Healing Art/Therapeutic Art
- Thread starter Artyczar
- Start date
PaintBoss
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I am very late to discovering this thread. Arty, I agree with everything people are saying here. And I’m so glad that you shared all of this with us and trusted us enough to hear your story. I find all your artwork intriguing with a lot of depth, and at times confronting. Which I think is incredible for an artist share. Especially when it’s done so effectively. You’ve always done more than just pretty flowers.
I think using art making for getting out feelings from deep inside is incredibly helpful and powerful. Truth telling. It doesn’t have to make sense to anybody. I have several pieces of my own that really means the world to me. My world, my history. My inner self through the chapters. I was encouraged to do this when I was seeing a psychologist trying to deal with a lot of family stuff. It was the most powerful work I think I ever made even though it really had nothing to do with anything other than getting it out in a way that made sense to myself. It was like letting myself the deep part of me speak. It was not about technique or style or appearance.
You have done this and it is also fascinating, and amazing to look at.
Your creativity, expression, and your fearlessness shines through everything-even through deep pain. Drawing the blue human figure on the floor says it all. And although you weren’t trying to be an artist in that moment, you still could not help but be the most essential thing an artist is. Expressing subjects and depicting complex emotions that need to see the light of day. Even if you didn’t intend it for that. It was very powerful just reading and picturing that. I know you’ve done a lot of work with healing and this is an older thread, but I still want to hug you. I could cry for the things you went through. And kick those that harmed you! I’m in deep awe at how you coped even when you felt you weren’t coping at all. Stunning testament to you as a person, and your very creative spirit working through such pain. It is making some sense of your world and is very striking and relatable to see and read. Thank you for sharing it all. It does take guts to put it all out there and then to provide some explanation to us that doesn’t pull you back into it. But is enough to help us understand. I think many people relate, even if their story is not exactly the same as yours. You are expressing aspects of life that many people deal with very privately and to be honest it’s really amazing to hear when other people are willing to open up about it. It validates many of our own experiences. And it’s nice to know that others feel all of those feelings and had all those struggles even though we wish for no-one to go through any trauma. I believe it helps more if when we are ready, we can share our experiences so it is a beacon to others who are in the middle of it. We don’t have to have the solutions, but it’s easier to know others have faced similar experiences. By keeping it to ourselves, which is everyone’s right, is not always helpful for healing oneself or for helping others.
This may not be about you as an artist. But it clearly shows you are an artist at heart. That may be a saving grace. How many people are suffering and they cannot even express it in words, or actions? The strong feelings that need out? But you have done so and it happens to be something very stunning to see visually.
You can’t help being you, and it’s a beautiful thing. Through all the ugliness, you shine.
If I ever find some of my pieces, I may post as well. For a long time, I didn’t know what to paint about and then I thought if I really painted the stuff I wanted to speak about, I would have to be brave enough to speak about it. And I just couldn’t do that when I was younger. It is incredibly cathartic to try and do pieces from within. I found it very hard to get started, but once I did, it just flowed. even if people never share it I do recommend it. And it will not look like any of your work you’ve done before that is for certain.
I think using art making for getting out feelings from deep inside is incredibly helpful and powerful. Truth telling. It doesn’t have to make sense to anybody. I have several pieces of my own that really means the world to me. My world, my history. My inner self through the chapters. I was encouraged to do this when I was seeing a psychologist trying to deal with a lot of family stuff. It was the most powerful work I think I ever made even though it really had nothing to do with anything other than getting it out in a way that made sense to myself. It was like letting myself the deep part of me speak. It was not about technique or style or appearance.
You have done this and it is also fascinating, and amazing to look at.
