Healing Through Art the Scientific Basis!

 "More specifically, there is evidence that engagement with artistic activities, either as an observer of the creative efforts of others or as an initiator of one’s own creative efforts, can enhance one’s moods, emotions, and other psychological states as well as have a salient impact on important physiological parameters. Chronic diseases are a nationwide burden, with cardiovascular disease being the leading cause of death during the past century and the incidence of diabetes continuing to increase,now affecting more than 20 million Americans. These diseases are associated with psycho-social difficulties such as depression and chronic stress, contributing to negative cardiovascular outcomes. Engagement with creative activities has the potential to contribute toward reducing stress and depression and can serve as a vehicle for alleviating the burden of chronic disease. Over the past decade, health psychologists have cautiously begun looking at how the arts might be used in a variety of ways to heal emotional injuries,increase understanding of oneself and others, develop a capacity for self-reflection, reduce symptoms, and alter behaviors and thinking patterns. Given the ubiquity of creative expression, as well as the relative ease of engagement, the extent to which psychological and physiological effects are sustainably health enhancing is an important area for public health investigation. We reviewed research in the area of art and healing in an effort to determine the creative therapies most often employed. Four primary therapies emerged: music engagement, visual arts therapy, movement-based creative expression, and expressive writing. In these forms of expression, arts modalities and creative processes are used during intentional interventions to foster health."

February 2010, Vol 100, No. 2 | American Journal of Public Health Stuckey and Nobel | Peer Reviewed | Framing Health Matters | 263.

My first physical healing painting!

The other day I was speaking to someone about doing my Art and Healing class. In trying to answer her about the class, I said that this work was not a new age idea and that there is a scientific basis for it. I've read quite a bit about this, including the article that the quote at the beginning of this blog is from. As I thought of a way to explain how it works, I came up with the idea that the work we do in Art and Healing is like photo synthesis in a plant. We take in everything through our senses and all of our experiences are imprinted into our cells. And much like a mother duck with her chicks, those things follow us around forever unless we work with them to help release them. And just as a plant takes in light and expels carbon dioxide, our bodies release our negative feelings and emotions around what has happened to us and we can put healing back into those places through the expressive arts. If we do not work on healing, eventually we will get ill. The colors that we use to help our bodies release the negative is the light spectrum, plus black and brown. In the next few weeks I hope to be reporting that my Art and Healing work is continuing!

My own healing is evidenced for me by my new work in painting portraits!

It is work that I wouldn't attempt before I began my healing work. It is exciting to me to show from where I began to today. Lindsay's (my daughter) picture was the only one I had done prior to this year. I seem to be exploding with things I want to paint. I have found my style, too. 

Before I put together my art show (I've done another!) there were several pictures that I didn't think of as important works. They were some of my healing pictures that I've had to reconsider because other people have expressed interest in them. Thanks to my friend, Amelia Cloud, I took some of those images that came out in my training and framed them to show. The one above is one of those that has generated a great deal of talk about what it is. 

The artwork that heals us also has the power to heal others. It has been my privilege to show my work at a couple of venues and to have people look at them. This blog has allowed me to share my work with those of you who view it. And I appreciate the scientific basis for using the expressive arts but I've also experienced this healing in a very real way. I am grateful to have been given a talent that I can share with everyone. Using that talent is a gift from God and allows me to develop my life's work. It is a spiritual endeavor for me that gives meaning and purpose to my life. And it is wonderful that I can share this work with anyone, no experience necessary!

I share the very first portrait I did. I painted this when I was pregnant with my daughter. I didn't have any idea how important painting would become to my life! And the Art and Healing fuses together three of my favorite subjects art, healing and science!

Mt. Rascel, Augusta, Kentucky