually involves art-making, it is first and foremost a form of therapy, similar to talking to a social worker, psychologist, medical doctor, or psychiatrist who offers psychotherapy.
b. An art class may involve relationships but it does not involve the intentional therapist – client relationship. A teacher or instructor’s role is different than a therapist’s role, and the student-teacher relationship has very different dynamics than the therapeutic relationship. Art teachers are required to be skilled and competent in the areas that they teach, but they do not receive the same training required to practice as an art therapist.
2. THE SPACE.
a. Art therapy takes place in a confidential contained space. This is very important whether it’s individual or group art therapy. This means that the space has a door that can close, and has frosted windows or curtains to ensure privacy. Confidentiality is essential to creating a safe space where clients can express whatever is on their mind. Clients are free to share with anyone they like about their art therapy sessions and what happens during those sessions, but it is important that they have the option of anonymity and confidentiality if they so choose.
b. An art class may take place in a more open space, it doesn’t have to be confidential. Art classes may happen in a classroom, in an art studio, or at a community centre. Parents or friends may watch or participate in the class. The class members may be friends or may change from week to week.
3. THE MAIN GOAL.
a. The main goal of art therapy is self expression. The goal is to express or communicate something, and art-making is often one way of doing so. Since the goal is expression, this impacts how art supplies and artwork itself are viewed. Read more about this below.
b. The main goal of an art class is to learn something or to experiment with a new technique. The goal is usually to make something specific. Students may be replicating an example or following the instructor step by step. This goal of learning and creating something specific impacts how art supplies and artwork are viewed as well.
4. HOW ART MATERIALS ARE VIEWED AND USED.
a. In art therapy, art materials are viewed as one possible tool for self expression. The therapist is familiar with the art materials based on a continuum from controlled to less controlled. For example, a pencil is easy to control and requires fine motor skills. Watercolor paints or acrylic inks are much harder to control and tend to require larger movements. They work best with bigger paper. Oil and chalk pastels are somewhere in the middle between controlled and less controlled. When viewing art materials in this way, the art therapist may provide or suggest specific art supplies for their expressive potential depending on the client’s therapeutic goals. In art therapy, there’s no right or wrong way to use materials or to make something. If the directive is to draw a tree, whatever the client does in response is accepted and explored within the therapeutic relationship.
b. In an art class, art materials are viewed as tools to be used in a specific way to accomplish the task. They are manipulated to achieve certain effects. There are sometimes “right” and “wrong” ways to do things or to use art supplies. There may be rules. Often there is a focus on the principles and elements of design. Students are taught different ways to draw a tree, and there is a specific expected outcome.
5. HOW THE ART PRODUCT IS VIEWED.
a. In art therapy, the artwork is viewed as an extension or reflection of some part of the client. It can act as a mirror, reflecting the client’s thoughts or feelings about something. The emphasis is on what the artwork communicates for or about its creator, not necessarily on how it looks or whether it turns out as expected. The therapist and the client focus on the process and experience of making the artwork. The process can be just as important as the finished artwork. The client decides what the artwork means to them.
b. In an art class, the focus is usually on the product. The goal is to make a specific piece of artwork. Every part of the class builds towards creating that finished product. Often the goal is to make something visually appealing, beautiful, or interesting. Students may wish to display their creations or frame them. This is not to say that artwork created in art therapy cannot be beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, or pride-worthy. It just means that this is not the goal or the expectation during an art therapy session, while it often is the goal during an art class.
The main point is that art therapy is a form of therapy, and an art class is not. This doesn’t mean that an art class can’t be helpful or even therapeutic. However, a specially trained therapist must be present and there must be some kind of formal agreement to engage in a therapeutic relationship in order for something to be considered therapy. Art therapy and art classes can both be beneficial. Here are some ideas about the potential benefits of taking an art class, versus the potential benefits of attending an art therapy session.
HERE ARE SOME POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF TAKING AN ART CLASS:
1. You can learn new skills, building a sense of mastery and competency. This can boost self esteem.
2. You can build and develop technical abilities that can be used for visual self expression.
3. You may have the opportunity for social interaction, and may be able to build peer relationships with other students in the class.
4. You may learn about yourself indirectly through the process.
HERE ARE SOME POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF ART THERAPY:
1. You will have a safe place to express whatever is on your mind.
2. You may experience catharsis through self expression. You will be encouraged to express your feelings, and you may use art materials for this process. Art-making can be an excellent way to unload or release emotions.
3. You will be part of the therapeutic relationship which is a unique relationship. The therapist will function as a witness to your art making process. The therapist can validate your experiences and emotions, reflect your emotions back to you, and observe the whole process with curiosity and compassion.
