Many of my clients say: “I’m not creative.” But I know that creativity is our birthright and together we find a means of expression that feels safe as a bridge to more and more, until they know from experience that, yes, indeed, they are creative.”
How has your life been indelibly touched by a teacher who utilized the arts for whatever reason and acknowledge how they were instrumental in breaking the mold to allow you to become who you are today?
There have been so many. My mother had a BFA and loved visual art, music and theatre. She was my first teacher and was a children’s librarian–she gave many of us a love of reading and of exploring the arts through library materials. My father loved the arts, too. We were poor, but he somehow managed to buy good quality instruments for each of us that wanted to learn to play music–he must have paid for them for a very long time. He said that it was important to have an instrument that had a good sound so that we would be inspired to play it. Instead of a T.V. we created together. It was important to them that any school that I attended offered art, music and drama. Mrs. Wells taught me ballet which led to my being in a ballet company as a teen. Mrs. Valdrighi taught me to play the piano and let me choose pieces that I felt passionate about even if they were a little beyond my skills. She knew that my passion would inspire me to work hard. As a teen I was very shy, being in a ballet company and then in theatre arts in high school and college gave me a confidence in myself and a place to express things I could not otherwise have expressed. The arts have always been an essential part of my life whether or not I was creating for myself or for performance. I turn to and trust the ‘imaginal realm’ as a place where my heart and soul can find expression, solace, joy and understanding.
At this point in my life, at 61, I belong to the artist’s cooperative that I referred to in the first response [below]. It is important to me to be a part of giving back to my community. There, my focus is mostly on painting and printmaking. I find the arts to have ‘associative’ qualities, so when I feel a little stuck with a visual art piece, I move into dance or sounding with my voice or improvising on the piano. I sing in local ensembles when time allows. Even though I don’t perform as a dancer anymore, or play the piano for others except friends and family, both art forms are still a great resource for me. When I return to painting or creating a print, what has moved through me in dance and sound brings something to the visual piece that I can’t explain. And vice versa. I do show my work, but it’s not about showing it or selling it, it’s about the process for me.
My studio is also my office where I offer psychotherapy sessions. Many of my clients say: “I’m not creative.” But I know that creativity is our birthright and together we find a means of expression that feels safe as a bridge to more and more, until they know from experience that, yes, indeed, they are creative. I see the empowerment in their faces, in their lives. Some go on to pursue more formal training in whatever art form or forms excite(s) them. For some it becomes a part of their life on an ongoing basis. But for all of them, it changes how they see the world and they feel less limited when facing difficulties; they have more resources. I know this from their own feedback over the years and from seeing that someone is now performing or has a show in a gallery. It is enormously gratifying.
After a lifetime in the arts, it was second nature for me to use the arts in my work with clients, when I got my MSW in 1992, but I also wanted to have a strong, coherent and cohesive philosophical base, so I entered a 3 -year Intermodal Expressive Arts (EXA) training program under a wonderful mentor and friend, Sandra Wortzel. At that point in my life I had become so busy working in an agency 60 hours a week that I didn’t have time for my own artistic expression, which had a negative impact on me. In EXA, one must continue to cultivate one’s own art journey in order for that to be alive in us as we work with others. Paolo Knill, founded the approach that I studied and he has been a great teacher for me, to whom I owe a great deal. I know that I would not be in private practice, in so much joy if I had not had the opportunities that I have had in the arts. And it just keeps growing and expanding. It is my passion to nourish that flame in others.
How are the arts re-igniting your community and sparking innovation and creativity in your local schools?
The arts are still being taught in the small town where I live, Bisbee, Arizona. I belong to an arts cooperative and one of our members who is a retired art teacher, also offers a free art class to children every Friday. This is important especially since our local schools only run Monday through Thursday. To cut costs of staffing, heating and cooling, we went to a four day week and our school board asked that local artists offer activities on Fridays and many of us have. I offer a free group one night a week for adults and am gearing up to do more. It’s great that in this small community we have willing volunteers, BUT we also have full time art teachers serving our schools and a program that brings in artists/musicians throughout the year to offer special workshops for kids in the schools. There is a lot of collaboration between our arts cooperative, the Boys and Girls club and the local schools. For example, our cooperative has a ‘visiting artist’ program and one of the requirements is that they will offer a workshop for children and some kind of event for adults while they are here. In exchange for that they get a studio and living space for a month with discounts at local restaurants. We also do a annual event called “MAKE” during which we open up our building, an old school, for a full day of free activities in all of the arts for children. Again the schools are involved–they assign story writing and art projects. The stories are turned into theatre performances by a director who comes down for our event and both a children’s company and a professional company do performances. The children’s art work is displayed in our gallery for sale (and a lot of it sells–which is very empowering for the young artists.) In a small town, it’s probably easier; we all know each other. But networking can happen anywhere. Our new Montessori School is also a big part of these events. We now get grants to pay the artist/workshop leaders a stipend and to buy more and more materials. Parents and children now come from all over the county and even from bigger cities in Arizona. Now the adults are asking: “Can you do another annual event for us???” We are working on how that can be done.