Your creativity, expression, and your fearlessness shines through everything-even through deep pain. Drawing the blue human figure on the floor says it all. And although you weren’t trying to be an artist in that moment, you still could not help but be the most essential thing an artist is. Expressing subjects and depicting complex emotions that need to see the light of day. Even if you didn’t intend it for that. It was very powerful just reading and picturing that. I know you’ve done a lot of work with healing and this is an older thread, but I still want to hug you. I could cry for the things you went through. And kick those that harmed you! I’m in deep awe at how you coped even when you felt you weren’t coping at all. Stunning testament to you as a person, and your very creative spirit working through such pain. It is making some sense of your world and is very striking and relatable to see and read. Thank you for sharing it all. It does take guts to put it all out there and then to provide some explanation to us that doesn’t pull you back into it. But is enough to help us understand. I think many people relate, even if their story is not exactly the same as yours. You are expressing aspects of life that many people deal with very privately and to be honest it’s really amazing to hear when other people are willing to open up about it. It validates many of our own experiences. And it’s nice to know that others feel all of those feelings and had all those struggles even though we wish for no-one to go through any trauma. I believe it helps more if when we are ready, we can share our experiences so it is a beacon to others who are in the middle of it. We don’t have to have the solutions, but it’s easier to know others have faced similar experiences. By keeping it to ourselves, which is everyone’s right, is not always helpful for healing oneself or for helping others.
This may not be about you as an artist. But it clearly shows you are an artist at heart. That may be a saving grace. How many people are suffering and they cannot even express it in words, or actions? The strong feelings that need out? But you have done so and it happens to be something very stunning to see visually.
You can’t help being you, and it’s a beautiful thing. Through all the ugliness, you shine.
If I ever find some of my pieces, I may post as well. For a long time, I didn’t know what to paint about and then I thought if I really painted the stuff I wanted to speak about, I would have to be brave enough to speak about it. And I just couldn’t do that when I was younger. It is incredibly cathartic to try and do pieces from within. I found it very hard to get started, but once I did, it just flowed. even if people never share it I do recommend it. And it will not look like any of your work you’ve done before that is for certain.
Enyaw
*****
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… and what’s wrong with pretty flowers? They are healing.
The Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir said, "Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world". He also famously stated, "To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty!".
- Renoir’s philosophy was that art should offer a pleasant and cheerful escape from the world's difficulties.
PaintBoss
Contributing Member
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I agree, they most certainly are. And I’ve done quite a few of them myself. Nothing wrong with wanting to paint pretty flowers or pretty subjects, or enjoying them. But in art school and in art history, they taught us that we could go farther in art. We certainly could choose to stay with the “pretty flowers“. Everything pleasant. But they encouraged us and showed us in our history that art can go in many different directions that isn’t always in the traditional sense, “pretty“. And that is OK. Even if many of the viewing public think it is not. Ironically, the fight has never been for pretty art. The fight has been for anything that strays from the contemporary taste in art until relatively recently. The lovely Impressionists had to fight that battle. Intense and hostile criticism to their “unfinished work” in the eyes of art critics. The salons refused to show their work. Yes, those beautiful impressionist paintings were considered an abomination! But art was changing and expanding once more.
Art can be more than pretty subjects. Soothing subjects. It can challenge us. Shock us. Disturb us. And that has merit. Going into subjects that many are not comfortable with, but others are. It can take guts or nerve to put yourself out there, especially if it has some sensitive personal history or explanation regarding the ugly side of life. But I think it is all worthy. Oh yes, I love the pretty flowers, pretty landscapes and beautiful portraits. And I absolutely have turned to them when the world or my life has gotten heavy. One is not better than the other. But one is more palatable than the other and sometimes there are other subjects to be confronted and to be expressed. Would I hang these types of art above my couch in my living room? Maybe, and maybe not. But they can be powerful and stunning, and reflect a truth in the world. Certainly our professors would challenge us go beyond the pretty and find our voice, to make a statement and say something about the world we live in and how we feel about it. A part of the artist job is to reflect back what they see. And that takes in all manner of subjects, some quite challenging.
Art can be more than pretty subjects. Soothing subjects. It can challenge us. Shock us. Disturb us. And that has merit. Going into subjects that many are not comfortable with, but others are. It can take guts or nerve to put yourself out there, especially if it has some sensitive personal history or explanation regarding the ugly side of life. But I think it is all worthy. Oh yes, I love the pretty flowers, pretty landscapes and beautiful portraits. And I absolutely have turned to them when the world or my life has gotten heavy. One is not better than the other. But one is more palatable than the other and sometimes there are other subjects to be confronted and to be expressed. Would I hang these types of art above my couch in my living room? Maybe, and maybe not. But they can be powerful and stunning, and reflect a truth in the world. Certainly our professors would challenge us go beyond the pretty and find our voice, to make a statement and say something about the world we live in and how we feel about it. A part of the artist job is to reflect back what they see. And that takes in all manner of subjects, some quite challenging.
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