4. The art therapy session provides an opportunity for intentional self reflection and discovery. You may feel empowered as you get to know yourself better and discover how your inner strengths can help you to face challenges and overcome obstacles.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Discovering the Creative Arts Therapies: Presentation at Haymarket Gainesville Community Library
I will be presenting on art therapy along with two music therapists to help bring awareness of expressive arts therapies to the public.
When/Where: Sunday, March 26, 1:00 p.m. Haymarket Gainesville Library Community Room
Learn from creative therapy experts about the benefits of art and music therapy in bringing about positive changes at the cognitive, emotional, social, and physical levels. For adults; no registration required.
Art therapy is one of several modalities under the umbrella of Expressive Therapies that can bring tremendous help to people in many ways. Licensed art therapist Lacy Mucklow will present an overview about the field of art therapy and cover many topics, such as what is art therapy (and what is it not?), who it benefits, and how it is used. NeuroSound Music Therapy will discuss what music therapy is, how the brain perceives music, and how music therapists use specific interventions and techniques to bring about positive changes at cognitive, emotional, social, physiological, and physical levels. Music therapists Kelsi Yingling and Kate Potrykus will discuss and demonstrate specific interventions they use in a variety of populations, including special education, mental health, geriatrics, and healthcare.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Publisher's Weekly Star Watch 2016 Honoree Jeannine Dillon
I just found this out, but I have to brag on my editor, Jeannine Dillon, who I found out made the Publisher's Weekly Star Watch 2016 Honorees! She has been great to work with and always has a sixth sense about what the publishing world needs next before they know it! :) Congrats!
Jeannine Dillon (pictured far left)
Editorial Director,
Race Point Publishing
Quarto Publishing Group, New York
“In 30 years of bookselling, I’ve only worked with a few people who have had the instincts, imagination, and creativity of Jeannine Dillon.” —colleague
Few can pinpoint their best day on the job, but Dillon can. It was the day she received her first thank-you letter from a cancer treatment center in Louisiana. The staff told her that patients and their families were more relaxed during chemo sessions when they were coloring in Color Me Calm, the first book in the press’s Color Me series. “That was by far my best day in publishing,” she says.
For Color Me Calm, published at the early stage of the adult coloring book craze, Dillon insisted on authenticity. She consulted art therapists to determine if there were shapes and colors that could actually make a person feel calm. Each image in the book was crafted both by the artist, Angela Porter, and art therapist Lacy Mucklow. The tens of thousands of copies sold in the series support Dillon’s belief that “the selling point for many is about finding tranquility.”
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Why Every Working Woman Should Make Art - According to Art Therapists
CASEY CROMWELL
FEBRUARY 14, 2017
Entity explores why women should make art. You’ve finally escaped work after a hectic Monday full of meetings and projects — and, of course, you hit traffic right away. By the time you finally walk into your apartment, you know exactly what you want to do: nothing. So, like usual, you end the day with a pizza dinner and watching hours of “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix … and, like usual, when you go to bed, you feel like you’ve wasted part of your day. What’s a girl to do when she wants to relax but also feel productive?
You might want to get in touch with your inner Andy Warhol, whether with the help of a college course, a private business or even a licensed art therapist. To find out exactly how many benefits can come with making art, ENTITY recently talked with Justin Davis, an art therapist working with drawchange (an Atlanta-based nonprofit that provides art therapy programs to children in homeless shelters), and Jenna Hartom, a creative arts therapist who works with psychiatric patients at the Montefiore Medical Center (one of the top ranked medical centers in the US).
Whether you’re interested in painting or pottery, here are five expert-backed reasons every working woman should get artsy ASAP!
1 STRESS FREE ZONE
Whether you’re chasing a promotion or just starting your first job, working can be stressful. Sometimes we’re so busy at work that we don’t even notice how stressed we feel. How can you keep your sanity while keeping a paycheck? Let your mind wander from work by picking up a paintbrush! According to Justin Davis, “When we make art and express whatever it is that’s inside us, it is cathartic. The kinesthetic and oftentimes repetitive motions involved in painting, drawing, sculpting, even zentangling and doodling, can be a self soothing act that calms the mind.”
Recent research supports Davis’s claim: one 2014 study on college students found that participants given pre-drawn patterns to color experienced a significant reduction in depression, tension and anxiety. But more than just adult coloring books can reduce stress. A study published just last year found that, no matter your level of artistic skill or what kind of visual art you do, making art for 45 minutes drastically lessens your body’s stress levels. All of this goes to say that a coloring pencil might be the secret weapon you’ve been looking for to go from feeling stressed to blessed. And you thought you doodled in calculus class just because you were bored!
