THE HEALING NATURE OF ART

TODAY IS ART CLASS AND I AM SO EXCITED!

WHY?

Elizabeth Gordon         Raku Sculpture

IT IS A DAY TO CREATE WITH FRIENDS!

This is  a day I love!

 After I retired from a career of teaching children I began to take art classes locally in areas that were different from my own art inclinations.  Why you might ask?
For one thing I had to retire because I was very ill, and that continued on for several long years.  I could hardly get out of bed and it did not take much to wear me out.  A friend talked me into taking some classes at a local art recreation center.  My hopes were not high for the quality of the class, as per my experience with city recreation centers before. But to my surprise it was not bean picture art and the like, but real art classes with qualified teachers.

At first I could not stay the whole day because of fatigue and I would go take a nap in my car or go home and nap over lunch time.  Sometimes I would have to come home early as I was too weak to stay, but slowly and surely I stayed a little longer and longer each day. The people and the art helped to heal me, slowly and surely. 

Dichroic glass fusion

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 My classmates were wonderful and my teacher positive and humorous.   The atmosphere was supportive and creative.  Through time I have watched other people come in with severe health challenges, loss, or personal problems...and they too let go of the negative that surrounds them and gently blossom into a new being like a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Scraffito on Clay 

It does not matter that the classes are more crafts oriented though I am more a fine artist.

 Art is like a stream of water, it can run constantly underground only to spring up when primed like a pump.  These classes prime me.  Once the art juices start flowing then they spread over to my collage and conceptual art which is my main area.

Clay ink transfer on pottery

When I took college classes in art, we often all worked together in the studio at night to do our extra assignments.  I loved the camaraderie of the other students and the interaction of ideas.  When I started teaching and working in my own studio, I really missed that.  Now these classes help fill that void.

Clay Sculpture done with Raku

  I often thought I would be happy in an art guild because of the same thing.
Art has always been a major part of my life, but now it has played a role I never expected.  It brought me to the light of health.


ART IS HEALING 

The Healing Nature of the Arts

Recently I came across two different sites that had to do with partnerships in the arts and health care. I have a close friend who is an art therapist and has worked in that capacity within the public schools and now with the Leepa Ratner Museum.  The data for positive effect on health and the arts is tremendous.  As artists we know how the arts benefit us personally by self expression, a meditative state and connecting with others.  The you tube site I will provide below is used by the Mississippi State Mental Hospital in a healing program with patients.  Just recently, my hometown of Tampa, Florida, recently published a health care and arts partnership program.  Where ever you live, where ever you practice art, or wherever you take art classes consider bonding the arts with healing for others!