Studio Art Therapy

This book presents a model of art therapy where the processes of art constitute the core of the model. It addresses how an arts-based approach can inform the therapist in all aspects of practice, from the conception of the work and the attempt to understand client needs to interacting with clients and communicating with others about art therapy.

Organize your space in the best way to achieve therapeutic significance. "The good enough studio"-derived from D.W. Winnicott's notion of the good enough mother-serves as a safe space where clients, students, and artists find modes of expression and being that unveil their own authenticity and connection to the archaic creativity of humanity. As a global art therapist and educator, Nona Orbach facilitates this profound alchemy of self-transformation by attending to the nonverbal, intuitive choreography that each individual uses in order to create. In Orbach's groundbreaking therapeutic model, the consciously organized studio is a place of acceptance where actions, materials, and the space itself "speak" and guide discovery.In this book readers will learn how to: Organize an open-studio setting Create an environment of acceptance and choice that facilitates transformation Understand action-material relationships as emotional and pedagogical communication Discern and mirror each individual's creative blueprint The insights of The Good Enough Studio will cultivate the work of those interested in the phenomenology of materials: artists, educators, therapists, and parents, as well as the nonprofessional and curious reader. Through guidance and case studies, Orbach shows how the creator's poetic truth can lead to integration and well-being. Nona Orbach is a multidisciplinary artist, therapist, blogger, lecturer, and facilitator of workshops for art therapists in Israel and around the world. Her artwork engages with archeological and historical contexts and is compiled under the title Tel-Nona. As an excavator in the Tel (mound) and preserver of the artifacts in a blog/virtual library, Nona metaphorically revives the great Alexandrian library that burnt down with its million scrolls in the first century BCE. Tel-Nona preserves its spirit of sharing knowledge in an international humanistic project. She also leads a social movement to change the Israeli education system through the learning and understanding afforded by the studio and the language of materials. Her online learning community includes over 7,000 participants from the fields of education and therapy. She has created an English blog and a study group with the title of this book to circulate her ideas internationally. Her previous book, The Spirit of Matter, co-authored with Lilach Gelkin, has been an immensely useful tool for therapists and educators for many years. Published in Israel in 1977, the PDF English version of the book is sold on her website.

Contemporary Practice in Studio Art Therapy discovers where studio practice stands in the profession today and reflects on how changing social, political, and economic contexts have influenced its ethos and development. This is the first UK volume devoted to studio art therapy, and the writers explore what is meant by a studio approach and how they are adapting art-based practices in radical new ways and settings. It comprises three parts – Part I: Frames of reference explores how particular social, cultural, and political contexts have led to the discourses within practice; Part II: Models of practice gives accounts of current studio art therapy practice, describing rationale for working methods and providing a resource for practitioners; Part III: Curating, exhibiting and archiving considers how the display and disposal of artworks, particularly relevant to studio approaches, may be thought about and implemented. The book includes chapters from North American authors who illustrate a trajectory of practice that has the potential to point to future developments. The book will be essential reading for practitioners and students who are interested in taking a fresh perspective on art therapy and will be encouraged by new ways of thinking about the studio approach in today’s changing world.

The Wiley Handbook of Art Therapy is a collection of original, internationally diverse essays, that provides unsurpassed breadth and depth of coverage of the subject. The most comprehensive art therapy book in the field, exploring a wide range of themes A unique collection of the current and innovative clinical, theoretical and research approaches in the field Cutting-edge in its content, the handbook includes the very latest trends in the subject, and in-depth accounts of the advances in the art therapy arena Edited by two highly renowned and respected academics in the field, with a stellar list of global contributors, including Judy Rubin, Vija Lusebrink, Selma Ciornai, Maria d' Ella and Jill Westwood Part of the Wiley Handbooks in Clinical Psychology series

one of very few books that deal with the electronic media in art therapy editor and contributors are top scholars in the field

Cathy Malchiodi reviews the hardware and software most pertinent to art therapists and demonstrates how the Internet can be used to conduct research and establish links with other art therapists. She also discusses the ethical and legal issues of communicating online, particularly the confidentiality and copyright of data.

Essence and Praxis in the Art Therapy Studio introduces the theory and practice of Art Therapy. A phenomenological approach to art therapy is presented that includes metaphor theory, social constructivism, hermeneutics, eco psychology, earth art, psychoanalysis, object relations theory, humanistic and gestalt therapy. In the book, theory and practice reflect each other as it focuses on the creative process, dialogue and interpretation, and provides a number of exercises and art activities that can be used in a therapeutic context. The role of symbolic interpretation is explored within the context of art therapy. The essence and attitude of the art therapist and the importance of therapeutic presence is presented with a series of self-reflective questions and exercises. In summary, this book is an introductory studio manual for training Art Therapists, and it emphasizes the ongoing relationship between theory and practice.

This collection of articles embraces theoretical and practical issues related to the emerging phenomenon of 'nature-based creative arts therapies', or 'eco-arts therapies/environmental arts therapies'. Due to the negative effects of some aspects of technological development upon various social and environmental processes, the relationship between human beings and nature has received more recognition. The growing field of eco-psychology reflects this attitude in its developing social-therapeutic environmental philosophy, claiming that reconnection with nature is essential not only for the maintenance of the physical world, but for people's well-being and happiness. Many writers have written about the therapeutic aspects of nature and contact with nature, but few have tried to reconstruct the knowledge gained through practice and intuition into creating a therapeutic framework using the relationship with nature as the key reference point for therapy. From the eco-psycho-social viewpoint of 'nature-based therapies' not only pathogenic factors typical for intensive modern life can be fought, but resilience-building potential implied in the unmediated contact with nature together can be reinforced. The articles include highlights of the work that creative/expressive arts therapists from different parts of the globe have done over the last years to establish a new platform and instruments for therapeutic practices. They present a new approach that incorporates nature not as a mere setting for therapeutic creative practices, but often as a partner in the process. This raised some fundamental questions concerning the concept of therapeutic setting, the role and functions of nature as an active partner in the creative and therapeutic practices, modes of human interaction with the environment with the use of different creative/expressive means. The book has been edited to provide practitioners not only with the new theoretical perspectives, but with methods and tools that can help them to incorporate nature into their daily work with different challenged populations and their varied needs, clinical and psychosocial issues. The first part of the book includes articles that present nature-based creative/expressive arts therapies framework: theory, concepts and methods. The second part focuses on the variability of expressive and instrumental forms that can be applied in the context of the nature-based therapies: expressive music, dramatic performances and rituals, dance and movement, visual arts, photography, narratives and multimedia events. It represents a variety of practical approaches and tools used with different populations and in various institutional contexts including clinical, educational, social and community-based settings. This part of the book also addresses some of the limitations and risks that nature-based creative/expressive therapies may have, and ways in which they may be bypassed and converted into growth and resilience. The book is for anyone interested in the therapeutic use of natural materials, processes and settings in their combinations with the expressive/creative activities. It will be of particular interest to mental health practitioners, especially creative/expressive arts therapists, psychotherapists, counselors and psychologists as well as artists and other creative workers wishing to explore further the creative use of nature within their existing practices.