2 PROBLEM SOLVE WITH PAINT
As many of you have probably realized, the work at most 9-to-5 jobs isn’t actually restricted to those hours. Instead, you often bring problems from work – for example, uncertainty about a slogan on a new ad campaign or worries about conflicts with a co-worker – home with you. As ironic as it sounds, taking time off thinking by enjoying an art project may actually help you solve the problem. While more research needs to be done, one 2010 study observed students from six schools for two years and found that those who made art excelled in three areas of problem-solving skills when given 15 minutes to design their own chair. Art has also been shown to make your brain work in ways that it typically doesn’t. When you make art, your brain also works in ways that it typically doesn’t. After all, unless you work at a paint store, you probably aren’t usually wondering if teal complements or clashes with magenta!
Besides giving you different perspectives on your work problems, art can also help you with personal issues. For example, Jenna Hartom has seen how making art can help adults with illnesses like severe depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. “Although everyone is different, most of the time I see that art making becomes a common lens through which people discover and share what they are going through,” she says. “Through art making, [people] work through feelings and learn ways to cope.” Whether you’re struggling to find unique solutions to work problems, cope with mental health issues or heal emotional wounds, art can open up your mind to new possibilities and perspectives.
3 EXPRESS YOURSELF
Have you ever looked at a piece of art and been hit by a wave of emotion? Maybe, like with the Mona Lisa, curiosity overwhelmed you. Or maybe the sight of Edward Munch’s “The Scream” immediately made your stomach start doing backflips. Either way, art has the power to emotionally affect its viewers – and, by the same token, artists can reveal their own emotions on canvas. Whether you’re feeling ecstatic over a promotion, anxious about an upcoming presentation or frustrated at the co-worker who keeps stealing your packed lunch, you can explore those feelings through artwork.
Sometimes art may even be the only way you can get in touch with your feelings. “People who have been through difficult experiences may not always be able to verbally express what has happened to them or they may just have trouble identifying how they are feeling about it,” says Davis. “Art acts as a vehicle to communicate those feelings even when we don’t have the words; especially when we don’t have the words.”
Art can also help you understand yourself better, according to Hartom. “Anyone who is open to the experience of creating can learn more about themselves through this process,” she says. “Our emotional selves are complicated, so accessing emotions through art making can shed light on areas that we may not be aware of.” You’ve probably heard the saying, “Wear your heart on your sleeve.” Well, these benefits seem to suggest that you should wear your heart on your artwork instead.
4 DOUBLE THE REWARDS
Once you’ve created your own art, you end up with two amazing things. On a physical level, you have a new “masterpiece.” You can frame it, sell it or give it to someone. At the same time, though, you also receive the artist experience. What that involves can vary from person to person, but Davis shares that art benefits can range from people with depression finding “relief and mood improvement” to previously lonely people finding “increased self esteem and making connections with other people in a group setting.” Art can even be a healthy way for you to express anger.
In fact, studies have found that taking part in artistic activities can put people in a “flow” that lets them regulate strong emotions or tamper irrational thoughts. Basically, art is one free (and much more fun) form of anti-anxiety medicine. Doing crafts like knitting has also been shown increase the amount of dopamine released by the brain, which boosts happiness. In one study, 81 percent of participants with depression reported feeling happier after knitting. You don’t have to toil over your work for hours to enjoy some of these benefits, either. A study performed last year found that, after just 45 minutes, 73 percent of participants showed an increase in feelings of self-efficacy. The best part? Feeling more positive and confident in yourself and your skills will only help you kick butt in all areas of life – at home or in the office.
5 NEW HOBBY
Maybe you’re reading this article and nodding your head, but you know you’ll never try making your own artwork because you’re “not an artist.” However, Hartom says, “We all have innate creativity and sometimes it is just a matter of suspending judgment in order to open that door.” Davis agrees, comparing starting to make art to starting yoga. “The first time you went, you probably felt mixed emotions: ‘This felt good. This felt uncomfortable. I can’t do all the poses. I’m not any good at this. I feel ridiculous.’ But as you stick with it, you get better at the poses, your body begins to feel better, and you probably feel a lot more relaxed. You have to stick with [art] to really get the most out of it.”
And, truthfully, you have two possible end results if you try adding art to your routine: falling in love with art and embracing it as your new favorite hobby…or leaving it for another creative outlet. Finding new interests and ways to spend your time helps keep life interesting. And, even if art isn’t your thang, you’ll probably learn a few new facts about yourself along the way. And the better you know yourself, the better you know how to chase your dreams and meet your goals. Entity reports on why every working woman should make art and the benefits of art therapy. The power to lower your stress, increase your creativity and boost your self esteem is (literally) in your hands. You just need to make the choice to explore your artistic side, whether you’re a natural artist or an accomplished business women.
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