6 minute read
Finding Healing in Art
Written by: Randi Wuflestad Illustrated by: Bethany Brodwolf Designed by: Joseph Smallwood
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Art has many definitions — it can be inspirational, unpredictable, personal, figurative, realistic and pure. Art can also be healing.
Growing up, children are given coloring books and encouraged to draw animals, cars or princesses — anything they could possibly dream of. Even when children are not capable of voicing their emotions, art allows them to communicate their thought and feelings with colors and images.
The same can be done for adults who have experienced a traumatic event or are struggling with mental issues. Art allows people to return to a calm state of mind and express themselves creatively. College students are no exception to this.
College students’ stress and anxiety can be attributed to many different factors including sleep deprivation, loneliness, confusion, academic pressures and heavy workloads. These combined stressors keep students from maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Art therapy exercises can help people confront their feelings in a non-verbal way.
According to the National Health Assessment of fall 2018, 63 percent of all college students in the U.S. felt anxious. In addition, an article by Texas State University’s psychology department states that art exercises have an impact on students’ mental state. The study had students participate in three different projects, two of which were art-based. Following the projects, the students who participated in the individual and group art projects reported reduced anxiety levels, whereas the control group saw no change.
Olivia Cain, senior speech pathology major at California Baptist University, was first introduced to art therapy during her semester abroad in Florence, Italy. During her trip, Cain encountered many exciting experiences as well as challenges that came with living in a new country and having no knowledge of the area or language. Cain was able to better articulate her feelings and emotions through the art classes she took.
“I’m not an art therapy major (so) it was definitely intimidating at first. The coolest part about art therapy for me was that our teacher would always say, ‘It doesn’t have to look good, it just has to help you feel.’ If it helps you feel something, then you’ve succeeded,” Cain says.
After returning to CBU, Cain held art gatherings at her apartment with her friends. This allowed them to take a pause in their busy week and alleviate any stress or anxiety they were feeling.
Cain noticed that everyone benefitted from the gathering in one way or another. She decided to make it into an official CBU club called the Art Therapy and Wellness Club.
The club works with prompts that help students target a specific area of emotion. The most recent prompt had students draw three monsters in the form of something negative they had been told by others. After doing so, they were told to explain the drawings in writing. This exercise provided an opportunity for students to learn more about their feelings and express them in a calming way.
“I had done that project when I studied abroad but when I did it last night, I re-read my answers from before and could see the growth that has happened since then,” Cain says.
“It appears like you’re drawing monsters but really that monsters design, shape and color — everything is very specific to one thing you believe about yourself.”
Carissa Brewer, junior mathematics major, joined the Art Therapy and Wellness Club because Cain encouraged her to give it a try.
“(For) our very first prompt we had to paint a tree. On the left side we made the leaves look like fall and on the right side we made them look like spring,” Brewer says. “We had to have the leaves on the left side falling off the tree and attached to those leaves, write the things we want to let go of this year; for the spring, write things we hope to have accomplished by the spring semester or changed the habits that were falling from the left side of the tree.”
Brewer says art therapy can be beneficial to anyone. She sees all sorts of people come in, from those who simply enjoy art to others who are dealing with a lot and use these exercises to help them process their emotions better.
“I’d say we definitely think about it during the week or crave going back to the meetings once you finish. I started going by myself and then I told people how great it was and showed them the prompts that I did, and more and more people keep coming,” Brewer says. “I’ve definitely gained a new perspective on how to view past hurts or things that we struggle with throughout school right now.”
Art therapy has been known to benefit a whole host of communities in need, including adults with disabilities, kids, people in the prison system and survivors of trauma.
Kristin Lippire, associate professor of visual arts, teaches art therapy courses to students looking to serve the community. Lippire says she believes an art therapist is someone who interprets the metaphors within the imagery and colors that are being expressed visually
into words. These techniques can be used in therapy to help people acknowledge and accept what he or she is struggling with.
“You’re using art to coax out a traumatic experience in someone who maybe can’t mobilize it,” Lippire says. “In family situations, the therapist would have everybody draw their role in the family. You have a picture in your mind but you don’t even realize the symbolism behind it (until) you have a professional that says, ‘Oh isn’t that interesting, these are guardian type figures,’ and maybe that’s how you see yourself.”
Lippire also stresses the importance of art therapy in various communities.
“What I’m trying to do in my classes is to show different communities in which people can serve at this level without the certification. There’s a lot of different communities that could use art as a therapeutic type practice,” Lippire says.
Lippire has been teaching art full-time at CBU for seven years and seven years before that as an adjunct professor. Throughout her teaching, she has noticed the impact art can have in students’ lives, specifically when they take one of her classes.
“When students are taking my art classes and they’re not art majors, they either hate it or they love it and if they love it, it’s because it’s using a different part of the brain,” Lippire says. “It’s very cathartic and you’re getting to do something that’s just for yourself, which is different. I think it’s more relaxing for students. They get a lot out of it. They’re very surprised at what they can make. They never realized they could do something like that.”
Lippire knows of several art students, who hold stress-free workshops at their apartments where they invite people to come over and draw together. This allows students to feel connected and express themselves outside of the classroom.
Art therapy provides people from all walks of life the chance to clear the mind and take a step back from daily stressors. College students who deal with many different emotions on a daily basis are no exception, and can benefit from the anxiety-reducing benefits that art therapy provides.
